Plane Dumb

While credited as a Tom and Jerry cartoon, this is not the cat-and-mouse team but an earlier Mutt-and-Jeff rip-off featuring them going to Africa and disguising themselves in the stereotypical burnt cork makeup to try to blend in. While the dialect humor is mostly lame, there is a brief musical sequence involving "black skeletons" that was entertaining. I have to ask however, how could Tom and Jerry still have their makeup stay on even after being dumped in the water a couple of times? One of many entries produced by the Van Beuren Corporation for distribution by RKO Radio Pictures before RKO made a deal with Disney. Only worth seeing if you're an animation buff or is interested in how certain ethnicities were stereotyped as entertainment way back when.

Dumb is right: Tom and Jerry reach their goal of a non-stop air flight to Africa but then worry about mixing in with the natives. They put on "blackface," crash the plane, try to survive on an airplane wing floating in the ocean, and then survive the wild animals once they get on land

Having read a few reviews before seeing this, I knew what to expect. It was simply these two guys doing their Amos and Andy/Stepin' Fetchit impressions. Offensive to blacks? Of course, but that's the 1930s for you. Some of their lines were funny, some were stupid. The main fault I had with this cartoon was the audio, as it was often not easy to understand what these two guys were saying.

In all, a curiosity piece, but don't let the racism stop you from checking it out. At least it gives you an idea of how times have changed....for the better.

I was under assumption that this was the cat and mouse duo but it wasn't instead it was something that shouldn't have been made not even for its time. They disguise themselves in the "blackface" fashion because they fly to Africa and they even act like Stepin Fetchit and all the others rolled into one. There are some cartoons that are racist but they are classics, being a mixed woman I have the right to say this, but if you are into the historical aspect of these cartoons try Merrie Melodies "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" or "Angel Puss" you won't find them on DVD because the distributors promised not to put them in the mainstream, but you can find them on a site as YouTube. I don't recommend little kids seeing this but if you want to see how early America was racist and ignorant these are better suggestions, not to mention this particular cartoon has poor animation, i know it was 1932, but I have seen better for its time.

"Plane" unnecessary. -1 out of 10.

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, 29 if memory serves correct, 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, very good in a few cases. At its worst, they were really bad.

'Plane Dumb', following on from one of the best in the series 'The Tuba Tooter', is down there with their worst, actually a strong contender for THE worst. And there is a lot more wrong to 'Plane Dumb' than being widely and unsurprisingly considered one of the most racially offensive cartoons ever made, just to make that clear before anybody asks. Although the flaws are far more numerous and more glaring, 'Plane Dumb' is not without redeeming qualities. The best thing about it, like pretty much all the worst of their cartoons, is the music score. It is lively, characterful and beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, and not only adds to the action but enhances it and gives the cartoon the energy that is sorely lacking elsewhere. The other redeeming quality is the suitably menacing animation on the whale.

Regarding the racially offensive stereotypes, before any attacks start there is the acknowledgement that there were plenty of stereotypes in cartoons and films in the 30s, some of them not being subtle or kind. Very few, if any, were as littered with racial stereotypes as much as 'Plane Dumb' and in a way that's this distastefully over-the-top and unsubtle, not just in the ugly character designs but also in the way they speak, their dialogue and the way they act. Far more offensive than any of the stereotypes in the "Censored 11" cartoons, including the most offensive of that collection 'Angel Puss'. Not just that, none of them will fly or bode well with anybody today and are too far of its time to be relevant or current, anybody will find this is the case regardless of skin colour.

As said, however, 'Plane Dumb' has far more problems to it than just being offensive. Apart from the animation of the whale, the animation is far too simplistic and static, with little imaginative about the backgrounds, sloppy synchronisation and it's best not mentioning the character designs. Tom and Jerry themselves have rarely been the most compelling of characters, they are not just bland here but they have seldom been more annoying. When they are literally unrecognisable for most of the cartoon for obvious reasons it is hard to believe that it's them, they feel like completely different characters.

Humour also just isn't there. The timing is dull throughout and the gags are too few and lack any inventiveness or comic timing of any kind, the usual strangeness and absurdity that is basically the tone of the series do not come through. This is because of 'Plane Dumb' being uncharacteristically for a Tom and Jerry cartoon dialogue-heavy, and while different can work in this case that was a huge mistake. The reason being that the dialogue itself, and its wince-worthy stereotypical nature, is cringe-inducing. There is nothing funny or endearing about it, it's basically annoying and overboard dumb and nothing else. The story is never a strong suit in their cartoons, this story is one of the flimsiest and also one of the dumbest and most senseless.

Overall, of an uneven series 'Plane Dumb' is one of the worst and very bad ones. 2/10 Bethany Cox

I'm gonna be a contrarian with this animation not because I'm endrosing the short's message or its clear gross ideas, but simply because there's more to it than meets the eye and in fact there is a strong and important to learn from here. "Plane Dumb" is basically its title but trade plane for plain. It's a product of its era so there we have a racist film, unfunny and very prejudicial for its own sake. The animation quality lies basically in its creative drawings, effects and the way the story moves for the lead characters in between the countess difficuties they face throughout the picture. Watch it with a certain objectivity and you'll feel less offended as the film progresses.

Here, Tom and Jerry (the buddies, not the cat and mouse) will deliver products to Africa by plane. But in their closed mind they think they'll only get accepted and not face danger there if they disguise themselves as blacks - that's when the joke gets painful and never funny since they do the blackface thing. However, the plane crashes on the ocean and later on they are attacked by sharks, whales, other animals until they reach the coast where the danger comes from lions, bats and natives.

The dialogues are silly and really hard to hear due to the poor sound quality; the racism goes beyond the stereotypes and blackface, it also presents Africa as a whole nation instead of continent; the only things that exist there are wild animals and savages. It was a form to amuse audiences back in the 1930's but doesn't hold any effect on us except as seeing a problematic vile project. But there was something in "Plane Dumb" that most audiences fail to take notice: the ultimate message that is "far ahead" for its time is that racists don't have a place in the world, racism and prejudice are not tolerable things. Pay attention how Tom and Jerry ultimately fail at everything they do. Sure, they survive shark attacks, manage to use the whale as a tool to save themselves but everytime during the trip things end up badly for them - and that's why today's audiences can have brieft moments of laughter with such dumb characters. By taking things at face value they only put themselves in harm's way.

If you're on the other side of the fence maybe you can learn a lot from this short animated film. It's not much of an excuse to defend its existence but since it's still here it's up to us to try to learn something, to realize how much we evolved with times and how we can make better things when we are united and creating more powerful art forms. 7/10