The Two Mouseketeers
This Tom and Jerry cartoon is set in 18th century France. Tom, who is a soldier in a castle, is assigned to guard the food laid out on a banquet table. Jerry and a smaller mouse companion, two wandering “mouseketeers,” make the situation miserable for Tom as they abscond with (and occasionally eat) all the food they can.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), and the film that launched the Mouseketeer series. Jerry and Tuffy are musketeers guarding a banquet Tom is supposed to protect, and the period design, score and swordplay are the most lavish MGM ever gave the pair. It is also famous for one of the boldest endings in any cartoon — the audience is left in absolutely no doubt about what has just happened to Tom, and it is somehow still funny.
The ending turns on Tom being led off to the guillotine; the blade falls off screen with the sound left in. It is played as a joke and it genuinely startles people.