Landing Stripling
Landing Stripling is a 1962 Tom and Jerry animated short film, released on May 18, 1962.[1] It was the sixth of the thirteen cartoons in the series to be directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia.
| Landing Stripling | |
|---|---|
 The title card of Landing Stripling. | |
| Directed by | Gene Deitch Animation direction: Václav Bedřich |
| Produced by | William L. Snyder |
| Story by | Eli Bauer |
| Starring | Allen Swift (uncredited) |
| Music by | Steven Konichek |
| Animation by | Jindra Barta Antonín Bures Mirek Kacena Milan Klikar Vera Kudrnová Vera Maresová Olga Sisková Zdenka Skrípková Zdenek Smetana (all uncredited) Checking: Ludmila Kopecná (uncredited) |
| Backgrounds by | Background paint: Bohumil Siska (uncredited) Assistant: Miluse Hluchanicová (uncredited) |
| Color process | Metrocolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | May 18, 1962 |
Running time | 6:32 |
| Country | United States Czechoslovakia |
| Language | English |
Plot
Tom and Jerry are sleeping outside during the day when a yellow bird wearing a red pilot's helmet lands on Tom, waking him up. Although the warbling bird brushes Tom's torso off and reacts politely like "pardon me", Tom goes after the bird, catches it, and proceeds to beat it up.
Jerry wakes up hearing this and goes after Tom by tying a string to his tail, throwing the string over a tree then tying the other end to a telephone pole. After this, he cuts the pole and tips it enough to lift Tom up into the tree. The bird and Jerry then fill a large tub with water, put it on an outside fireplace and light a fire underneath. Tom is begging them to stop as the bird loosens the string. The string releases Tom and he sling-shots into the tub, where he splashes around shouting and screaming in pain, jumps out and bounces away and back (with funny "boing boing" noises). The bird and Jerry laugh at the fact Tom looks bottomless.
After all his fur is back, Tom grabs the hose and chases Jerry and the bird into the mousehole and with a nasty chuckle, tries flooding them out, but Jerry and the bird stop the hose with a mousetrap until the water backs up enough and the bird comes out and pops the hose, leaving Tom tied up in the hose.
Tom then tries catching the bird on a telephone wire and almost electrocutes himself, then falls off bashing into a wheelbarrow and into a shed, where he gets an idea. He turns himself into some kind of bird then climbs a tree, but before he could take off, Jerry brings an electric oscillating stand fan over, turns it on, and Tom loses his balance, falls off and bounces away.
Next, Tom returns to the house with a box saying "DANGER"!. We find out that it's a cannon, and while he is trying to take aim at the bird, Jerry sneaks down, drills a hole in the missile, then ties Tom's tail in it, so when he fires the missile, he is taken with it into a tree. As the missile goes through the tree, Tom gets his rear end stuck in the back of the tree and in the front part, Tom's head and feet are sticking out.
Finally, in the most memorable scene, Tom takes a medium-sized amount of grass around the outdoor fireplace, sets it in there and sets it on fire, causing smoke to just about blanket the sky. Afterwards, he grabs a lawnmower and mows a strip in the field, then lines the strip with Christmas lights, illuminates them, then waits at the end of the strip with his mouth open. However, instead of the "yummy" bird, a jet airliner comes down and picks Tom up by his mouth.
After the plane flies over the tree Jerry and the bird are in, Tom lands on the same branch they're on. The bird then slaps a sticker saying "VIA AIR MAIL" on his forehead, kisses him on the cheeks, then Jerry salutes him, while Tom tiredly returns the salute.
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 150–151. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.