Tom's Photo Finish

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Tom's Photo Finish Tom and Jerry series
The title card of Tom's Photo Finish.
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Story by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voices by	Daws Butler as Gorge and Spike (unc.)
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Kenneth Muse Bill Schipek Lewis Marshall Jack Carr Herman Cohen Ken Southworth
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	November 1, 1957
Color process	Technicolor, CinemaScope, Perspecta Stereo
Running time	6 minutes 19 seconds
Preceded by	Mucho Mouse
Followed by	Happy Go Ducky
IMDb profile

Tom's Photo Finish is a 1956 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and released in late 1957. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the animation was credited to Kenneth Muse, Bill Schipek, Lewis Marshall, Jack Carr, Herman Cohen and Ken Southworth.

[edit] Plot

Tom sneaks under the rug and steals some chicken from the refrigerator and puts the remainder back, but his owners soon discover that someone has been eating it and that it could only have been Tom or Spike. After hearing his owner declare that they will find out who "if I have to X-ray them", Tom frames Spike by creating phony ink footprints from the sleeping dog to the refrigerator and slipping the chicken under Spike's arm. The owners soon see the footprints, follow them and find Spike with the chicken. They kick him out of the house, and even give the remainder of the chicken to Tom. Spike sees everything going on inside and says, "I've been framed!"

Unknown to Tom, Jerry has taken a photograph of Tom slipping the chicken under Spike's arm, and proceeds to make dozens of copies of the photograph in his "dark room". Jerry walks past a sleeping Tom with one of the photos and Tom lazily opens his eyes. Jerry continues past and then Tom realizes what he has seen. His face pops off. Because Jerry has slipped the photo into his male owner's newspaper, Tom takes it and tears it up. The master complains about it to his wife, who simply tells him that Tom is only playing. Jerry then sticks a photo into the woman's new yellow dress that she is knitting, and Tom puts it on and runs off. Tom takes out the photo and tears it up. Tom then gasps when he sees photos across the wall. Tom mows through all twenty-nine of them and sighs with relief, until he sees Jerry lowering one with a fishing line towards the male's eyes. He sees it for a split second and then Tom covers his eyes. He assumes it is his wife because of the hands, and kisses Tom before he sees the cat. He is about to kick the cat out of the house as well, but she protests. She is making a chocolate cake at the time and Jerry slips a photo in between the layers of the cake. Tom sees it and lifts the cake up, but she catches him. She asks what is wrong and then offers Tom a little taste of the cake. Tom gobbles the entire confection and she throws the kitchen tools at the cat and reprimands him. He runs away into the hallway. Tom wipes his forehead and then spots Spike outside of the window. Tom walks over and taunts the dog for a few seconds, but then his owner stops him and asks if he wants to be perceived crazy. Tom says no and his owner walks away. He pulls down the drapes where there are four photos, but he doesn't see them. Tom pulls on the cord in order to hide the photos and gets wrapped up. The male owner wonders what could be the matter with him now.

There are only two photos left. Jerry folds one into a paper airplane and throws it into the kitchen where the female owner is bound to catch it. She is curious about it, but Tom pops up and swallows the photo as it flies into his mouth. Jerry folds the last photo into a second airplane and throws it towards the male owner. Tom panics and runs after it with scissors. His attempts to cut up the last piece of evidence result in him cutting up his owner's newspaper, his underpants, and almost clipping his owner's head off.

His owner is irate and grabs Tom by the tail, who says his prayers as his owner catches the final photo and unfolds it. Seeing the truth, he kicks Tom out as Jerry photographs it and lets Spike back in. Spike is forgiving to his owners. Jerry whistles and Spike waltzes over to Jerry's hole, where Jerry shows Spike the picture of Tom being kicked out and Spike laughs at it along with the mouse.