Toms Photo Finish

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 paw prints leading from the sleeping dog to the refrigerator. In the mousehole, Jerry is reading a book, but as he sees Tom, he surprisingly watches him. 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 a guilty Spike and kick him out of the house for good. Spike now realizes that he was framed as he watches George and Joan allowing 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: he tears up George's newspaper, steals Joan's new dress and covers George's eyes to stop them seeing the photos, resulting in him nearly getting kicked out of the house when George mistakes him for Joan and kisses him (causing him to flip out upon realizing just who it was). When Jerry slips a photo inside a cake Joan is finishing, Tom reaches inside to grab it but is foiled by Joan, who asks if he wants to taste it. When he nods, she holds out the knife she had been using to ice the cake, only for the cat to somehow eat the whole thing in one bite and then swallow it with some difficulty. He is forced to flee the kitchen as Joan hurls dishes, buckets and a rolling pin at him for eating her cake. To make matters worse, Tom taunts Spike from inside, but Spike ducks out of sight as George comes along which makes it look like Tom is making silly faces and actions out the window for no reason. Thinking Tom has completely lost it, George snaps at him (almost scaring the cat to death in the process). He orders Tom to stop making those faces unless he wants the neighbors to think he's gone crazy and pulling down the windowshade to reveal four more photos stuck on it. To make sure George doesn't see them, Tom shoots up with the shade just as George comes back and wonders where 'that goofy cat' has gone now.

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 meant for Joan and begins frantically chasing the airplane headed towards George with a pair of scissors. Tom's efforts to stop the plane result in cutting up George's newspaper into a paper chain and his half pants instead. Having enough of his tomfoolery, George intercepts Tom right before the cat nearly cuts his head off and tries to flee. He grabs Tom's tail with one hand and pulls him back. Realizing he can't escape without arousing suspicion, Tom can only pray that George will be lenient as he grabs the plane with his other hand and unfolds it. Upon learning about Tom framing Spike for eating the chicken, the now angry George demands if it is true. Tom sadly nods his head in admittance and continues praying for lenience. As punishment for his actions, George decides to kick Tom out of the house. As George kicks Tom out of the house, 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. George says Spike really is man's best friend. Then Jerry calls Spike over and gives him something that he laughs heartily over: a photo of Tom being kicked out of the house by an angry George in his boxers, caught at the exact moment the kick makes contact.

Availability

DVD