Cannery Rodent is the 28th Tom and Jerry cartoon produced by Chuck Jones. The short is directed by Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow.
This is the last Tom and Jerry short that Jones himself personally directed, though he remained as producer for the rest remaining shorts.
Plot
Tom chases Jerry onto a dock, and as the chase climaxes, they soon end up in a can factory, turning into cans during the opening credits. After they come out in cans (one reads "Tom" and the other reads "Jerry"), Tom cuts the top with his nail and releases himself. When Jerry sees Tom, he jumps and runs outside of the can factory, with Tom chasing him, making the fish cans spill everywhere.
Jerry in his can manages to roll out of the way, but Tom is carried out by the rolling fish cans and off the pier. He glides through the air on his back and stops as his tail, then his arm, and then his body register that gravity is imminent. He floats for eighteen seconds, dangles in mid air, puts his fingers on his chin, causing his face to be stretched, and falls into the sea.
There is a loud gurgling as bubbles appear on the surface of the water. Tom soon jumps out of the water, white with fear, followed by a huge, hungry shark. The cat grabs on to an pole hanging off of the pier and pulls himself up so as to flip him just out of the way of the attacking shark below him. The cat is then splattered with a drop of water and jumps shrieking back onto the pier as the shark laughs wickedly at him and goes back under the water. Tom angrily responds by throwing an anchor onto the receding shark's head for revenge, causing him to resurface, glare at the cat and furiously bad mouth him. He goes back under the water again as Tom taunts him.
Tom is distracted by a noise. He hides as he hears the can that Jerry is in clattering across the wooden floor. Jerry stops at Tom's foot and leaps into the air, but is then caught and opened with Tom's claw. The cat repeatedly shakes the open can to get the mouse out of it with no results. He sticks his finger inside, only to get bitten by the mouse, ending with painful results as he staggers backwards, screaming in pain. As he finally pulls Jerry out of the can, he glances at the camera embarrassingly and then back to Jerry. Both of them realize the situation; Jerry releases his death grip, shows his cheesy smile to the camera and then to Tom (much to his annoyance,) waves, and kicks Tom's face as he panics and flees, starting the chase again. The furious cat glares at the camera and sets off in pursuit of Jerry. The cat chases him through the huts and across the pier until Jerry stops at the end of the pier while Tom goes off the end. The cat looks back to see Jerry waving at him and can barely turn back around before he slams into a port hole, taking on it's shape, and then falling into the sea to meet the shark once again.
Tom swims out of the way and escapes the shark, who continues to snap at him, in an attempt to eat the cat. The cat climbs a ladder while the shark eats through the wood columns under the pier. The shark stops, see Tom is not there, swims back and takes a leap towards the cat on top of the pier, but is smacked on the head with an oar and, groaning in pain, falls back into the water with a big star. He emerges and glares at Tom as the cat taunts him once again... only this time the shark leaps out of the water and grabs Tom (and part of the pier decking) in his jaws. Jerry peers through the resulting hole at the terrifying situation below: Tom is hanging onto the oar, which braces the shark's mouth open. He breaks this brace, so Tom uses his legs to brace instead, keeping off doom for a little longer. Jerry knows he must save him. He heads off and returns with an entire canister of pepper which he pours into the shark's mouth (sneezing in the process.) This causes the leviathan to stop and realise the pepper has entered his body. He gives a giant sneeze and releases Tom. He launches himself across the water and into the can factory, much to his annoyance, eventually turning into a big can with his frowning picture on it.
Jerry relaxes and gets a halo for his good deed, but is attacked by an ungrateful Tom, who grabs him and pops Jerry's halo with devil horns that appear on his head, chuckling nastily. Jerry chuckles innocently and sneezes himself out of the cat's hand, off his horns, and into the water, immediately followed by the cat. Tom scans the scene only to find another shark fin on a beeline heading straight towards him. Tom screams and panics himself silly with different shapes and swims away at lightning speed, with the fin keeping pace. The fin, however, is actually Jerry's creation, who is now shown swimming underneath the water. Jerry turns his head toward the camera with an evil grin on his face, and as he continues to chase Tom, he then also grows his own devil horns for revenge while he continues swimming after the cat.
Characters
Starring
Featuring
Availability
Notes
- This is the final Tom and Jerry short written and directed by Chuck Jones.
- The name is an allusion to Cannery Row, a novel by John Steinbeck.
- The shot of Tom turning on the corner of a steel girder and chasing Jerry was reused from Tom-ic Energy.
- This episode has the title after the opening credits just like the reissued versions of Fraidy Cat and Dog Trouble.
- Tom is the second character to turn white with fear after encountering the shark. The first was Jerry in Puss 'n' Boats.
- This was the last episode to be released on the first Classic Bumper Collection VHS of Tom and Jerry, released twenty nine years after it was first released, in 1996.
- When the shark chases Tom, it has the Metro Goldwyn Mayer lion's roar, which was heard at the start of all the original Tom and Jerry cartoons.
- When Tom hits the shark on the head, the shark's groan was originally Tom's, reused from a scene in a previous short when Tom swallowed some medication.
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