Animation · Music

The Toreador's Couplets

A film miniature set to classical music. A film joke. Sketches of houses are drawn on the musical score. A mouse creeps before a sleeping cat. A caretaker dozes on a bench, and a crow sleeps beside him. In the silence, the caretaker's snores and the mouse's slinking footsteps can be heard. Suddenly, the sound of shattered glass awakens everyone. Two boys appear in the frame. Seeing the dozing cat, they begin chasing it. In a panic, the cat overturns garbage cans, rips apart laundry lines, and finally hides in a tree. The cat rescues the mouse from its predicament, stuffing it in a mousehole, only to treat it as a "trophy" moments later. The mouse is dressed as a bullfighter. Numerous gags contrasting with the solemn music make the film highly entertaining.