The Flying Sorceress

The Flying Sorceress
Tom and Jerry series
The title card of The Flying Sorceress
Directed by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Produced by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Voices by June Foray
Music by Scott Bradley
Animation by Ed Barge
Irven Spence
Lewis Marshall
Kenneth Muse
Layouts by Richard Bickenbach
Backgrounds by Robert Gentle
Studio MGM Cartoons
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)
  • January 27, 1956 (1956-01-27)
Color process Technicolor
CinemaScope
Running time 6:40
Language English
Preceded by That's My Mommy
Followed by The Egg and Jerry

The Flying Sorceress is a 1956 one reel animated Tom and Jerry short directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. It was produced in CinemaScope and released to theatres on January 27, 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

Plot

Tom is dreaming about chasing Jerry through the house, as usual, but then collides with a table and breaks an ornament, causing him to be scolded by Joan. She says "Well, Mr. Clumsy every time you chase that mouse, you break something". While Tom cleans up the mess, he sees an advertisement in the newspaper for an intelligent cat as a creepy old lady's traveling companion, gets interested in the job, and leaves for the given location.

Tom walks along a road and sees a creepy (haunted) house. He enters the place and a creepy witch (voiced by June Foray) comes in riding on her broom. Seeing the job is less appealing than he thought, Tom tries to leave, but the witch grabs Tom on her broom. She notes that he doesn't look much like a witch's cat, so she screams' "BOO!" at him, scaring him so that he rears up and all his hair stands on end. She then gives her broom a kick and they take off. Before the ride, the witch points out a cemetery containing seven graves, each with a previous applicant. Next to the seventh grave is an open one, reserved for Tom, marked "eight". She tells him that if Tom does not hang on, the grave will be for him. During the ride, the witch loses Tom & her hat. Tom had taken it and uses it to parachute down, but the witch grabs Tom. They return to the house and the witch tells Tom that he gets the job. Tom is left to sleep in a coffin. As the witch retires, Tom looks at her broom and decides to take it on a joyride. He gets the hang of riding a broom by himself, doing a few tricks, but hits a tree branch that almost slices his head off.

Tom then flies by his house spying on Jerry, who thinks that he saw something. Jerry then opens the front door and gets knocked down by Tom, who then gets off the broom and points to Jerry. The broom hits Jerry and sweeps him into a dustpan and dumps him into a garbage can. Tom leaves and returns to the witch's house where the witch is waiting for him. She is very angry about Tom "stealing a ride" and casts a spell on the broom, saying that she'll give Tom a "real" ride. The broom takes Tom on a scary, painful ride, dragging his head through the ceiling, causing him to bounce down the stairs, and crashing into a table. The broom then acts like a pogo stick with Tom holding on to it.

However, Tom wakes up to see Joan shaking the broom. Realising it was only a dream, Tom is relieved and goes back to clearing up his mess. He then decides to sit on the broom and gives it a kick. Before he can react, the broom takes off with him on it, sailing towards the night sky. Jerry and his owner look on and Tom's owner Joan sighs and remarks, "Now, what is that cat up to?".

Alternative versions

  • Like a number of early widescreen animated films (several other MGM cartoons and Disney's Lady and the Tramp for example) The Flying Sorceress was produced in both the Academy and CinemaScope aspect ratios. The same animation cels were used, but the camera shots were reframed and different shots were reused. For some television broadcast, however, a pan-and-scan copy was prepared from the CinemaScope version (which is reframed from the Academy version and missing information present at the top and bottom of the Academy version and missing information present at the Academy version. Contrary to the CinemaScope version, the Academy version is missing left and right side of the frame in many shots from the CinemaScope version.

Availability

DVD:

Production

  • Animation: Ed Barge, Irven Spence, Lewis Marshall, Kenneth Muse
  • Layout: Richard Bickenbach
  • Backgrounds: Robert Gentle
  • Music: Scott Bradley
  • Produced and Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
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