The Flying Sorceress

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Flying Sorceress
series = Tom and Jerry


caption = The title card of "The Flying Sorceress"
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Ed Barge
Irven Spence
Lewis Marshall
Kenneth Muse
layout_artist = Richard Bickenbach
background_artist = Robert Gentle
voice_actor = June Foray
musician = Scott Bradley
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US January 27, 1956
color_process = Technicolor
CinemaScope
runtime = 6' 40"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0049221
preceded_by = "That's My Mommy"
followed_by = "The Egg and Jerry"

"The Flying Sorceress " is the 98th one reel animated "Tom and Jerry" short, created in 1956, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Lewis Marshall, with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and layouts by Richard Bickenbach. It was produced in CinemaScope and released to theatres on January 27, 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

ynopsis

The cartoon opens with Tom chasing Jerry through the house, but all you see is Tom's shadow. Then a large crash is heard and Tom is being scolded by Joan. "Well, Mr. Clumsy, everytime you chase that mouse, you break something. Well, clean it up and it better not happen again." While Tom is cleaning the mess he made he looks at the newspaper with an ad that says,

"Wanted: Intelligent cat to act as traveling companion for elderly lady. Apply in person, 13 Sunnydale Road."

Tom then throws down his broom and dustpan, grabs the paper, and leaves.

Tom walks along Sunnydale Road and see the house. It is the only house covered by a storm cloud. Tom then walks up to the door and rings the doorbell. A loud bell goes off and the door opens. Tom then walks in and the door closes by itself. Then a voice is heard, "Just a minute. I'll be right down." A door opens and a witch comes riding in on her broom. She looks at Tom and says, "So you want to be my traveling companion, eh?" Realizing the job is less appealing than he thought, Tom shakes his head. The witch continues, "Well you don't look like a witch's cat to me." She then gives a little scream and the hair on Tom's back and head stand straight up. She then gives her broom a kick and they take off. But they stop at the window where there is a small cemetery. The witch then says, "Look out there sonny, you'll be number 8 if you don't hang on tight." There are 8 graves, 7 of them with the names of cats and the 8th is open with an empty tombstone. The witch then gives another kick to her broom and they take off on a wild ride. During the ride, the witch loses her hat. Tom had taken it and tries to parachute down to the ground. But the witch quickly grabs Tom and the ride continues. They return to the house and the witch, says, "Not bad sonny, you get the job." She then tells where Tom can sleep and she goes to bed. Tom's bed is a cat box in the shape of a casket. This frightens Tom, but then he looks at her broom and decides to take it on a joyride. Tom gets the hang of riding a broomstick for the first time by himself and he even does a few tricks. But he doesn't watch where he is going and gets caught in a tree.

Tom then flies by his house where Jerry is sitting on a chair enjoying a piece of cheese. He stops for a second thinking that he saw something and then goes back to eating. Tom then flies by again and Jerry looks out the window. He gives a bug-eyed look and Tom appears on the broom. Jerry then opens the front door and gets knocked down by Tom. Tom then gets off the broom and points to Jerry. The broom then blocks Jerry's mouse hole, hits Jerry into a wall and the broom sweeps Jerry into a dustpan and into the trash. Tom then leaves and returns to the witch's house where the witch is waiting for him. She is very angry and says, "Stealing a ride, eh? Well, I'll give you a real ride!" She snaps her fingers and the broom takes off with Tom on it. The broom bumps Tom's head on the ceiling, drags his head through the ceiling, causes him to bounce down the stairs, and into a table. Tom tries to hide under a chair, but his rear end is sticking out and the broom hits him. The broom then acts like a pogo stick with Tom holding on.

The scene then changes to show Joan shaking the broom with Tom on it saying, "Wake up Tom, Tom you're dreaming. Wake up Thomas, wake up!" Tom wakes up and finishes cleaning up the mess he made. He then looks at the broom, sits on it, and smiles. Then he gives it a kick and the broom takes off with him on it, sailing towards the moon, as Jerry and Joan look on. Joan sighs and remarks, "NOW what is that cat up to??"

Trivia

*This short uses a new title card for the first time, only seen on a handful of cartoons made between 1955 and 1956.
*This was one of the first "Tom and Jerry" cartoons to be shot in Cinemascope, and the first in which a human's full body could be seen, including the head.
*The scene when Tom runs into the tree and the scene when Tom suffers the witch's wrath are reused in "Matinee Mouse".
*In "Matinee Mouse", the witch's line "Stealing a ride, eh? Well, I'll give you a real ride!" has been fitted out. The finger-snapping has been replaced with creating a puff of red smoke.
*Butch was hired by the witch before Tom and buried in the 7th grave, though this, of course, may not refer specifically to Tom's rival Butch, but could be a generic cat.