Tom's Photo Finish
| Tom's Photo Finish | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
 Title card | |
| Directed by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Story by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voices by |
Daws Butler June Foray (uncredited) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by |
Kenneth Muse Bill Schipek Lewis Marshall Jack Carr Herman Cohen Ken Southworth |
| Layouts by | Richard Bickenbach |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Gentle |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | November 1, 1957 |
| Color process |
Technicolor CinemaScope Perspecta |
| Running time | 6:19 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Mucho Mouse |
| Followed by | Happy Go Ducky |
Tom's Photo Finish is the 109th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, released in 1957, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera 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
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, even if it means X-raying them. Panicked, Tom frames Spike; he creates 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 happily emerges from his darkroom, having made numerous copies of his photo of Tom framing Spike. He plants copies of the photos in places where George or Joan are likely to see them. Realizing that Jerry knows the truth about him framing Spike, 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 taunts Spike from inside, leading George to think that the cat has gone crazy, but Joan tries to convince him otherwise.
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 and the cake 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 him right before the cat nearly cuts his head off and he grabs Tom's tail with one hand after having enough of his crazy behavior. He prays for mercy as George catches the paper plane with his other hand and unfolds it. Upon learning about Tom's deception in framing Spike, he decides to kick him out of the house and never letting him in as his punishment. As George kicks Tom out of the house and decided not to let him in forever, 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. Then Jerry calls Spike over and gives him something that he laughs heartily over: a photo of Tom being kicked out the house by George in his boxers.