Tom's Photo Finish is the 109th one reel

Reel

A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core...

 animated

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...

 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

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

, created in 1956, directed and produced 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....

 with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Bill Schipek, Lewis Marshall, Jack Carr, Herman Cohen and Ken Southworth, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. It was released on November 1, 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

Plot

Tom sneaks into the kitchen to the fridge. He grabs a whole chicken and takes a couple of bites out of it before he hears George coming his way. Tom hurriedly shoves the chicken back into the refrigerator and hides. George, upon discovering the half-eaten chicken, concludes that either Tom or Spike is guilty and is determined to figure out which. Panicked, Tom frames Spike; he crests phony ink footprints leading from the sleeping dog to the refrigerator. As Tom moves to plant the chicken on Spike, a bright light flashes, and Jerry, holding a camera, runs off. Joan and George see the "evidence" implicating Spike and kick him out of the house. Spike laments being framed as he watches George and Joan allow Tom to gobble down the remainder of the chicken.

Meanwhile, Jerry emerges from his darkroom

Darkroom

A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...

, having made numerous copies of his photo of Tom framing Spike. Jerry plants copies of the photos in places where George and/or Joan are likely to see them. Tom is forced to use the guise of being a recklessly playful cat as he swoops in to destroy the photos before George and/or Joan see them. To make matters worse, Tom is taunting Spike from the window, who hides and George thinks Tom is crazy and goofy.

Jerry begins folding the photos into paper airplanes and tosses them towards Joan in the kitchen and George in the den. Tom swallows the airplane meant for Joan and begins frantically chasing the airplane headed towards George with a pair of scissors. Tom's efforts to stop the plane only serve to cut up George's newspaper and his trousers. George intercepts Tom right before the cat nearly cuts his head off. With Tom's tail in one hand, George catches the paper plane with his other hand and, as Tom prays for mercy, reveals Tom's deception, finding out it was Tom, Tom prays and George angrily demands "So that's it, eh?", Tom nods nervously and keeps praying. As George kicks Tom out of the house, Jerry has his camera out again and photographs the moment. Joan and George let Spike back into the house and ask for forgiveness, which the dog gladly grants. Jerry then calls Spike over and gives him a present that he laughs heartily over; a photo of Tom getting kicked out of the house.

Pan and scan mistake

The scene, where Tom's head pops from his body, is pan and scanned incorrectly. Such as the pan and scan camera only focus on the middle of the frame (Tom's body was on the left and his head was on the right).