Neapolitan Mouse

Neapolitan Mouse is the 86th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1953 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Ray Patterson and Kenneth Muse, with backgrounds by John Didrik Johnsen. It was released on October 2, 1954 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot

The cartoon begins with Tom and Jerry arriving on a cruise ship to Naples. Jerry emerges from a mouse hole-size door on the ship only to be crushed by Tom when he slams open the human-size door on the ship. Jerry retaliates by slamming the door back on Tom initiating a chase scene leading off the ship. Tom runs past a pile of luggage where Jerry, wearing some bristles from a broom as a disguise, tells him the mouse he is looking for is in another direction. Tom runs off before realizing he was tricked and turns back around to chase Jerry, who ditches his disguise. Tom runs up to a fountain with several lion-shaped statues spitting water from their mouths. Jerry has hidden himself standing on top of one of the lions but after a second, runs out of water. Tom climbs up onto the fountain where Jerry spits in his face and runs off. Tom and Jerry run onto a busy street corner where Jerry spills a bucket full of apples all over the road. Tom slips on the apples and goes crashing into the side of a flower cart. He bends a metal bucket on the cart out of shape and it gets stuck to his head, like a hat, and then a necklace of flowers lands on his neck. Jerry runs down another street where Tom leaps out of nowhere surprising him. They both run into a corner where Tom begins trying to hit Jerry with a frying pan, producing quite a racket. The racket drives a mouse, Topo, out of his mouse hole. At first he is upset about the noise until he sees what was making the noise. He then proceeds to punch Tom in the face and hit him with the pan. He then explains to Jerry that he has his own problems to deal with. We see Tom being bullied by a Neapolitan blue dog. The dog trips him and then sends him running into a wall where he collapses into an accordion shape. He plays Tom like an accordion then drops him on the ground in front. Tom tries running away again but the dog holds him up. Topo comes in, grabbing the dog by his tail, then throwing him up and over. He then ties the dog's tail around his legs and his ears around his nose. This sends the dog running away, mentioning Topo's power and strength. Topo then realizes who Tom & Jerry are, mentioning that he is a fan of their cartoons. He then agrees to take them on a tour around Naples.

They go to an outdoor market where Topo makes Tom a sandwich with meat, cheese, a tomato, and a can of an unspecified food. The sandwich is very tall but Tom crushes it and eats it whole. It then re-expands in his stomach making Jerry laugh. Topo then drops a large bag of food into Jerry's mouth making him swell up like a knock-over doll. They then continue on their tour. Upon approaching Nisida, Topo begins singing a song which makes him tear up. Meanwhile, the blue dog from earlier along with two friends, a white dog and a short, orange dog, come out from behind a tree. The blue dog point out their target and they come creeping out. Tom & Jerry are enjoying Topo's song when they notice the dogs' approach and run away, just as Topo finishes his song. Topo says that his song always makes him cry before noticing that Tom & Jerry are gone and the dogs are around him, beginning a chase scene. Tom calls Topo up to the food stand from before where he and Jerry, along with Topo's help, roll three large cheese wheels off the counter. The cheese wheels go rolling on to the ground and down the same hill the dogs are running up. The dogs turn and run from the cheese where their paths split. The short, orange dog is chased around the edge of a fountain before rejoining his friends. The dogs are forced to stop when they almost run off the edge of a dock but get knocked off by the wheels of cheese which then roll off, job accomplished. Tom, Jerry, and Topo look over the edge of the dock before the ship foghorn blows. They run off, quickly returning to bid Topo good bye. Topo waves goodbye from the dock along with the three unharmed dogs as Tom & Jerry sail back home to America.