The Two Mouseketeers

The Two Mouseketeers is a 1952 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 65th Tom and Jerry short, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on March 15, 1952 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Irven Spence. The character of Nibbles was voiced by Francoise Brun-Cottan, then six years old. The Two Mouseketeers won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. Such was the cartoon's success, that Hanna and Barbera created a total of four adventures in the Mouseketeers series, the second of the tetralogy, 1954's Touché, Pussy Cat! which got an Oscar nomination.

Plot
Jerry and Nibbles are two mouseketeers who decide to help themselves to a lavish banquet, which Tom has been ordered to guard from the King's Mouseketeers with his life; failure to do so, otherwise he will be executed. Jerry and Nibbles enter the castle hall through a stained glass window, through a suit of armor, and by parachuting down to the table. They unsuspectingly catch Tom's attention by showering him with champagne.

Later, Nibbles is helping himself to some of the food while singing Alouette to himself, when Tom emerges behind him and pokes him with his sword. The little mouse yells angrily. Before Nibbles can get away, Tom impales the little mouse's cape with his rapier. Jerry manages to stab Tom in the rear-end and rescue Nibbles. Jerry puts custard in Tom's face launching a swashbuckling fencing display against Tom, ending in Tom catching Jerry. Nibbles launches an axe toward Tom and it slices off half of Tom's back, and Nibbles hides in some fruit. Nibbles runs away and falls into a drink - but Jerry saves him by hurling a tomato at Tom, as well as multiple vegetables which Tom impales on his rapier; heating them up and eats them like a shish kebab. Nibbles walks out of the drink, drunk, and pokes Tom in the bottom. Tom screams in pain and jumps up. Nibbles waves his sword while saying, "Touche, pussy cat!" but as he runs away Tom catches him. Jerry makes the save by hitting Tom on the head with a gada so much that Tom falls through the table, which leads into Tom and Jerry having a sword fight. While this goes on, Nibbles brings along a cannon and stuffs it with everything that was on the banquet table. He lights the cannon and it violently explodes.

As the smoke disappears, Jerry and Nibbles are walking triumphantly down the street with stolen banquet food. Suddenly, in an unusually morbid ending, they see a guillotine blade coming down, strongly suggesting that Tom was executed, though off-screen in compliance with the Hays Office. Both mice gulp, and then Nibbles sighs, "Pauvre, pauvre, pussycat", (Poor, poor pussycat) and shrugs: "C'est la guerre." (That's war) Then the two Mouseketeers together continue their victorious marching off into the distance and became a knight of shining armor.

Availability
DVD
 * Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 3
 * Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1, Disc Two