Abe Levitow Movies

Master animator Chuck Jones has created this full length fantasy, his first since being name director of MGM's animation department. A young boy (Butch Patrick) is bored with his life in San Francisco and finds himself in a fantasy land where letters and numbers are at war with each other. He drives through the Phantom Tollbooth and into an animated fantasy land. The voices of Mel Blanc, June Foray and Daws Butler are featured in this story taken from the book by Norton Juster. The boy tries to rescue twin Princesses Rhyme and Reason, who have been banished to a castle suspended in mid air above the kingdom. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Just as Tom settles down to sleep at 10 AM, Jerry arises from his slumbers and sets off to Le Cellare Smoke, a beatnik bistro located within the walls of the house. After downing a cheese martini, Jerry hunkers down to a hot drumming session with an all-mouse jazz combo. Aroused by the noise, Tom intends to put an end to the revelry; alas, his various strategies backfire, incurring the wrath of a neighboring bulldog. Finally, Jerry's combo wraps up its set and heads home. . .but if Tom thinks he's finally going to get some shut-eye, he's got another think coming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As indicated by the title, this fast-paced cartoon is a spoof of the 1960s TV espionage series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. Zooming along the road in his gimmicked-up toy car, secret agent Jerry ("007 1/2") pulls up at his headquarters, located behind a cash register. Here he receives his latest assignment: to steal a valuable cache of frozen cheese from evil masterspy Tom THRUSH. Though Jerry is able to penetrate Tom's castle fortress, the cunning cat has set up a breathtaking variety of booby traps in anticipation of the mouse's arrival--including an electronic gauntlet that might even give James Bond pause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

We open on a missile base, where a consignment of supplies, including an enormous piece cheese, is being launched to an orbiting space station. Monitoring the shipment via closed-circuit TV is "space mouse" Jerry, who effortlessly steals the cheese. Tom, in charge of space-station security, chases after Jerry with latest in electronic equipment, including a robotic cat--which, alas, is even less effective than the stuff Wile E. Coyote used to purchase from the ACME company. Not only is Jerry able to elude capture, but he also uses a a mini-jetpack to antagonize Tom. The final sequence finds Tom sending Jerry into orbit--but it's the mouse rather than the cat who has the last laugh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The irrepressible Mr. Magoo (voice by Jim Backus) returns in three adventures that find him reprising Cyrano de Bergerac and Merlin. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

It may be the dead of winter, but that doesn't slow down the never-ending chase between Tom and Jerry. It all begins when Jerry disguises himself as a cuckoo clock, then dons a pair of skis and heads down a snowy mountain, with Tom in pursuit. The chase grinds to a halt when Jerry takes refuge with a huge Saint Bernard. Hoping to remove the dog from the picture, Tom sends the mutt on a phoney rescue, but the cat's best-laid-plans are smashed to pieces--along with the cat. The ensuing gags involve a drunken Tom, an iceskating Jerry, a scaldingly hot teapot. . .and an abrupt change of climate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The obligatory opening cat-and-mouse chase in this cartoon is periodically punctuated by the production credits, written in the style of circus posters. In keeping with this motif, Jerry tries to escape Tom by hiding out in a circus, where he befriends an elephant by removing a tack from the big fellow's foot. Thus, whenever Tom threatens Jerry, the elephant is on hand to mete out a painful retribution. Ultimately, Jerry joins the circus as a clown, while Tom plots to get even with both mouse and pachyderm. Things come to a head during a "high and dizzy" chase on a tightrope and an impossibly tall ladder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Near-sighted Mr. Magoo stumbles through animated retellings of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Don Quixote and A Midsummer Night's Dream. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Having made a bundle on their 130-episode package of Mr. Magoo TV cartoons, the folks at UPA studios decided to star Magoo in a 60-minute musical version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. First telecast over the NBC network on December 18, 1962, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol deftly uses the device of depicting Magoo as a famous Broadway star, returning to the stage to essay the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge. This "framing" device has, unfortunately, been eliminated from currently available TV and video versions of this hour-long animated special. Still, Magoo has plenty of time to shine as Scrooge, a role ideally suited for the character's crotchety demeanor and comic nearsightedness. The five original songs by Jules Styne and Bob Merrill are wonderful-far more so than the disposable score of the 1970 live-action Christmas Carol musical adaptation Scrooge. The principal voices are provided by Jim Backus as Magoo, Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit, Royal Dano as Marley's Ghost, and Joan Gardner, Morey Amsterdam and Paul Frees. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol served as the pilot for the 1964 animated anthology series The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, wherein Magoo essayed such literary roles as Friar Tuck, Gunga Din, and all seven of Snow White's dwarves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This cartoon series, consisting of 130 5-minute programs, looked a lot like Mr. Magoo, which was understandable as both the Tracy and Magoo series produced by United Productions of America. Dick Tracy, drawn in the realistic style of the newspaper strip (and voiced by Everett Sloane), was primarily seen in the opening segment, sitting at his desk at headquarters, contacting his various operatives by the two-way wrist-radio and assigning them their tasks. Tracy's operatives include Officer Heap O'Calorie, Hemlock Holmes, Go-Go Gomez, and Joe Jitsu -- these characters were drawn in exagerated cartoon style which, in the case of Japanese detective Joe Jitsu, was also highly ethnically offensive in decades to come (which is why the series disappeared from syndication in the 1970's). The villains were more interesting, an array of physical grotesques drawn right from the comic strip -- Pruneface, Itchy, BB Eyes, Flat Top et al, drawn in a more realistic style. The voices of the supporting detectives were based, in most instances, on some familiar movie figures: Cary Grant for Hemlock Holmes, Andy Devine for Heap O'Calorie etc. The cartoons were long on laughs and short on logic and excitement, and the production values, even by the standards of the limited animation typical for television, were somewhat threadbare. Indeed, the most memorable and exciting part of this series was the opening and closing sequences -- an overhead shot of a big city street, looking a lot like midtown Manhattan in the early 1960's, shows a police car at full siren cutting through traffic, and gunshots spell out "Dick Tracy," accompanied to swish-pan shots of panicked onlookers; the patrol car pulls up in front of a police station, and we cut to Tracy at his desk, telling the chief on his intercom that he "get right on it." The closing sequence was similar, a police car cutting through traffic at full speed, siren blaring, while onlookers stare. The credit sequence animators at least knew the look and feel of film noir, as well as a good action show. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide