The Fifth-Column Mouse

The Fifth-Column Mouse

Directed By:		I. Freleng
Produced By:		Leon Schlesinger
Released:		March 6, 1943
Series:		Merrie Melodies
Story:		Michael Maltese
Animation:		Richard Bickenbach Ken Champin Gerry Chiniquy Phil Monroe Manuel Perez
Layouts:
Backgrounds:
Film Editor:		Treg Brown
Voiced By:		Mel Blanc Michael Maltese The Sportsmen Quartet
Music:		Carl W. Stalling
Starring:		Mice Hitler Cat
Preceded By:		To Duck or Not to Duck
Succeeded By:		Flop Goes the Weasel

The Fifth-Column Mouse is an animated cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series from 1943. Directed by Friz Freleng, the cartoon features a band of humble mice who engage in war against a Hitler-like Cat.

Plot

The short begins with a pleasant group of mice enjoying various water sports in a kitchen sink. Lurking nearby is a sinister cat who gains the confidence of a dim-witted mouse. The cat persuades the unsuspecting rodent to tell the other mice to become the cat's slaves, and the cat promises a never-ending cheese supply in return. The mouse (who much more resembles a rat) follows the cat's orders, but he soon finds out the cat's true intentions—to make them his dinner. The mice then form a united alliance against the cat as both sides prepare for war. After battling the cat a cream is thrown at the mouse throwing him into the leg of the robot they built.

Censorship

Syndication airings of this cartoon omitted the part in which the mouse refuses the cat's deal of all the cheese that the mouse wants in exchange for leading the mice population to appease the cat, but the cat forced him to accept the deal, followed by, "NOW, GET GOING!"^[1]

Availability

VHS, Laserdisc - Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
Laserdisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 5, Side 3: Freleng Follies (dubbed version)
DVD - Air Force (1995 dubbed version)
DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 2 (Blue Ribbon reissue)

Notes/Goofs

The USA 1995 dubbed version is on The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol 5 laserdisc, although it was previously released on Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons VHS and laserdisc with its original BR ending card intact. Prior to its release remastered and restored on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6, the latter home media release was the only official home media release of the cartoon to survive its original BR ending card. Meanwhile, its original a.a.p. print survives on Cartoon Network Latin America, and the EU 1995 dubbed version keeps its original BR ending card, unlike the USA 1995 dubbed version.
The European 1995 Dubbed print retains its original reissue ending title card (without the Dubbed notice), despite having spoken dialogue lines ^[2]