Baby Butch (1954)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Absolutely Fantastic

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Seeing that Tom has a well stocked fridge, hungry alley-cat Butch pops on a bonnet and climbs into a cot to pose as a poor hungry waif; Tom takes pity on the 'baby' and brings him into his home, but as soon as Tom's back is turned, Butch is in the fridge helping himself to a large joint of ham. Chaos ensues as Jerry also wants the ham.Boy, Tom sure is dumb in this cartoon, believing the fully grown alley-cat Butch to be a baby. If he hasn't got the smarts to see through the ruse, I say that he deserves all the trouble he gets. As far as this T&J caper goes, it's pretty standard stuff throughout, with very few really memorable gags and not nearly enough creative pain dished out to the characters (although, having said that, the scalding bath that Tom prepares for Butch looked nasty… maybe Tom had figured out what was going on after all and wanted to punish Butch with third degree burns).

Baby Butch is a thoroughly enjoyable if not outstanding Tom and Jerry cartoon. My only real complaint was the rather predictable story, but everything else was fine. The animation and music are both great, complete with some hilarious sight gags especially the one with the large ham. The pace is furious and fast, not too fast so that the ending feels unsatisfying, because actually the ending was surprising and in a good way. Tom is a little dumb here, while Jerry is still cunning, but it is Butch who steals the show as he disguises himself as a baby to get food. Overall, outstanding no, funny yes. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Butch, an alley cat desperate for some free grub gets the idea of dressing as a baby and having Tom the cat bring him into his house for a big chunk of ham. The ruse works on Tom for a while, but Butch has to contend with Jerry the mouse who wants the ham for himself. I enjoyed this short, most of the gags worked and I laughed out loud a few times. Even if it wasn't really Tom Vs. Jerry and more just Tom and Jerry doing their own thing for most of the length of the short and then Tom and Jerry Vs. Butch. This hilarious animated short can be found on disc 2 of Warner Brother's 2-DVD Spotlight Collection set.My Grade: B-

Butch, a black alleycat, is trying to find food, and spots some at the house where Tom and Jerry live, so he poses as a hungry waif to get him inside where the fully-packed refrigerator is; he just has to find his moment when neither Tom nor Jerry will foil his plan, but this proves tricky... As usual, well-timed gags rule the roost and provide a chuckle or two, even if it isn't exactly a classic.