Is There a Doctor in the Mouse? is a 1964 cartoon and the third of the 34 cartoons to be directed, produced, and written by Chuck Jones with co-writer Michael Maltese, and backgrounds by Robert Gribbroek.
Characters[]
Plot[]
Jerry is mixing a special potion while the credits are rolling. When he drinks, he discovers he is able to run (and eat) at blinding speed. Tom is about to eat a sardine, but Jerry gets to it first in a flash. Tom is confused, and then waves it off and goes for the rest of the fish, but before he can, Jerry steals those, too. He then sops up the last bit of fish gravy with his finger, but Jerry eats it and also takes the skin off that finger, causing Tom to let out a little murmur. Tom begins to wonder if it is a ghost eating his food, but he denies this idea, discounting it as stupid. He comes to the conclusion that it must be a bug with a jetpack and chatter-like teeth.
Tom slips a large watermelon slice around the corner and readies a flyswatter. Jerry mows through the watermelon flesh, and Tom only ends up scattering the rind and seeds around. When Tom sees an entire turkey being eaten, he panics and takes a grape cluster and an apple from the table. Jerry eats the apple down to the core, then comes back to eat the entire fruit and then to eat all but one of the grapes. Tom covers up the grape, then licks his lips at it before Jerry swipes it. Now, Tom starts to go berserk. He hides in the refrigerator, sighs, and then starts to take a sniff of a rack of ribs. He does not see Jerry swipe them all until he bites on each of the bones in turn.
Tom starts to set up a filming camera while humming, and he makes the picture clearer. He then sets out a cake and films Jerry stealing it so he can see who is taking his food. After Tom prepares the film, he plays it in slow motion to uncover who is behind these charades. This is what happened:
Jerry approaches from the right and eats the cake one layer at a time, then he takes the cherry on top. Tom sees this and mutters somewhat in the vein of, "Why, that mouse is very strong!"
Jerry then bounces the cherry like a basketball and then gets a net, through which the cherry falls into Jerry's mouth. Jerry bounces up, dashes quickly to the right and grabs the net so that it twists into the word, "Finis".
Tom comes up with a plan to catch the mouse in his act. He makes a mousetrap sandwich and makes a "Mmmmm" gesture, then he licks his lips so that Jerry will chomp it and get trapped. Jerry does take the bait, but the trap does not work. Tom bites at the mouse, but ends up biting the mousetrap, which causes him to yell in pain and launching himself into the light fixture! Jerry brakes and raids the refrigerator. Tom follows him and opens the door to find a banana walking. Tom snatches it up and pulls the banana skin down to reveal the mouse, and right after Jerry ate it. Jerry kisses Tom's nose and runs off at super speed, but the potion wears off and throws him around randomly. He falls into his hole as Tom reaches for him.
Jerry makes a second potion, but this time, it is an enlargement potion, which enlarges its consumer to an unbelievably large size. Tom catches Jerry's tail and somehow manages to pull him through the wall. When Tom can no longer tug the load around and he turns around to see the mega-Jerry sadistically raising his eyebrows and waving at him. Tom begins to laugh at the enlarged Jerry but then begins to cry out of fear, as the cartoon ends.
Notes[]
- This short is reminiscent to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse, which was released eighteen years earlier, down to the ending where the tables turn when Tom and Jerry switch sizes, except that instead of Tom shrinking to the size of an ant, here Jerry grows into a giant.
- This cartoon uses Jay Ward/Rocky & Bullwinkle sound effects.
- The title is a pun on the famous phrase "Is there a doctor in the house?", hence the cartoon's name.
- The proper phrase previously appeared on a sign Jerry holds during one scene in the 1944 short Mouse Trouble.
- This one of the few cartoons where Jerry torments Tom for no reason whatsoever.
- In the Latin Spanish dub, when Tom mutters after realizing it was Jerry who stole the food, he speaks in that scene by saying What a bandit, I suspected it! (¡Pero qué bandido, lo sospechaba!)
- A Road Runner short later directed by Chuck Jones titled Soup or Sonic, where Wile E. Coyote attempts to catch a giant Road Runner in the final scene, is similar to how this cartoon ends.
Availability[]
.jpg "T&J - H&S (DVD; 2003).jpg (52 KB)")
.jpg "T&J - Magical Misadventures (DVD).jpg (366 KB)")
.jpg "T&J - Mouse Trouble (DVD; 2014).jpg (87 KB)")
Gallery[]
