The Two Mouseketeers is a 1952 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Plot[]
In 17th century Paris, Mouseketeers Jerry and Nibbles decide to help themselves to a lavish royal banquet. Tom, in the service of Captaine Rochefort, has been ordered to guard the spread from the King's Mouseketeers with his life, under threat of execution by guillotine if he fails. Jerry and Nibbles enter the castle hall through a stained-glass window. Jerry releases the rear-end cover on a suit of armor, making a small drawbridge to the windowsill. They sneak into the armor, emerge from the helmet's visor and then parachute onto the table.
Jerry lands first, followed by Nibbles who lands on a roasted warthog's mouth, causing him to get stuck. Jerry pulls Nibbles out of its mouth. Afterwards, Nibbles goes inside a big block of cheese, pretending it is a tower with only a few floors. Nibbles waves to Jerry on the top-floor but loses his balance and he falls on an unopened banana, which opens and shoots into Jerry's mouth, causing the brown mouse's body to become banana-shaped. They then unwittingly catch Tom's attention by showering him with champagne after trying to open the cork with the roasted pig's tail. After hiding from Tom by wearing white paper decorations from the standing rib roast to look like two ribs, Jerry runs off, but little Nibbles begins making a ham sandwich while singing "Alouette" to himself. Tom sneaks up behind him and pokes him with his rapier, and the angry Nibbles yells in protest before realizing he is in danger.
But before he can get away, Tom captures him by putting his rapier through Nibbles's tabard. Failing to escape, Nibbles greets him. Jerry manages to stab Tom in the rear-end to rescue Nibbles, and throws a custard in Tom's face for good measure. A sword fight then ensues, ending with Tom catching Jerry. Nibbles tips a halberd toward Tom and it shaves the tabard and all the fur off the cat's back from head to hind end, revealing a ruffled white underwear.
Nibbles runs away, but is sent flying by Tom into a full wine glass – but Jerry saves him by hurling a tomato at Tom, followed by multiple vegetables and meat chunks. After impaling them all on his rapier, Tom then heats and eats them like a shish kebab. Nibbles, now drunk, climbs out of the glass. He pokes Tom in the rear-end, making him yowl and jump up in pain, as Nibbles waves his sword, yelling: "Touché, pussycat!" But as he runs away, Tom catches him. Jerry makes the save by hitting Tom on the head with a mace so hard that the cat falls through the table, before having another sword fight between Tom and Jerry. While this goes on, Nibbles brings along a cannon and stuffs it with everything on the banquet table. Just as Tom catches Jerry, Nibbles lights the cannon and it violently explodes.
As the smoke disappears, Jerry and Nibbles are seen walking triumphantly down the street with some of the stolen banquet food. Suddenly, they look up and see a guillotine in the distance, while hearing a drum roll, the blade rises up and comes down, suggesting that Tom has been executed, although off-screen, in order to comply with the Hays Code. Both mice gulp, and Nibbles sighs: "Pauvre, pauvre pussycat." Then he shrugs, saying: "C'est la guerre!" After that, the two Mouseketeers continue their victory march.
Availability[]
- (????) VHS - Tom and Jerry: Bad Day at Cat Rock
- (1993) LaserDisc - The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume I
- (2003) VHS and DVD - Tom and Jerry: Whiskers Away
- (2004) DVD - Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 3
- (2004) DVD - Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1
- (2005) DVD and Blu-ray - Ivanhoe
- (2008) DVD - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners (restored)
- (2008) DVD - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners, 26 Nominees, Disc 1 (restored)
- (2010) DVD - Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection
- (2012) DVD - Tom and Jerry: Around the World
- (2012) DVD and Blu-ray - Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse
- (2013) DVD - Tom and Jerry: Pint-Sized Pals
- (2013) DVD - Tom and Jerry: Merry Mice
- (2018) DVD - Tom and Jerry: Once Upon A Tomcat
Notes[]
- This is the sixth Tom and Jerry short to win an Academy Award.
- Such was the cartoon's success, that Hanna and Barbera created three more entries in the Mouseketeers series; Touché, Pussycat! (1954), which received an Oscar nomination, Tom and Chérie (1955) and Royal Cat Nap (1958).