Carmen Get It! is the 13th and final Tom and Jerry cartoon produced by William L. Snyder and directed by Gene Deitch in the present-day Czech Republic, and the 127th Tom and Jerry short overall. It was released on December 1, 1962 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This short ended Deitch's contract with MGM, and Chuck Jones took over production of the Tom and Jerry cartoons shortly afterwards, and moving production back to Southern California, USA, with the summer of 1963 short Pent-House Mouse, which the concepts in the Chuck Jones-era completely differs from the Gene Deitch-era, even if not generally acclaimed like the MGM era from 1940-1958.
The name is a portmanteau and play on the opera Carmen and the phrase "Come and get it!", respectively.
Characters[]
Starring[]
Featuring[]
Plot[]
In the city, Tom chases Jerry through traffic with cars in the road and Jerry leads him in an opera as Jerry ran inside Tom gets kicked out by a guard, Tom gets a tuxedo and the guard noticed that he was the cat and kicked him out again. His third attempt he holds a case to look like a musician as he passes by the guard with a big bass case.
Tom makes his way towards the opera and opens up the case to reveal a double bass case, a cello case, a viola case, a violin case, and finally a violin. During the preparation of the orchestra, Tom opens up the violin, which contains a tape recorder inside, which simulates Tom's portion of the score. Tom lures Jerry by scraping the violin's bow with cheese, and while attacking Jerry with the bow while scrapping him across, Jerry falls into the violin and fast-forwards the tape. The squeaking noise disturbs and angers the conductor, who promptly breaks the violin on Tom's head. The conductor then resumes the music. Jerry runs up the conductor's leg and when Tom chases Jerry, the conductor sees Tom and angrily stomps him on the head. Jerry starts crawling around the conductor's back, while the conductor's gyrations cause the orchestra to start playing a rhythmic jazz tune instead, making the conductor to start dancing hilariously. Finally, the movements cause Jerry to be flung out of the conductor's sleeve, and Tom (hiding in a tuba) reaches out to grab Jerry with a baseball glove. However, the tuba player begins a solo passage, and Tom is blown out of the tuba.
As the conductor has a glass of water to calm and cool down, Tom chases Jerry into the conductor's score. The conductor notices this and slams the book shut, flattening Tom and leaving the notes from the book on him. The conductor snickers sadistically and resumes the music until he pushes Tom off the book. Meanwhile, Jerry escapes into a break room and lures some ants onto a blank page of the score. He gets Tom's attention, and as Tom tries to get him at the conductor's stand, the spotlight goes back on and everyone cheered for him. Tom has had no choice but to conduct the orchestra since the conductor was nowhere. However, Jerry causes the ants to change positions, causing Tom to misconduct the music, such that it changes to "American Patrol", "Yankee Doodle", "Dixie", and "There'll Be a Hot Time In the Town Tonight". Finally, the ants scatter and Tom sees Jerry. He screws Jerry into a light bulb socket, and lights Jerry like an x-ray. But at that moment, the furious conductor returns and Tom screeches his body parts off in terror and runs off as fast as his paws could carry him.
The opera finally begins, and the singer playing Carmen walks onto the stage. She is just about to begin singing the "Habanera" when she suddenly screams because she sees Jerry dressed like a toreador and dancing at the front of the stage. Tom reaches onto the stage and finally catches Jerry, but the conductor, believing Tom has profaned the opera´s theatre, gets on the stage and blocks Tom's way, incensed with the cat for interfering for the last time, has been singed off of this madness, appearing prepared to kill Tom. Jerry gives a terrified Tom a red blanket, and the enraged conductor starts to charge him like a raging bull. The dignified opera thus devolves into a farcical bullfight between Tom and the conductor while Jerry takes over the conducting duties, providing fitting music for the stage's events. After the song finishes, Jerry bows down to the audience and the ants spell "THE END" on the book pages, to thunderous cheering and applause.
Reception[]
While the Gene Deitch shorts are usually considered the worst Tom and Jerry shorts, this cartoon, along with The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit, Buddies Thicker Than Water, and Tall in the Trap are reviewed more favorably and are often considered the best of the Gene Deitch shorts.
Notes[]
- This is the final Tom and Jerry cartoon to be directed by Gene Deitch, who later created "Nudnik" and the "Self-Help Series", both of which would be nominated for Oscars.
- The conductor in this cartoon is a caricature of Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, who sometimes showed a violent temper during rehearsals. He also bears something of a resemblance to longtime and popular Boston Pops' conductor, Arthur Fiedler.
- The new Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, where the short takes place, was still under construction when this cartoon was produced (the venue didn't open up until 1966). Key backgrounds were based on the architect's renderings.
- Carmen's scream is a reused sound effect from the earlier cartoon Buddies Thicker Than Water.
- This is one of the final Tom and Jerry cartoons to have the mono tracking audio; all the future Tom and Jerry projects would use stereo for later years to come starting with the TV series, The Tom & Jerry Kids Show.
- This is the fourth and final cartoon to feature The Ants who previously appeared in Cat Napping, Pup on a Picnic, and Barbecue Brawl.
- This is the 127th cartoon overall.
- This is the only Gene Deitch Cartoon that does not say An MGM Cartoon at the end.
Errors[]
- When Carmen runs away from Jerry backstage, her face takes on a completely different design.
Censorship[]
- The singer playing Carmen's appearance was removed while it aired on Cartoon Network Maghreb and Spacetoon, likely due to the exposed cleavage of her enlarged breasts.
- In Cartoon Network, Morocco is frequently replaced by a limestone before they are in the palace, and the singer playing Carmen's appearance was removed as in the Arabic World. These two scenes were left intact on Boomerang USA and MeTV.