Puppy Tale is an animated Tom and Jerry short released on January 23rd, 1954 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
One night, Jerry sees a car throw a bag into the river. After fishing it out, he finds it is full of puppies. When one of the pups takes to him, Jerry decides to bring it home. Unfortunately, it's too big to fit through his mouse hole, so Jerry has to sneak the puppy through the front door. This proves to be difficult as Jerry is forced to keep Tom from noticing the puppy, which is further complicated when the pup gets into Tom's milk and bed.
Tropes appearing in this cartoon:
- Bait-and-Switch: When Jerry and the puppy wake Tom up shortly after saving him from being swept in a rainstorm, the latter looks with an annoyed expression and leaves like if he still dislikes them. However, it turns that he only went to get a bed and a saucer of milk for the puppy, showing that he's allowing him to stay with them.
- Blanket Tug O' War: When the puppy falls asleep in Tom's bed, it ends up taking his entire blanket. This results in Tom waking up with a sneeze.
- Drowning Unwanted Pets: The cartoon begins with someone in a car throwing a bag of puppies into a river. Jerry sees this and rescues them, and one puppy decides to follow him home.
- Go Fetch: In an attempt to get rid of the puppy, Jerry threw a stick for it to fetch. Unfortunately, while chasing after it, the puppy went over a hill and nearly fell in the river, requiring Jerry to save it.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: The second time Tom throws the puppy out, it lands in an empty milk bottle, requiring Jerry to use a blind cord to pull it out.
- Imagine Spot: While ridden with guilt, Tom imagines Jerry and the puppy getting swept away by the storm. When the two are heading for a storm drain, he impulsively reaches up to grab them.
- Metaphoric Metamorphosis: Tom imagines himself turning into a skunk when he remembers throwing Jerry and the pup out into the rain.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In one of his rare moments, Tom is overcome with guilt for throwing out Jerry and the puppy when he sees it's storming outside and sets off to rescue them.
- Precious Puppy: The puppy that Jerry adopts, as well as its lookalike siblings.
- Rescue Reversal: Wracked with guilt, Tom heads out into the storm to save Jerry and the puppy, unaware that they were taking shelter underneath the house. During his search, he ends up getting blown off the bridge into the river, with Jerry and the puppy being the ones to save him.
- Running Gag: The puppy really enjoys slurping either Tom or Jerry.
- Save the Villain: Despite Tom being the one to throw them out of the house, Jerry and the puppy quickly rush to save him upon seeing him looking for them in the rain and then get swept away by the wind and soon take him back to the house to give him some warm soup.
- Slippery Skid: While chasing Jerry and the puppy in a circle, Tom eventually picks up a bar of soap and places it in Jerry's path before waiting for him to come around. Sure enough, Jerry ends up stepping on it, causing him and the puppy to slide out the door.
- Suddenly Speaking: Tom can clearly be heard yelling "Help!" when he gets caught in the flood.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: After the pup helps save his life, Tom agrees to let it stay. The puppy even invites the rest of his siblings. Even Tom's heart melts at this.