The Flying Cat

The Flying Cat is a 1952 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 63rd Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. The cartoon's music was composed by Scott Bradley (with use of Grande valse brillante by Chopin), and the animation was by Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence, Ed Barge and Ray Patterson.

Plot
Tom sets out to capture and eat a sleeping canary. Jerry is walking out, preparing for a new day, when he spots Tom tiptoeing to the canary. As Tom steals the canary in his cage, Jerry trips the cat and Tom loses the canary. The cage rolls into the tree, jolting the canary and waking him up. The first thing he sees is the ongoing chase and he helps Jerry out by tangling Tom in the drying lines and sectioning him. Tom instead chases the canary with an axe, but misses and chops down a pole, which hits Tom on the head and comically nails Tom into the ground. As Jerry is being pursued, the canary motions for him to join him up in the birdhouse. Tom follows him up, but the canary gives him a 2,000-lb weight and Tom plummets. The two shake hands but the peace doesn't last long as Tom erects a ladder and starts to climb it. But before Tom can reach the top, the canary lights a match to it. Tom and the ladder are left burned and completely black.

Tom now winds up a swing and manages to hang on to the birdhouse with his fingers, but the two allies crush them and Tom yells and lets go of the birdhouse. His head goes so low that it digs through the ground.

Tom tries to pole vault to the birdhouse, but the canary provides a rollerskate and Tom is sent out of control into a nearby house. He is sent flying through a window and through the entire second floor. Tom comes out the other side hanging from the window in a corset, which snaps and falls with him. Tom soon discovers, though, that the girdle makes a pair of wings and he can fly. He delights in his new ability until he fails to spot a mailbox in his path.

Tom recovers and sets out to the roof of the house, jumps off and takes flight. Tom makes sure to pass by the window of the birdhouse so Jerry can see him. Jerry does spot him, but it takes a double take to realize what he's seeing. He lets out a gasp and wakes the canary to tell him. Jerry articulates what he's seen, but the canary laughs and goes back to sleep. Jerry finally gets his way, and the canary goes out to investigate. He sees Tom, and Tom flies after the canary, but ends up hitting a church bell. The canary and Jerry pull up the roof of their birdhouse and turn it upside down, exposing the nails which held it in place. Tom can't avoid the nails, and lands on his bottom on the nails. He then falls into a pond and gets out, only to find the holes in his bottom leaking water, which humorously, waters some nearby plants in a manner similar to a watering can.

Jerry slides down the pole, salutes the canary, and starts to walk away, but is soon overtaken by Tom. The canary unties Tom's wings and Tom plummets, falling through a tree and painfully slicing it in half because of his speed. The canary then carries Jerry away, but Tom chases them into a nearby railway tunnel. Unfortunately for Tom, a train is coming out of the tunnel at the same moment and slams the cat into a wigwag where he is suspended, as the canary and Jerry, who are on the train, shake hands one last time.

Availability

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