''The Lyin' Mouse'' is a 1937

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' cartoon directed by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...

. The short was released on October 16, 1937.

Plot

A grey mouse is trying to free himself from a trap when a cat arrives. Desperate to avoid getting eaten, the rodent asks if the feline has ever heard the story of ''The Lion and The Mouse''. When the cat angrily replies that he never heard of it, the mouse tells the tale about a ferocious lion in the jungle, who scares all of the animals whenever he goes. Also in the story is a brown mouse, which has a horn that imitates the lion’s roar, and has some fun with it until the golden big cat catches him in the act. The mouse pleads for his life, and the lion agrees not to eat him after being distracted by bigger catches. But those are actually traps set by the Frank Cluck expedition – the lion manages to avoid the first trap (a fake roasted chicken), but he falls for the second (a tied-up lamb), and soon finds himself in a circus lion taming act, where not only does the tamer put his head inside the felid’s mouth, but the lion also puts his ''own'' head in the tamer’s mouth. After performing, the lion is locked in a cage, in deep sorrow due to his fate. But that night, the brown mouse happens by and chews a lion-shaped hole in the cage, setting the big cat free – and that is where the story ends. The cat is moved and apologetically releases the mouse. Upon release, just before entering his hole, the mouse yells one last word: "Sucker!" To which the cat responds by lunging at the rodent, but he misses and bumps into the wall. As the cartoon ends, the feline shrugs and tells the audience: "Well, can you imagine that?"

Home media

*DVD - '' Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection'' (USA 1995 dubbed print added as a bonus) *VHS - '' Taz's Jungle Jams'' (USA 1995 dubbed print) *LaserDisc - ''

The Golden Age of Looney Tunes ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'' is a collection of LaserDiscs released by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. There were five sets made, featuring a number of discs, and each disc side represented a different theme, being made up of seven cartoon ...

'', Volume 5, Side 3 (USA 1995 dubbed print) *VHS - ''Videotoons Volume 2''

Notes

*This short is the first

cartoon to give story credit – in this case, to

Tedd Pierce Edward Stacey "Tedd" Pierce III (August 12, 1906 – February 19, 1972) was an American screenwriter and voice actor of animated cartoons, principally from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s. Biography Pierce was the son of a stockbroker, Samuel ...

. *This cartoon was re-released into the Blue Ribbon ''Merrie Melodies'' program on December 22, 1945. *The ostrich from '' Plenty of Money and You'' makes a cameo appearance, when the animals run away from the mouse's lion noise. Coincidentally, both shorts with the ostrich were directed by Freleng.

References

External links

* 1937 films Merrie Melodies short films Animated films about lions Films about mice and rats Short films directed by Friz Freleng Films scored by Carl Stalling 1930s Warner Bros. animated short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films 1937 animated short films {{MerrieMelodies-stub