Studio: MGM Animation/Visual Arts
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Produced by: Chuck Jones
Short Synopsis
In a log cabin in the Alps, Tom has caught Jerry and is seasoning him for dinner, but the pepper makes Jerry sneeze himself off the plate. Tom finds him hiding in a cuckoo clock and moves the hands to make him pop out, again and again; on the third try a bomb pops out instead, and Tom swallows it. After a chase on skis under the credits, Jerry takes refuge in another cabin, beside a sleeping St. Bernard rescue dog. Tom's anger melts him almost into the snow, but he comes up with a plan. He arranges his skis and boots in the snow to look like a skier buried in an avalanche, and shouts for help. The St. Bernard rushes off to the rescue, leaving Jerry unprotected, and digs and digs for the "victim". Back at the cabin, Tom chases Jerry out of the door and runs straight off a cliff. Eventually the St. Bernard finds Tom himself and revives him with his keg of brandy, again and again. Tom, thoroughly drunk, staggers through the snow in a haze of hallucinations, while Jerry and the dog look on.
Why It Matters
- The film is a showcase of the Chuck Jones unit's poses and timing: Tom literally melting with rage into the snow, the St. Bernard's tireless digging, and Tom's drunken hallucinations, which give the animators licence for surreal visual jokes. The clean, graphic Alpine backgrounds are typical of the period's design.
- It comes from the 1963-1967 Tom and Jerry revival produced by Chuck Jones at MGM, and the opening sequence was written and directed by Jones himself. The brandy gags are a reminder of how much theatrical cartoons of the time were still made with adult audiences in mind.
Notes and Trivia
- The title puns on the "Abominable Snowman", the yeti of Himalayan legend.
- Philip Roman, later a director of Garfield and The Simpsons, is among the animators.
- See also: Puss 'n' Boats (1966), Love Me, Love My Mouse (1966).