The stars of this cartoon are Tom and Jerry (no, not the cat-and-mouse team from MGM. This is a Van Beuren one starring two humans, one tall-Tom and one short-Jerry). This is their first cartoon. They are taxi drivers who accept a couple of passengers who have long beards. It is stormy outside as they arrive at a castle which they all come in since T and J have been stiffed. Various skeleton gags follow including an unfortunate one of four blackfaced people being defeated by a crap game! Otherwise, great use of storms and skeletons to create atmosphere. Well worth seeing for '30s animation buffs. Some of the animation may remind you of the Walt Disney/Ub Iwerks Skeleton Dance.
5 Reviews
Wot a Night is the first ever Tom and Jerry cartoon (though they're different T & Js)
tavm25 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Starring Tom & Jerry...just not THE Tom & Jerry.
planktonrules2 April 2021
In the early 1930s, Van Buren Studio produced a string of Tom & Jerry cartoons. But these cartoons have nothing to do with the later MGM series. There's no cat and there's no mouse....just two very simply animated guys.
"Wot a Night" is the first Tom & Jerry cartoon. The story finds the pair wandering about in a scary old house filled with skeletons and ghosts. There isn't a huge amount of plot....just two guys getting scared by all the creepy crawly things. However, the animation is very nice and despite little in the way of story, it is pretty entertaining and compares well to the average cartoon from 1931. Not brilliant but enjoyable.
"Wot a Night" is the first Tom & Jerry cartoon. The story finds the pair wandering about in a scary old house filled with skeletons and ghosts. There isn't a huge amount of plot....just two guys getting scared by all the creepy crawly things. However, the animation is very nice and despite little in the way of story, it is pretty entertaining and compares well to the average cartoon from 1931. Not brilliant but enjoyable.
What a night for spooky fun
TheLittleSongbird10 November 2017
The Van Beuren Tom and Jerry (as said already not the famous cat and mouse, this is a human duo that lasted for just under 30 cartoons between 1931 and 1933) series was interesting but uneven and not easy to rate as an overall whole. At the series' best, the cartoons were good. At its worst, they were really bad.
'Wot a Night' is Tom and Jerry's debut cartoon and to me it's their best. It really is a very good start and it is a shame that on the most part the subsequent cartoons weren't as good. 'Wot a Night' may not have the most original of stories, which is a fairly slight one, and the quartet gag won't bode well for some. Wasn't that offended myself, the gag is actually pretty tame compared to the racial content of some of the duo's later efforts, but did think it was a bit too crude in the outcome.
Of Tom and Jerry's cartoons, 'Wot a Night' gets my vote as the best-looking. The water and rain effects are really striking and were pretty revolutionary at the time for Van Beuren. The early scenes are beautifully animated and the drawing is remarkably flexible for so early on, one would think that the animation would get better typically as the series went on but actually with this series it was the opposite. The music score is both haunting and infectious, suiting the atmosphere perfectly.
As far as Tom and Jerry cartoons go, 'Wot a Night' is the most atmospheric and is a strong contender for the funniest. There is a genuine creepy spookiness that suited the horror castle setting to a tee, while the gags are among the funniest and most inventive of the series. The standout is the sheer delight that is the ending, though the cloud playing an organ on the battlements of the castle, the skeleton taking a bath while whistling and another skeleton painting piano keys on which it starts to play are no less inferior.
Tom and Jerry are at their most likable here though the spooky assortment of supporting characters make even more of an impression.
In conclusion, spooky fun and a very good debut for Tom and Jerry. 8/10 Bethany Cox
'Wot a Night' is Tom and Jerry's debut cartoon and to me it's their best. It really is a very good start and it is a shame that on the most part the subsequent cartoons weren't as good. 'Wot a Night' may not have the most original of stories, which is a fairly slight one, and the quartet gag won't bode well for some. Wasn't that offended myself, the gag is actually pretty tame compared to the racial content of some of the duo's later efforts, but did think it was a bit too crude in the outcome.
Of Tom and Jerry's cartoons, 'Wot a Night' gets my vote as the best-looking. The water and rain effects are really striking and were pretty revolutionary at the time for Van Beuren. The early scenes are beautifully animated and the drawing is remarkably flexible for so early on, one would think that the animation would get better typically as the series went on but actually with this series it was the opposite. The music score is both haunting and infectious, suiting the atmosphere perfectly.
As far as Tom and Jerry cartoons go, 'Wot a Night' is the most atmospheric and is a strong contender for the funniest. There is a genuine creepy spookiness that suited the horror castle setting to a tee, while the gags are among the funniest and most inventive of the series. The standout is the sheer delight that is the ending, though the cloud playing an organ on the battlements of the castle, the skeleton taking a bath while whistling and another skeleton painting piano keys on which it starts to play are no less inferior.
Tom and Jerry are at their most likable here though the spooky assortment of supporting characters make even more of an impression.
In conclusion, spooky fun and a very good debut for Tom and Jerry. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Rather good cartoon from Van Beuren, the first one featuring the other Tom and Jerry
llltdesq19 March 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is the first cartoon in a series from Van Beuren studio. There will be spoilers ahead:
In the early 1930s, a small animation studio, casting about for recurring characters so that they could try to create appeal for their shorts, hit on a Mutt and Jeff-like pair that they named Tom and Jerry. This is not the much more familiar cat and mouse team developed at MGM, but some of their shorts are rather good. Some of them will cure the worst insomnia. This is one of the former.
Tom and Jerry drive a taxi cab and are waiting at the train station in hopes of getting a fare. There's a nice touch having their cab take on facial features and sneeze. Another nice touch comes when the train goes through water and oars pop out and rowing begins (I believe the music is The Volga Boatmen). The train pulls into the station and two odd-looking bearded men get off. Jerry, the shorter of the two, herds them into the cab and they set off.
After a short ride punctuated by a few sight gags, they stop in front of a castle and the passengers leave without paying. Our heroes follow them and wind up locked in as a result. Now the short takes off. A storm cloud starts playing the walls as though they are piano keys, the first of two such types of gags. The other is a skeleton who paints piano keys on a flat surface and starts to play. Skeletons abound in this short-dancing skeletons, a skeleton taking a bath and so on. There's a good sequence which probably won't fly today-a quartet of black skeletons singing a spiritual. The gag that ends the bit is crude but funny.
Tom and Jerry meet up with their passengers again and the result is the closing gag, which I won't spoil here. It's appropriate and a nice touch.
This short is available on a two DVD set of The Complete Animated Adventures of Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry from Thunderbean and it and the DVD set are worth checking out. The set is most highly recommended.
In the early 1930s, a small animation studio, casting about for recurring characters so that they could try to create appeal for their shorts, hit on a Mutt and Jeff-like pair that they named Tom and Jerry. This is not the much more familiar cat and mouse team developed at MGM, but some of their shorts are rather good. Some of them will cure the worst insomnia. This is one of the former.
Tom and Jerry drive a taxi cab and are waiting at the train station in hopes of getting a fare. There's a nice touch having their cab take on facial features and sneeze. Another nice touch comes when the train goes through water and oars pop out and rowing begins (I believe the music is The Volga Boatmen). The train pulls into the station and two odd-looking bearded men get off. Jerry, the shorter of the two, herds them into the cab and they set off.
After a short ride punctuated by a few sight gags, they stop in front of a castle and the passengers leave without paying. Our heroes follow them and wind up locked in as a result. Now the short takes off. A storm cloud starts playing the walls as though they are piano keys, the first of two such types of gags. The other is a skeleton who paints piano keys on a flat surface and starts to play. Skeletons abound in this short-dancing skeletons, a skeleton taking a bath and so on. There's a good sequence which probably won't fly today-a quartet of black skeletons singing a spiritual. The gag that ends the bit is crude but funny.
Tom and Jerry meet up with their passengers again and the result is the closing gag, which I won't spoil here. It's appropriate and a nice touch.
This short is available on a two DVD set of The Complete Animated Adventures of Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry from Thunderbean and it and the DVD set are worth checking out. The set is most highly recommended.
Fun Tom and Jerry Short
Michael_Elliott17 March 2016
Wot a Night (1931)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another variation on Disney's THE SKELETON DANCE, this was the first Tom and Jerry (not the cat and mouse) short and has the two playing cab drivers. The night is raining, windy and creepy as they take a couple bearded men to a castle. The men leave without paying so Tom and Jerry follow them into the castle where they run into skeletons and ghosts.
Having already seen some of the later Tom and Jerry shorts, I really wasn't overly impressed with them but this one here was rather charming even if it was ripping off other and better movies. What really makes this one work are some creative moments with the skeletons including one who is taking a bath and we see a rather fun way that he dries off his bones. I also thought the animation was quite good and especially some of the early scenes where a train runs into some water and must transform into a boat.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another variation on Disney's THE SKELETON DANCE, this was the first Tom and Jerry (not the cat and mouse) short and has the two playing cab drivers. The night is raining, windy and creepy as they take a couple bearded men to a castle. The men leave without paying so Tom and Jerry follow them into the castle where they run into skeletons and ghosts.
Having already seen some of the later Tom and Jerry shorts, I really wasn't overly impressed with them but this one here was rather charming even if it was ripping off other and better movies. What really makes this one work are some creative moments with the skeletons including one who is taking a bath and we see a rather fun way that he dries off his bones. I also thought the animation was quite good and especially some of the early scenes where a train runs into some water and must transform into a boat.
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