"Chasing cats, that's a silly past time for a smart dog like you."
—The small dog to the big dog, after the latter was tricked into crashing into a fence by the cat.
"Up'n Atom" (alternatively formatted as "Up N' Atom") is a 1947 Color Rhapsody cartoon, directed by Sid Marcus and written by Bob Clampett, Michele Maltese, and Ted Pierce. This short is notable for being the first of three appearences note of an unnamed black and white tuxedo cat, whom bears a striking resemblence to Warner Bros.' Sylvester the cat.
Tropes:
- Behind the Black: As noted under Fake-Out Opening below, at the beginning of the short, it at first appears as though the cat is chasing after a mouse, but when the mouse clarifies to the audience that this is a "dog chasing cat picture", the camera zooms out to show that the cat is the one that is being chased.
- Cats Are Superior: The cat is certainly more intelligent than the dog, and is not afraid to show it, always being one step ahead of him, and even going as far to dress up as another dog just to pretend to give the dog guidance on how to properly catch cats.
- Chased Off into the Sunset: After the cat reveals to the bigger dog that he was the smaller dog all along, the bigger dog resumes the chase through yet another series of doors as the cartoon comes to a close.
- Delayed Reaction: After the cat reveals that he was the smaller dog all along.Cat: (disguised as the smaller dog) "Now I'll tell ya what you oughta do."Dog: "Oughta do..."Cat: (undresses) "Instead of chasing cats..."Dog: "Cats..."Cat: "Chase dogs." (hands the dog the costume)Dog: "Uh, dogs..."Cat: "Good Luck."Dog: "Good luck..."
- Digital Destruction: The restored version of this short, as seen on MeTV+'s Sunday Night Cartoons block, has a noticeable purplish hue added to most of the colors, giving the color palette a darker appearance than normal. This is most evident with the cat, who now has a purple nose instead of a red one.
- Dogs Are Dumb: The main dog featured in this short is certainly not the brightest bulb, speaking in a slow lethargic voice, and frequently being outsmarted by the cat. It isn't until he starts seeking guidence from the smaller dog that he starts using using smarter tactics against the cat, but even that ends up being another one one of the cat's tricks in the end.
- Expy: ZigZagged with the cat: while his appearance very heavily reflects that of Sylvester from Looney Tunes, his voice, and personality do not.
- Fake-Out Opening: When the short first opens up, the first thing the audience sees a closeup shot of a cat seemingly chasing after a mouse, with a voice over of a man voicing disdain that this is going to be
"another one of those 'cat chasing mouse' pictures". It is at that point that the mouse clarifies that it is in fact a "dog chasing cat picture" as both the cat and dog simply run right past the mouse.Mouse: "I'm just out for my morning constitutional, cheerio." - Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Downplayed. At one point, the cat manages to trick the dog into going through a door leading straight to a cliff, and while the usual hallmarks of this trope do play out like normal (I.E.: the dog hangs in the air for a second before falling), the dog is fourtunate enough to grab onto the cliff edge just before he falls.
- Hyperspace Mallet: After spending several hours removing a seemingly endless stack of hats off of the cat's head, the latter grabs a mallet from out of nowhere and hands the dog a four leaf clover, before hammering him into the ground.Cat: "Good luck."Dog: "Good luck..."(the cat hammers the dog into the ground and waters the clover, before running off)
- Latex Perfection / Ass in a Lion Skin: As it turns out, the smaller dog was actually just the cat in a dog suit all along.
- The Lonely Door: The main climax of the short of the revolves around both the cat and dog running through several of these, with plenty of Hammerspace, and Offscreen Reality Warps related gags abound.
- Expoding Closet: At one point, the cat opens a Lonely Door that turns out to be a closet, resulting in him getting buried in clutter.
- Perspective Magic: At one point, the cat opens a door on the ground which produces a set of stairs leading underground. However, when the dog tries to follow suit, the staircase does not appear for him, due to him opening the door the wrong way.
- Scooby-Dooby Doors: The final scene in the short shows an aerial shot of the dog and cat continuing their chase through a seemingly endless horizon of Lonely Doors, once again, with Offscreen Reality Warps with each door that they enter.
- Zig-Zagged Trope: That being said, not every instance of either the cat or the dog entering the door results in an Offscreen Reality Warp.
- Pull the Thread: The cat is not fooled by the dog's "be nice to cats week" parade, but he decides to play along with it anyway up until the point where the dog is about to hit the cat over the head with a mallet.
- Schmuck Bait: The main plot of this short is kicked off when the smaller dog sees the bigger dog's lack of success in catching the cat, he suggests that instead he should use these sort of tactics to let the cat come to him:
- The first method involved setting up a parade proclaiming that it's "be nice to cats week" and that the cat should shake hands with the nearest dog. The cat initially appears to fall for it and shakes hands with the bigger dog. However, before the dog could hit the cat on the head with a mallet, the latter covers his head with an array of protective hats and helmets, and by the time the the dog finally removes the last of the hats, he is too exhausted to proceed with the attack.
- The second method involved using a marionette puppet of a female cat to lure the cat into a series of doors set up in the woods to look like a house interior, before ambushing the cat by posing as the "husband". Once again, this does not work, as once the dog gets stuck trying to open one of the doors that the cat just ran through, the cat simply walks around the door and kicks the dog in the rear before running off.
- "Take That!" Kiss: The cat gives one to the bigger dog when he reveals to him that the smaller dog was actually him in disguise.
- Visual Pun: The dog briefly turns into a "dumbell" when the cat tricks him into running off a cliff.
- Wild Take / Eye Pop: The cat's sclera, irises, and pupils separately extend outward on sets of spings when he sees the female cat marionette puppet set up by the dog.
