10 best Tom & Jerry cartoons

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During their theatrical animated careers with MGM (1940-1966), Tom & Jerry was nominated for fifteen Academy Awards and won seven of them. The following is the usual completely unscientific and arbitrary list of what I think are the ten best Tom & Jerry cartoons:

1. Million Dollar Cat (1944). Tom inherits $1 million but stands to forfeit it all if he harms anything--even a mouse. Jerry uses this to yank Tom's chain throughout the cartoon until the end when Tom gets even (Says Tom, with a voice by Bill Hanna himself: "Gee...I'm t'rowin' away a million dollars...BUT I'M HAPPY!!!!") Hilarious character animation of Tom.

2. Tom And Cherie (1955, in CinemaScope). Mouse Musketeer-in-training Nibbles is sent to deliver love notes to Jerry's girlfriend, and has to contend with Tom. Splendid set pieces (especially of Nibbles getting a peek at one of the notes), and an irresistible voice of Nibbles (furnished by a 6-year-old little French girl).

3. Cat Concerto (1946). The year's Oscar winner and the first of two consecutive cartoons with a mouse disrupting a recital of Franz Liszt's second rhapsody. As inept as Tom is at catching Jerry, he proves himself to be a very accomplished pianist.

4. Little School Mouse (1954). An essential role reversal with Jerry trying to teach Nibbles how to outwit cats and getting the bejeezus knocked out of him in the process.

5. The Night Before Christmas (1941). Oscar nominee; atypical T&J battle until Tom kicks Jerry out into the snow and then repents after hearing the cold winds howl. The chemistry of Tom and Jerry takes full hold here with a beautiful ending.

6. Heavenly Puss (1949). Tom apparently buys the farm, but he can't get into Heaven unless he can get Jerry to sign a certificate of forgiveness. Outstandingly laid out, written and animated.

7. The Zoot Cat (1944). In order to impress a girl cat, Tom designs a zoot suit. No longer screened on Cartoon Network because of its characters' depictions of black couture and slang and Tom smoking a cigar (Boomerang still shows it), it's still nevertheless a very funny cartoon.

8. Johann Mouse (1953). Oscar winner again shows off Tom's prowess at the eighty-eights; Jerry is moved to dance when Johann Strauss plays. When Strauss takes a sabbatical, Tom takes up piano to lure Jerry out and catch him, unaware that they've attracted an audience. Jakob Gimpel, who did the piano work for Cat Concerto (as well as the Bugs Bunny film Rhapsody Rabbit) provides Tom's performance.

9. The Missing Mouse (1953). A white lab mouse has swallowed explosives, according to radio reports. Jerry goes white and makes Tom age a few years in the process.

10. Duel Personality (1966). The best of the Chuck Jones T&J cartoons; Jerry challenges Tom to a duel, and each successive event is a draw. The two beat each other senseless with their own weapons.