The Cat and the Mermouse is a 1949 American one-reel animated cartoon

Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

 and is the 43rd Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...

short directed by William Hanna

William Hanna

William Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...

 and Joseph Barbera

Joseph Barbera

Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....

 and produced by Fred Quimby

Fred Quimby

Frederick C. "Fred" Quimby was an American cartoon producer, best known as a producer of Tom and Jerry cartoons, for which he won seven Academy Awards...

. It was animated by Kenneth Muse

Kenneth Muse

Kenneth Lee Muse was an American animator. He is best known for his work on the Tom and Jerry series at MGM.-Biography:...

, Ed Barge

Ed Barge

Edward John "Ed" Barge was an American animator.Barge was born to Alfred Edward and Margaret G. Barge in San Jose, California. In 1916, the family moved to Bakersfield, where his father was employed by the Santa Fe Railroad and Pacific Western Oil Co. before retiring in 1954...

, Ray Patterson

Ray Patterson (animator)

Raymond "Ray" Patterson was an American animator, producer, and director. Patterson was born in Hollywood, California, and was the brother of animator Don Patterson.-Early career:...

, Irven Spence

Irven Spence

Irven Spence was an American animator. He is best known for his work on MGM's Tom and Jerry animated shorts. Spence has been credited variously as Irven Spence, Irvin Spence, and Irv Spence....

 and Al Grandmain, scored by Scott Bradley

Scott Bradley

Scott Bradley was an American composer, pianist and conductor.Bradley is best remembered for scoring the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical cartoons, including those starring Tom and Jerry , Droopy , Barney Bear , and the many one-shot cartoons.Bradley was a...

, and released on September 3, 1949.

Plot

Tom's relaxation at the beach is interrupted by Jerry who inadvertently walks all over a sunbathing Tom going fishing. Jerry falls into Tom's mouth and while escaping, nearly causes Tom to swallow his beach towel. Jerry goes out to the pier and casts his favorite bait: cheese. Tom pulls on the line and makes Jerry reel him in. Jerry lets go of the line and Tom struggles to stay afloat, losing the string. Tom barely catches the pier, but Jerry swings the pole at him. After a few misses, Jerry whistles and then lands a direct hit. He runs to the end of the pier and pulls off the end board. Tom can't brake, and walks the plank until Jerry pulls it out, causing Tom to fall into the water and without emerging.

A drowning Tom wakes up on the sea bed, where he finds himself still alive. He starts imitating the majestic sea creatures until he spots Jerry. The cat grabs him, but Jerry pulls away revealing that he has become a mer-mouse. Jerry swims in circles until Tom's head has done a 360, and is then grabbed again. Jerry slaps Tom face with his tail, then spins his ears in to the shape of a wrench. The cat gives chase through shipwreck windows until Tom hangs back to swallow the mouse. Jerry breaks out through Tom's left eardrum. Jerry hides and disguises himself as a seahorse in a school of six, fooling the cat for only a while. Jerry then gets lassoed and captured, but Tom gets tricked into holding a fishing line and is caught. Tom escapes and chases Jerry into another shipwreck, but Jerry closes the door on him. The anchor of the ship lands on Tom. He emerges with chain rings on his ears

Earring

Common locations for piercings, other than the earlobe, include the rook, tragus, and across the helix . The simple term "ear piercing" usually refers to an earlobe piercing, whereas piercings in the upper part of the external ear are often referred to as "cartilage piercings"...

 and neck

Neck piercing

A neck piercing is a series of surface piercings done to emulate the appearance of a bite on the side of a person's neck. A barbell is placed in the skin of the side of the neck. When the earring/barbell is removed it looks like a vampire bite....

.

Jerry steals away, but cannot brake in time to avoid a swordfish

Swordfish

Swordfish , also known as broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory, predatory fish characterized by a long, flat bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood...

. Jerry swims back the way he came, and sees Tom with a spade ready to strike. Tom misses Jerry and whacks the swordfish's horn. Tom returns it to its proper shape, but is pursued instead. Tom hides in a barrel until Jerry signals the swordfish with red circles in form of a target around the hole in the barrel. Tom is pursued again after being impaled in the rear. Tom ducks and narrowly missed being impaled in the head as the swordfish thrusts its blade into a pole. Tom hammers down the blade on the other side of the pole so that the swordfish cannot escape. Free of this worry, Tom returns to chasing Jerry, who has woken up an octopus

Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...

. Jerry hides and Tom stands vigil. As Jerry sets out, he is poked in the back. Then Tom is poked in the back. Tom attempts to run from the octopus, but is held fast by first one, then two, then three tentacles. Seeing this, Jerry is moved to indignation, plainly viewing the octopus as too cruel a fate for Tom. He seizes Tom first by the paws and then, when his grip slips, the whiskers in a deadly tug-of-war against the octopus. Tom is tugged helplessly back and forth as the tussle goes first one way then the other. Tom wakes and finds that he is back on the jetty

Jetty

A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...

, revealing the whole thing to be a dream

Dream

Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...

. Jerry rescued Tom from the water after he fell in and is applying artificial respiration in the same rhythm as in the struggle during the final moments of Tom's dream. Tom thankfully shakes Jerry's hand and happily submits to further removal of the water from his lungs.