A Mouse in the House is a 1947 Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
Mammy Two Shoes stumbles upon the kitchen which has been ransacked by Jerry (who has had a jam session in the bread box, raided the refrigerator, and took bites out of Mammy's chocolate cake), and goes on a tirade against the residents of the house: Tom and Butch. She ventures into the living room, where she finds them lazing around and drinking cream. Sarcastically pleased that the cats are satisfied, she yells "'cause I ain't! There's a mouse in the house, and there's two cats. But there's only gonna be one cat in this house in the morning -- and that's the cat that catches that mouse. Now get going!"
The two cats frantically begin their search for the mouse, and are unsuspectingly aided by Jerry, before realizing the mouse was under their noses the whole time. They scramble to catch Jerry, but instead become entangled, with only Butch's left foot touching the ground. They tiptoe across the floor, until the mouse motions at them to stop, then slams that foot with a fireplace log. Butch screams and goes up in the air, getting untangled from Tom in the process. He then lands again and begins jumping up and down in pain while accidentally clutching Tom's left foot, his own smashed toes visibly pulsating all this time. Butch eventually notices this and realizing he's got the wrong foot, lets go of Tom's foot and grabs his own throbbing foot, going back to screaming and jumping up and down in pain. The chase continues as Tom and Butch both grab Jerry together and decide to have a duel using a pair of guns they find lying around. Tom turns around as they pace across the room and tries to shoot Butch, but instead he finds out it's a "novelty gun", which whacks Butch on the head. Butch, assuming he has a real gun, chases after Tom, until Tom sees the brand name on it (which is the same as the other one) and assumes it is another novelty gun. He chuckles at this and challenges Butch to shoot him; Butch obliges and it turns out that this gun is a real one.
The chase continues into the kitchen, where Jerry jumps into a gas oven. Tom and Butch slam the door and turn on the gas as Jerry sneaks out, lights a match and drops it in the oven. Tom and Butch open the oven door and the oven explodes on them.
Jerry and the cats move into the living room, and the two cats hide. The mouse looks both ways and slowly walks out, but is caught by both cats. Jerry squeezes out of their grip, but is then grabbed by Butch. Tom grabs his opponent's tail as he flees, and stops Butch, but meets his ire as well. Tom bops Butch on the head, and Butch slips the mouse into a box with a sliding cover before fighting it out themselves. Jerry escapes from the box and rings a boxing gong, ending the fight, and cleans up and coaches both cats to hit each other. Jerry rings the gong and both cats end up punching each other, as planned. They realize they've been tricked and glance towards Jerry, who is mocking the fight. Both of them pull up on either side of the mouse.
Eventually seeing he is trapped between the two, the mouse chooses Butch via Eeny Meeny Mine Mo, taunts Tom, and sits down in Butch's hand. Butch snaps his fingers in victory, and Tom slumps down and walks away, then hides behind a curtain. Butch is reveling in his victory until Tom reaches out and grabs Jerry directly out of the other cat's hand. Butch turns the corner and opens the curtain to find only Tom, who pretends to not know where the mouse is. Then, Jerry (underneath Tom) lifts up the cat and carries him around to reveal himself. Tom simply continues with the charade, and Butch grabs Tom, revealing the mouse underneath, who soon realizes Tom is missing. Butch stuffs Tom into the umbrella stand and grabs Jerry. Annoyed, Tom runs into the kitchen, dressing himself in Mammy's clothing in order to trick Butch. Butch enters the kitchen, with Jerry clenched in his fist, and offers him to Tom, thinking that he is Mammy. Tom whacks Butch over the head with a frying pan, dashes out of his disguise and runs off with Jerry. Butch regains consciousness and runs into the living room, wearing Mammy's clothing, while pretending to arrange the bookshelves. Tom falls for his own trick and gets walloped with a chimney shovel. Butch grabs Jerry and runs straight into an ironing board and knocks himself out. Jerry escapes from Butch's clutches and runs off. Both cats pick up the weapons used against them and chase after the mouse.
Just then, we see Mammy walking down the stairs. She says "I think I'd better go peek in on them two cats." Tom approaches from one room, sees Mammy, and thinking that he's seen Butch in disguise, hides behind the stairs. Then Butch approaches from another room, also sees Mammy, and again thinking that he's seen Tom in disguise, hides on the other side of the stairs. As Mammy peeks through a door, the two cats hit her on the bottom repeatedly with their weapons, both thinking that Mammy is the other cat. Mammy screams in pain and the cats look at each other, and move her pant leg to reveal who they have attacked. They try to flee, but Mammy angrily grabs them by their tails ("Hold on there, you crazy cats!"), attacks and throws them out of the house as Jerry opens the door. Jerry, thinking that he got the last laugh, watches and walks back into the house, but is met with Mammy tapping her foot. Resigned, the mouse slowly walks back out the door while the cartoon irises out. It stops on Jerry who waves goodbye to Mammy with a smile on his face and shuts the door as he dashes away.
Gallery[]
