Kitty Foiled

Kitty Foiled is a Hanna-Barbara Cartoon that came out June 1st, 1948. It introduces a new character, Cuckoo.

Characters

Cuckoo
Tom Cat(the main antagonist)
Jerry Mouse

Plot

A frightened canary watches the chase as glass breaks and other fighting sounds are heard throughout. Tom attempts to smash Jerry with the broom but he swings and accidentally breaks a lamp and glasses. Jerry hides in the one unbroken glass and runs away, but Tom picks up the glass and waits for Jerry to realize he is captured. When he does, his heart starts beating and extending out of his chest. Before Tom can club the mouse over the head with the broken end of the broom handle, the canary escapes from his cage by unlatching the base of the cage, which falls onto Tom, flattening his head with a cymbal noise.

Tom pursues Jerry, chasing him into his mousehole, into which Tom's face gets caught, elongating his nose. Tom then spots the canary, beating his wings into the air within his cage. The cat leaps for him, but instead gets himself caught inside his cage, which he then seals with the base. He flies onto a table and then runs away as Tom pursues him, but instead Tom pokes himself through the center of the table and swallows the canary. Fortunately for him, the everpresent "cuckoo...cuckoo...cuckoo" gag allows the bird to escape.

Tom runs after the bird, and then rises into the air, beating his deltoids in order to stay afloat in the same matter as the canary. Tom grins at the camera until he runs into the wall and three potted plants hit him on the head. The cat recovers and sees the canary pacing away under a fourth pot. He covers the pot and pokes his eye through the hole. As Tom reaches under the pot to grab the bird, Jerry inserts Tom's tail into the windowsill and snaps the cord. Tom untangles himself and storms after the mouse, and the canary dives down and gives him a lift. They enter the hole, and Tom's nose is once again elongated, but this time, he has swallowed the duo. The mouse and canary squeeze out and take sanctuary in the mousehole.

After some time, Jerry allows the canary to fly back to his birdcage, but Tom suddenly appears from behind a sofa, mouth wide open, and the bird flies into Tom's mouth. Jerry retrieves the bird by using a hammer to break Tom's teeth, freeing the bird from his prison. The canary kicks out Tom's last tooth and flies off. As Tom snatches Jerry in his hand, the canary pulls up a floorboard and traps Tom's tail under it. In pain, Tom leaps up, and smacks his head on the cage, causing it to fall down on his head and onto the floor.

As Tom chases Jerry around the corner, the canary pulls him behind a curtain. Jerry and the bird trick Tom by dressing as two Indians and setting out from the curtain. Jerry waves and mutters "Hau." as the canary innocently smiles and waves. Tom doesn't catch it for a while, but soon sees the trick and chases after the two. The canary flies back into the small white enclosure strapped to Jerry's back. The mouse turns around slowly in dread, and they run off. The canary sticks his tongue out at Tom, only to bump his head on a chair. Tom chases the canary, and soon changes direction and goes after the mouse. Jerry and then Tom dive under a polar-bear skin complete with head, and when Tom pops out of the mouth, the canary (on top of it) stomps on the head. Tom shrieks in pain and rolls his tongue out.

Tom dives for the canary, but stops short in midair when the canary picks up a gun. Tom backs up in dread until he is cornered next to the fireplace. Seeing a perfect opportunity, Jerry drops a lightbulb, making a noise similar to a shot. Tom, oblivious, believes he was actually shot, utters a dramatic grunt of pain, and sees from the mirror his "grave." Tom flips a coin as he "dies" on the floor. The mouse and the canary celebrate, shaking hands with each other, plus a revived Tom.

Noticing the cat, they decide to distract him by repeatedly shaking each other's hands and both of Tom's hands. Tom gets swept up in the moment of goodwill, and Jerry and the canary make Tom's hands shake one and then sneak away to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne". Tom soon realizes his hands are shaking each other and chases both, but the canary escapes, while Jerry runs into the leg of a chair for the canary bird heart. Tom catches Jerry and ties him to a toy train track, and then gets on the biggest train and activates it. The terrified canary grabs a bag with a bowling ball inside and carries it across the room to where the scene unfolds: Tom, with vicious glee, is approaching the mouse fast (accompanied with a fragment of Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture), who begins to say his prayers. However, when the canary cannot hold the bowling ball anymore, it falls out and crashes through the railway and the ground, in which the train plunges with Tom still aboard.

The short ends with Jerry and the canary whistling "My Blue Heaven."

Trivia

The train scene is used as a flashback in Life with Tom.
This features the second time Tom screams, first was in Solid Serenade.
Kenneth Muse returned to Tom and Jerry cartoons starting with this one.
This is the only cartoon animated by Irving Levine.
Some United States showings cut out the scene that shows Jerry and the canary dressing up as Native Americans.
The scene where the canary holds the gun and points it at Tom was cut in Asia Pacific.