I don’t know how anyone could not be familiar with the iconic duo Tom & Jerry, who have been around for 85 years. It is one of the classic animated rivalries, with cat Tom constantly trying to capture mouse Jerry. Between 1940 and 1958, another iconic duo, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, created 114 Golden Era shorts for MGM featuring Tom & Jerry. Seven of these shorts took home Academy Awards, while six additional shorts received nominations.
While Warner Bros has released many collections of Tom & Jerry shorts on disc over the years, this is the first time that all 114 of the Golden Era shorts are presented together in their uncut and uncensored format. Though each disc opens with an unskippable disclaimer that these shorts are a product of their era and that they contain biased stereotypes and depictions that don’t necessarily reflect modern sensibilities, but are left in tact to show that these did historically exist. While I find these disclaimers to be a bit obnoxious—anyone should be able to understand this without a trigger warning—but if that’s what it takes to see the original, unedited versions of the shorts, I’ll take it, I just wish they made it skippable.
I had definitely watched a lot of Tom & Jerry growing up, but hadn’t realized how much of that had been these original Golden Era shorts—I thought I had primarily watched the newer episodes. So many of these shorts came rushing back to me as I re-watched them on this set, enjoying them all over again. Many still hold up quite well today, despite the aforementioned warning. In many of these shorts, Tom and Jerry primarily don’t speak, though there are some shorts where they do have dialogue, but there’s also other recurring characters such as the bulldog Spike who do always speak. Episodes also feature a delightful score that also helps to tell the story. There’s also a lot of puns and play on words written into the scenes, such as a box of eggs labeled “hen grenades”, or Tom reading a Random Mouse book, and so on. During the run, Tom & Jerry vary from living in a farm house in the country, to living in a house in the suburbs, and other locations—whatever seems to fit the story. You would think they’d run out of ideas for this series, but each short feels fun and unique, playing on literature, cultural and historical references. And the short 7-9 minute runtimes keep the story tight and from overstaying its welcome.
Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology includes all 114 Golden Era MGM theatrical shorts:
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Warner Bros. has released the Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (1940-58) on both Blu-ray and DVD. We received the DVD edition for review. The picture quality looks very good for a DVD (animation can be quite forgiving in SD). You would never guess that some of these were 85 years old. Colors are solid, and the picture is generally clean and clear. The majority of the shorts are presented in their original 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio, while 19 of the later shorts are presented in a 2.35:1 widescreen CinemaScope format. All are presented with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, which is more than sufficient for the dialogue and score. The discs also include 20 commentary tracks from a variety of folks, who provide behind-the-scenes information and trivia, and discuss the history and evolution of the characters/shorts, the animation style, the animators involved, and more. These are quite entertaining, and are primarily available on the shorts that were Oscar-nominated.
Note, that the Blu-ray release also contains a sixth disc with more than 3 hours of bonus features, including two all new never-before-seen seen featurettes Lady of the House: The Story of Mammy Two Shoes and Animal Hijinks: The Friends and Foes of Tom, and a collectible 28-page booklet with artwork and essays. It’s a shame that this couldn’t be included with the DVD as well. Fans will likely want to pick up the Blu-ray release instead because of this.
What’s Included:
- Shorts: (13:42:39)
- All 114 MGM cartoon shorts from 1940-1958 on 5 Discs
Disc 1 (2:51:52): “Puss Gets the Boot”, “The Midnight Snack”, “The Night Before Christmas”, “Fraidy Cat”, “Dog Trouble”, “Puss n’ Toots”, “The Bowling Alley-Cat”, “Fine Feathered Friend”, “Sufferin’ Cats!”, “The Lonesome Mouse”, “The Yankee Doodle Mouse”, “Baby Puss”, “The Zoot Cat”, “The Million Dollar Cat”, “The Bodyguard”, “Puttin’ on the Dog”, “Mouse Trouble”, “The Mouse Comes to Dinner”, “Mouse in Manhattan”, “Tee for Two”, “Flirty Birdy”, “Quiet Please!”
Disc 2 (3:01:08): “Springtime for Thomas”, “The Milky Waif”, “Trap Happy”, “Solid Serenade”, “Cat Fishin'”, “Part Time Pal”, “The Cat Concerto”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse”, “Salt Water Tabby”, “A Mouse in the House”, “The Invisible Mouse”, “Kitty Foiled”, “The Truce Hurts”, “Old Rockin’ Chair Tom”, “Professor Tom”, “Mouse Cleaning”, “Polka-Dot Puss”, “The Little Orphan”, “Hatch Up Your Troubles”, “Heavenly Puss”, “The Cat and the Mermouse”, “Love That Pup”, “Jerry’s Diary”, “Tennis Chumps”
Disc 3 (3:01:37): “Little Quacker”, “Saturday Evening Puss”, “Texas Tom”, “Jerry and the Lion”, “Safety Second”, “Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl”, “The Framed Cat”, “Cue Ball Cat”, “Casanova Cat”, “Jerry and the Goldfish”, “Jerry’s Cousin”, “Sleepy-Time Tom”, “His Mouse Friday”, “Slicked-up Pup”, “Nit-Witty Kitty”, “Cat Napping”, “The Flying Cat”, “The Duck Doctor”, “The Two Mouseketeers”, “Smitten Kitten”, “Triplet Trouble”, “Little Runaway”, “Fit to Be Tied”, “Push-Button Kitty”, “Cruise Cat”, “The Dog House”
Disc 4 (2:51:52): “The Missing Mouse”, “Jerry and Jumbo”, “Johann Mouse”, “That’s My Pup!”, “Just Ducky”, “Two Little Indians”, “Life with Tom”, “Puppy Tale”, “Posse Cat”, “Hic-cup Pup”, “Little School Mouse”, “Baby Butch”, “Mice Follies”, “Neapolitan Mouse”, “Downhearted Duckling”, “Pet Peeve”, “Touché, Pussy Cat!”, “Southbound Duckling”, “Pup on a Picnic”, “Mouse for Sale”, “Designs on Jerry”, “Tom and Chérie”, “Smarty Cat”, “Pecos Pest”, “That’s My Mommy”
Disc 5 (1:56:10): “The Flying Sorceress”, “The Egg and Jerry”, “Busy Buddies”, “Muscle Beach Tom”, “Down Beat Bear”, “Blue Cat Blues”, “Barbecue Brawl”, “Tops with Pops”, “Timid Tabby”, “Feedin’ the Kiddie”, “Mucho Mouse”, “Tom’s Photo Finish”, “Happy Go Ducky”, “Royal Cat Nap”, “The Vanishing Duck”, “Robin Hoodwinked”, “Tot Watchers” - 480i / 1.37:1 Full Frame (Shorts 1-87, 92-93, 95-96), 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen (Shorts 88-91, 94, 97-114)
- Audio: English 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono
- Subtitles: English SDH
- Commentaries
20 commentary tracks from a variety of folks, who provide behind-the-scenes information and trivia, and discuss the history and evolution of the characters/shorts, the animation style, and more. The provide some behind-the-scenes information and trivia such as the animators responsible, and more. The episodes selected for the commentaries are primarily those that were nominated for/won Oscars. Select from:- Puss Gets the Boot (9:12)
Animator Mark Kausler - Puss Gets the Boot (9:12)
Comedienne Nicole Parker (MAD TV) and Historian Earl Kress - The Night Before Christmas (8:40)
Author Michael Mallory - The Night Before Christmas (8:40)
Comedienne Nicole Parker and Historian Earl Kress - The Yankee Doodle Mouse (7:32)
Author Michael Mallory - The Zoot Cat (7:07)
Historian Jerry Beck - Mouse Trouble (7:26)
Author Michael Mallory - Quiet Please! (7:39)
Animator Mark Kausler - The Cat Concerto (7:30)
Director Eric Goldberg - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (7:26)
Author Michael Mallory - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (7:26)
Comedienne Nicole Parker and Historian Earl Kress - Kitty Foiled (7:26)
Historian Jerry Beck - The Little Orphan (7:53)
Author Michael Mallory - Hatch Up Your Troubles (7:42)
Author Michael Mallory - Heavenly Puss (7:49)
Historian Jerry Beck - Saturday Evening Puss (6:32)
Comedienne Nicole Parker and Historian Earl Kress - Jerry’s Cousin (6:45)
Historian Jerry Beck - The Two Mouseketeers (7:24)
Historian Jerry Beck - Push-Button Kitty (6:39)
Animator Mark Kausler - Johann Mouse (7:55)
Animator Mark Kausler
Final Thoughts:
My Rating Shorts:Video:Audio:Extras:Highly Recommended Warner Bros’ new Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (1940-58) is a must own for any Tom and Jerry or Hanna-Barbera fan. I was surprised by how many of these Golden Era shorts I remembered watching as a kid, and it was fun to revisit the show. I appreciate that Warner Bros. has released these shorts in their original unedited format, including a disclaimer that society has changed over the past 85 years, rather than modifying the content to fit modern views and acceptability. Though I personally did not have any issues re-watching these shorts on this DVD set. While the DVD release presentation is pretty solid and includes the 20 entertaining commentary tracks, I would go for the Blu-ray release instead as it contains an extra bonus disc with over 3 hours of supplemental material.
Explore all of these titles on Amazon.com - Puss Gets the Boot (9:12)
Extras:
