Timid Tabby (1957)

Brilliant and touching

best movie i've ever seen.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In this tom and Jerry cartoon, Tom's cousin George, who is afraid of mice, comes for a visit. Since, George and Tom look alike, Jerry thinks that Tom is now scared to death of him until Tom and George decide that it's time for a revenge. Another thing you should notice is that George sounds like Ranger Woodlore from the Humphrey cartoons. That's because he is voiced by actor Bill Thompson who also voiced Mr. Smee in Peter pan and the white Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Ever since seeing that Cousin George is scared to death of mice, I have often wondered if he has met Jerry's cousin Muscles or Uncle Pesos. If you are a Tom and Jerry fan like me, I would definitely recommend this cartoon, it is a classic!

Timid Tabby is a superb change of pace for the long-running Tom & Jerry series, in that we see another member of Tom's family and also for a change see Jerry get the worst of the varied encounters. George is Tom's cousin and is deathly afraid of mice, a fact Jerry exploits by scaring George all over the house. Tom, however, bashes Jerry at numerous points of the short, then teams with George to trick Jerry into thinking he's gone insane, leading to an appropriate ending.George is voiced by Bill Thompson, which adds to the strength of the character's weakness. As George is drawn as a twin of Tom it allows the animators to animate dialogue into the design while leaving Tom mute; given the quality that neither Jerry nor Tom speak in almost every episode, allowing a character who looks like Tom to speak is an interesting angle.

It was great to hear Bill Thompson again. Thompson voiced my favorite character in the classic cartoon era: "Droopy." He had a unique voice and hilarious inflections in the characters he voiced in cartoons and in radio for many years. In this Tom and Jerry cartoon, he plays Tom's ultra-meek cousin "George," who is scared-to-death of mice. He comes to visit Tom and the latter tries to hide Jerry from him, so he won't freak out.However, even though mostly it's Jerry who scares the poor cat, Tom gets in on the act early with some meanness himself. However, that quickly changes to where Tom begins to use his timid twin cousin to advantage.....to confuse and totally spook Jerry. That last part - the final third - is very, very good with a great, satisfying ending!

This isn't one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons, but the concept is nice and they carry it out pretty well. The one downside is that the animation isn't nearly as good here as it was when Quimby was in charge. Much better than those wretched things with the babysitter and the baby though; with the exception of Deitch those are the low point of the series.