Release Date:

August 5, 1944

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A crafty mouse tricks a stupid lion into letting him go and calls him “SUCKER!” once he does. After getting tricked by the mouse again and again, the lion eventually finds himself needing the mouse’s assistance when he is grabbed by a childish gorilla.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 9-14, the 9th Looney Tune in the 14th release season.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “Hickory Dickory Dock” played under the opening credits. Additionally, cels of the original title card and credits were found in June 2021.

Interestingly, these credits revealed that Ray Patin (who was otherwise uncredited on Warner cartoons) was given the animation credit for this one. However, copyright assumed that Robert Cannon was the credited animator and this info was transcribed over to the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Cannon DID animate on this one as the opening and closing scenes are unmistakably his style so copyright assuming he was credited was certainly not a mistake. But poor Ray Patin had been robbed of his sole Warner Bros. credit for nearly 70 years (the cartoon was reissued in 1952).

This is Warner’s second lion and mouse cartoon following “The Lyin’ Mouse” (which we reviewed almost a year ago).

The title is a pun for “From Hand to Mouth”.

The mouse shares the same character design as Hubie and Bertie.

This is the first cartoon released as a Looney Tune to not feature any characters in the intro (after they finally realized how misleading that was).

What I Like About This One:

The lion pushing the mouse down into his fist while the mouse is trying to explain that he’s not capable of satisfying the lion’s enormous appetite (animated by Robert Cannon).

When the lion is convinced by the mouse that he will save his life one day, the lion tells the mouse to “get back to your hole before I change my mind”. After he is let go, the mouse’s body is revealed to be compressed by the lion’s fist (animated by Cannon).

Just before the mouse retreats into his hole, he yells “SUCKER!” (animated by Cannon) Angry at being tricked, the lion repeatedly thumps his head against a tree (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Laying out a trap for the mouse, the lion angrily walks up to him saying “Ah-ha!” once the mouse is caught in the trap. The mouse does some fast-talking: “Well, what are you standing there for? Get me out of here! Remember your promise when I let you go back there? You said you’d get me out of a jam! Well, I’m in a jam now! So get me out of here!” The lion lets him out and realizes his error too late when the mouse again yells “SUCKER!” (animated by Ben Washam) The lion thumps his head against the tree again (animated by Vaughan).

Later, the lion jumps on the unsuspecting mouse (animated by Ray Patin), but the mouse climbs down the lion’s tail and into his fur and scratches him. The lion then combs the mouse out of his mane, and is about to eat him but the mouse holds up a sign saying “12 Points” and asks, “Got your ration stamp, bub?” The lion doesn’t so he puts the mouse down. This time, the mouse rubber stamps “SUCKER” on the lion’s behind (animated by Ken Harris).

Getting caught in another trap, the mouse grabs a nearby tuft of hair and puts it on his head to resemble a mane, making him look like a miniature lion. Thinking this is a fellow lion in trouble, the lion releases him, only for the mouse to say, “Now I’ve got ya, ya measly little mouse!” The lion is so stupid that he forgets the species he’s supposed to be: “Please don’t eat me, Mr. Lion. Duh, uh, I’m just a little mouse but I may be able to help you out of a jam someday”. Acting convinced, the mouse tells the lion to get back to his hole before he changes HIS mind. This results in the lion hitting the cliffside, making him resemble a hairy frying pan and causing a pile of rubble to fall on top of him (animated by Washam). The mouse whispers “Sucker” in the lion’s ear, with the lion breaking out of the rubble in fury (animated by Patin).

The lion is then given misdirections by the mouse disguised as an Indian chief and then a cannibal with Rochester’s voice. Stopping by the gorilla and initially thinking this is the mouse in disguise, he asks, “You think you’re pretty smart, don’t ya?” Upon seeing that the gorilla is way too tall to be the mouse, the lion walks away. The mouse laughs at this but the gorilla picks out the reed he was hiding in and with the mouse inside it, he gets great amusement out of the rattling noise it makes, and is heavily disappointed once the mouse leaves the reed (animated by Vaughan).

Seeing that the lion’s behind is shaped exactly like the reed when the latter is held from a certain angle, the gorilla grabs him and gets him to make a teeth-chattering sound by shaking him. When the lion slumps, the mouse tauntingly asks, “What’s the matter, cuddles? Did your toy break?” and gives the gorilla a substitute: a bomb. The gorilla starts playing with it as the mouse drags the unconscious lion away. When the explosion happens, all the unharmed gorilla can do is just stand there in bewilderment and say, “Duh, boom” very calmly in a line hilariously delivered by Mel Blanc (animated by Harris).

Having seemingly made peace, the lion and the mouse walk off with the mouse saying “with your brawn and my brains, we can go places” before letting the lion walk ahead of him first on a small branch above a cliff. When it breaks, the mouse once more says, “Sucker” as the lion falls (animated by Harris). At the bottom of the cliff, the lion tries to convince himself that they planned this all along and that his fall was intentional, but realizes this is no use so he pulls out a mirror and repeatedly yells “SUCKER!” at it (animated by Cannon).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕