Starring: William Hanna, Billy Bletcher, Clarence Nash, June Foray, Sara Berner, Lillian Randolph
Directed By: Joseph Barbera, William Hanna
Studio: Warner Bros.
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Do you love Tom & Jerry? Well look no further than owning the entire MGM Golden Era shorts all in one spot! It’s on Blu-Ray and worth getting if you’re a fan of the classic cat & mouse characters like I am.
The animated shorts range from 1940 to 1958. I appreciate the early cartoons of the 40s but I think they hit their stride when they get their more iconic look in the later 40s and 50s. The first warning you get is these cartoons are a “product of their time,” which you usually get from Disney, Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. You’ll definitely notice some of the cringiness of some of the earlier shorts.
The standout from the late 40s is “The Cat Concerto” when Tom plays the piano and has to deal with Jerry. It’s something about these cartoon characters playing piano that’s always funny. Between this or Bugs conducting, or messing up an opera concert – they always end up being the best shorts. The 1952-1953 range especially had some gems in there like “Posse Cat,” “Two Little Indians,” and “The Missing Mouse.” For some reason, I don’t care for the earlier ones as much. It’s not until they get that famous theme song and look that cartoons really get good! With that said, I’ll take the earlier cartoons than those weird later ones from Gene Deitch. I appreciate the later Chuck Jones cartoons as well but the Fred Quimby produced shorts are where it’s at!
My favorite animated shorts from Tom & Jerry are when they are dealing with other characters like Spike and his son, some ducklings, Jerry’s friends or other cats. It just mixes up the dynamic that way, usually with the same result though. The best when Uncle Pecos comes to town.
While not 4k, these shorts look fantastic on Blu-Ray and the audio sounds just as good. Scott Bradley’s music comes through crystal clear! There’s 2 new featurettes, one about the housekeeper Mammy and the actress who voiced her. That character definitely raised eyebrows for racial stereotypes over the years. The other featurette is about all the animals that Tom & Jerry encounter in their shorts, which I brought up earlier. Other extras include some vintage featurettes, commentaries and bonus shorts that might have been found on other sets before.
For 60 dollars, you get all the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons on Blu-Ray. I can’t think of a better holiday gift!
(Sent by AV Entertainment for review)
Features:
Lady of the House
Animal Hijinks
9 vintage featurettes
20 commentaries
3 bonus shorts
Video:
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1, 1.75:1, 2.55:1, 2.35:1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Subtitles:
English SDH
Bottom Line: Fantastic set of Tom & Jerry classics..all in one spot!
Running Time: 817 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: