Switchin' Kitten

Switchin' Kitten is a Tom and Jerry animated short film, released on September 7, 1961. It was the first cartoon in the series to be directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia, after William Hanna and Joseph Barbera departed from MGM.

Switchin' Kitten is the only Tom and Jerry cartoon to be produced for MGM in 1960 by Deitch and Snyder who also work on the Popeye the Sailor cartoons for King Features Syndicate at that time.

Plot

During a storm, Tom is trying to find a place to stay after being thrown out of a horse-drawn wagon. In the meantime, Jerry is assisting a mad scientist in an eerie castle. In their experiment, they switch the brains of a cat and dog. The mad scientist gives the cat-with-a-dog-brain to Jerry as a companion. While they are sleeping, Tom approaches the castle, capturing Jerry. The cat growls and takes Jerry back, threatening Tom. Tom tries to convince the cat that he is a cat, but fails.

Over the next few minutes, Tom's continuous efforts to catch Jerry are thwarted by the cat. After going through a series of beaker tubes, Tom tries to escape from the castle in fright. Along the way, he comes into contact with other animals that the mad scientist has experimented on, including a chirping elephant, a chicken that bleats like a lamb, the blue dog whose brain was switched with the cat, a mooing cuckoo bird, and Jerry, who roars like a Leo the Lion and even has a gold-ribboned mouse hole (with the phrase of Ars Gratia Artis as part on the MGM logo). Terrifying, he blasts off like a rocket out of the castle and runs off while Jerry winks to the camera audience as the cartoon closes.

External links

• Switchin' Kitten at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Switchin' Kitten at the Internet Movie Database