El Ratón Invisible

This is a somewhat self-referentially clever Tom and Jerry cartoon short in that the mouse becomes transparent via invisible ink. Apt for a drawn film. That the mouse has a shadow, however, doesn't make sense in respect to his impenetrability to light, I would think, although I guess it does follow the logic of how one would see invisible ink. And I'll just accept that he returns to visibility by drinking chocolate milk. Otherwise, this brief animated knockabout features the usual cartoon violence and cat-and-mouse chase. The cat employs flour to track the invisible mouse's footsteps at one point, too, which is reminiscent of the tricks the police used in Universal's prior "Invisible Man" series and in the book by H.G. Wells.

This episode can be described in one word: HORRIBLE!!! This episode is just boring, unfunny and nauseating! The music is annoying and boring, the animation is lame. Come on! Even Gene Deitch episodes and The Tom and Jerry Show from 2014 did a better work than this. The only good things about this episode is the Tom screams, but in overall, this is just another weak and horrible Tom and Jerry episode from 1947.

In conclusion, the worst 1947 episode and one of the worst Tom and Jerry episodes. Never waste your time in this garbage episode! 2/10

The usual cat and mouse antics abound until Jerry jumps into a bottle of invisible ink. He gets the bright idea of torturing Tom without him knowing. The cat gets wise and tries to do stuff to make him 'see' jerry even if it's not fool-proof. Of course Jerry gets Butch aka Killer aka Spike the dog into the act (even if it's late in the short, and his contribution is minimal indeed) Brilliant animated short which kind of reminded me of the one with the white mouse who scares Tom so badly. Most of the gags work and all violent as any good tom and jerry short should truly be. This hilarious cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry"

My Grade: B+

The basic joke here is simple. These characters -- all cartoon characters of the era -- are drawn on paper with ink. So using "invisible ink" will make a character invisible.

I'm sure this isn't the first cartoon that implicitly plays with the notion that the characters are drawings on a page. (I'd like to know which was the first.) And this is a pretty subtle reference. But we get it without even thinking about it.

Other than that, the chases and such are ordinary, most involving techniques Tom uses to make Jerry visible.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

After the usual chase scene, Jerry accidentally winds up inside a bottle of invisible ink, which was part of a chemistry set. He quickly discovers he's invisible...so the predictable results occur, meaning he uses his new hidden condition to torment Tom. Jerry often is just defending himself, but often he has sadistic streak in him that torments the cat whenever possible, even when unprovoked.

Here, he makes Tom think his eyes are deceiving him when cheese from a mousetrap disappears before his eyes, or milk from a dish. Tom can't take anymore so he tries to sleep this nightmare off, but Jerry sets fire to his paw! Man, I hope little kids didn't ideas watching these cartoons back in the '40s and '50s! I always found Jerry, the little mouse, more evil than cute.

Thankfully, in cartoons, generally, whatever damage a character suffers is gone within seconds and he's back to normal.

The best part of this cartoon is about two-thirds of the way through when Tom figures out what the story is with Jerry, and tries different methods to detect where the mouse is located (such as putting flour on the floor to see his footprints).