{"id":93059,"date":"2025-12-01T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=93059"},"modified":"2025-12-01T09:05:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:05:42","slug":"thads-review-part-1-tom-jerry-the-golden-era-anthology-1940-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/thads-review-part-1-tom-jerry-the-golden-era-anthology-1940-1958\/","title":{"rendered":"Thad’s Review – Part 1: “Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology 1940-1958”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>With every one of these posts, I seem to say we\u2019re living in a surreal world in many ways. Well, it\u2019s true! Even as early as this year, did we think we\u2019d have all kinds of restoration projects on the horizon (my own *cough* included)? That Terrytoons would see the light of day on MeTV Toons? The most science fiction-like fact of all is the subject of this post: Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology<\/em> physically exists on Blu-ray, with all 114 of the shorts from the Hanna-Barbera MGM cartoon unit, restored and uncensored.<\/p>\n

It’s remarkable the series has endured, given it never blazed trails in terms of content. \u201cAll you needed was a cat and mouse, and everybody knew what was going to happen,\u201d Joe Barbera says in the accompanying booklet (but no contents list, which is being remedied as a free online print-out, the equivalent of getting a QR code at a bar). That may have been Barbera gloating in his typical fashion, because it\u2019s no secret that despite the never-failing popularity, the lack of ideas is painfully obvious the later you get into the Tom & Jerry oeuvre. But, he and Bill Hanna really had something in the first decade of the series\u2019 production. <\/p>\n

For better or worst, it was the Hollywood cartoon at its purest. The prey\/predator dynamic is mostly tossed (Tom almost rarely tries to actually eat Jerry) in favor of sibling rivalry, and it becomes more about how much annoyance the characters can cause each other. And the more violent that annoyance, the better and funnier. Combine that with Hanna\u2019s timing, Barbera\u2019s gags and unique poses, the best draftsmen-animators in the business, and the overbearing but beautiful Scott Bradley music, and you get cartoons that have endured for eighty-five years now. We had Tom & Jerry: The Complete Cinemascope Collection<\/em> earlier this year, and we have all those cartoons here, too. But it was the earlier films we wanted most, restored and uncensored. And boy, did we get them!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Their simplicity (along with the general lack of dialogue) has given Tom & Jerry more worldwide overexposure and popularity than any other theatrical cartoon series (it\u2019s the only one whose characters still make actual money). So we\u2019ve had the opportunity to buy these cartoons over and over and over on VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray. (Some of us, myself included, have them on 16mm and 35mm, too.) As a result, I\u2019ve had no end of questions asking me about the new set. The main one is: is this really it for Tom & Jerry? Is this really the last time we have to buy them? <\/p>\n

It’s a fair question, because past T&J collections have had serious issues, be it censorship or subpar mastering. This particular set was a collaboration between Warner Archive Collection and Warner Home Video, and neither have had the best track records with (when they exist) complete cartoon collections, where simply too much was unnecessarily messed up to be given a pass. Warner Archive Collection has been going in the right direction, proven by this year\u2019s The Huckleberry Hound Show \u2013 The Complete Series<\/em>, which is almost intimidatingly close to perfect in many ways.<\/p>\n

Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology<\/em> goes in that direction even more impressively since it was more or less put together in a few months, thanks to good sales on the Cinemascope disc and a change in direction at the company. \u201cAll 114 of the shorts [\u2026], restored and uncensored\u201d at an astonishingly low price tag.. it\u2019s of course a must-have!<\/p>\n

\"\"Indeed, the \u201ccancellable\u201d aspects of the series are fully embraced here. A long-in-development documentary titled The Lady of the House<\/em> does an excellent job of contextualizing and celebrating Tom\u2019s black owner voiced by actress Lillian Randolph (and all of those cartoons retain their original soundtracks on this set). The marketing team also made a point to answer that yes, Mouse Cleaning<\/em> and Casanova Cat<\/em>, the two shorts that have been prohibited from inclusion for some twenty years due to lengthy blackface gags, are included. They\u2019ve also touted the inclusion of His Mouse Friday<\/em>, a cartoon which is just a blackface gag but for some reason never reached the verboten status of the other two, given it\u2019s all over official streaming and video-on-demand channels with no contextual warning. Never ask to make sense of this. It\u2019s moot now anyway.<\/p>\n

As far as the mastering\/restoration, I can\u2019t do a microscopic dissection of the history in this review, but to head off the fans\u2019 questions: in almost all cases, these are the same exact high-definition copies you\u2019ve seen on past collections, streaming, or MeTV. (And no, no original titles were reinstated.) Only a few transfers are brand-new. That\u2019s mostly fine, as the picture and audio ranges from excellent to serviceable on most titles (the newly unleashed Mouse Cleaning<\/em> in particular looks fantastic), so there is nothing unexpected besides some of the improvements recently made. There does appear to be some unnecessary noise reduction (read: smoothing out grain, not erasing the animation) applied to a number of the older transfers, like The Night Before Christmas<\/em>, which was probably inadvisable, but it doesn\u2019t render them unwatchable.<\/p>\n

Readers should know that the original negatives for most of the pre-\u201850s MGM cartoon library were lost in a fire decades ago, so they will never look as good as the Warner, Fleischer, and Famous cartoon restorations put out by Warner Archive. The best that can be done is sourcing them from grainier and dupier interpositive elements, and in many cases it\u2019s daunting to figure out where the best source exactly is. Speaking from similar personal experience, I don\u2019t envy the position WAC producer George Feltenstein and friends find themselves in with these beloved films.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The most egregious issue with past copies, though, was that several were improperly mastered for the Tom & Jerry Golden Collection Vol. 1<\/em> in 2010 from subpar faded material (lovingly and erroneously dubbed \u201cMetrocolor\u201d, since these retained the black MGM lion logos from \u201860s Eastman color reissues). They were never flagged at any point in production (obviously George F. was not involved), so more than a few genuine classics (including two Oscar winners) have looked embarrassingly awful everywhere for the last fifteen years. Better source material being unavailable can\u2019t be an excuse because all of these titles looked much better in previous collections and incarnations. Some of that has been fortunately fixed by utilizing superior sources: The Bowling Alley-Cat, Sufferin\u2019 Cats, The Zoot Cat, The Million Dollar Cat<\/em>, and Puttin\u2019 on the Dog<\/em> now look on par with the best transfers on the Tex Avery Screwball Classics<\/em> discs. The rest of those \u201cMetrocolor\u201d cartoons, sadly, look as rotten as ever here, though technicians tried to \u201chide it\u201d by getting rid of the \u201860s MGM lion, as if no one could tell the difference by what the actual cartoon looks like. (In Lonesome Mouse\u2019s case, they forgot and left the \u201860s lion on!)<\/p>\n

Dwelling on the few disappointments, though, misses that there has never been any kind of comprehensive home video collection where errors didn\u2019t get through. Producers and fans need to resign themselves to the fact that even the most diligent job will have a few slip-ups when you\u2019re talking about over a hundred short films, though the sting is worse when it\u2019s on some of the best entries in the series. It\u2019s not just about the severity of the errors, it\u2019s really if, overall, the best job possible was clearly done. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The first laser disc boxed set in 1993<\/p><\/div>By far: this is the best comprehensive presentation Tom & Jerry has ever received on home video. It took over thirty years to improve upon the scope of the Beck\/Feltenstein Art of Tom & Jerry<\/em> laserdisc collections, and to upgrade the middling jobs previously done on DVD and Blu-ray. We all expected most of these would end up on Blu-ray, never all of them with how much the characters remain an evergreen kids and family property. Everyone involved clearly went the extra mile with next to no time to do it, and we\u2019ve all been rewarded with an unprecedented complete and uncensored collection.<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s also nice to see bonus features again on a Warner-produced cartoon collection. Porting over all the pre-existing audio commentaries is appreciated (though the embarrassing tracks pairing the late historian Earl Kress with actress Nicole Parker, part of some cynical cross-marketing scheme Warners was trying to do with its classic properties and MadTV<\/em> at the time, would have been better off forgotten), and the talking head docs are harmless fun, mostly for seeing friends give their two cents and knowledge on an official product. It\u2019s a great throwback to the days twenty years ago when we took the extras for granted.<\/p>\n

Fearless leader Jerry Beck and George Feltenstein have intimated Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology<\/em> represents a serious change in direction, and since they started off with, well, one of the main things we fans all wanted but thought we\u2019d never see, it really does seem like anything can happen now.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m breaking down the entire set in my usual review fashion, only this time each semi-weekly post will cover one disc (I\u2019m foregoing the cartoons included on the Cinemascope Collection<\/em>, as I did those already). All cartoons were, of course, directed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. For history\u2019s sake, I\u2019m also including the cartoons\u2019 in-house production numbers, so you can see the order they were actually started in.<\/p>\n

Disc one is the first five years of the series, showcasing the evolution from what historian Mike Barrier called \u201cTerrytoons in a Harman-Ising shell\u201d origins to Hanna and Barbera never quite shaking them but still incorporating the inescapable influence of their frenemy Tex Avery. There\u2019s a charm to the earliest in which Jerry has a \u201cbaby walk\u201d (usually animated by Barbera\u2019s Terry cohort George Gordon) and Tom is mostly still on all fours, but it starts to quickly run its course, and the Avery\/Warner influence in the likes of Zoot Cat<\/em> and Million Dollar Cat<\/em> is a welcome change of pace.<\/p>\n

PUSS GETS THE BOOT (Prod. #42)<\/strong>
\nThe one that started it all, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon empire included. (Although a lot of people felt something was owed to Rudy Ising for making it happen, Ising himself included.) The cat\u2019s called Jasper, and if he breaks one more thing, he\u2019s going \u201co-w-t, out!\u201d The mouse, unnamed, sees to it that that happens. The specificity of the acting and timing (and slapstick violence) made it stand out enough for an Oscar nomination, cementing the success of the Hanna-Barbera unit, which, after making a number of insufferable cat-and-mouse-less cartoons, would make almost nothing but cat-and-mouse cartoons for 17 years.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

THE MIDNIGHT SNACK (Prod. #60)<\/strong>
\nThe characters are officially christened Tom and Jerry (names suggested by animator Jack Carr). Jerry\u2019s icebox raid is usurped by Tom, who attempts to pin it all on the mouse but ultimately takes all the blame. Jack Zander becomes the shorts\u2019 \u201cpersonality animator\u201d with Tom\u2019s lengthy buffet, and some unpleasant business happens with a fork and cheese grater. But my favorite bit is when Tom is called in to chase Jerry, and he gloats to the camera. It\u2019s behavior that only someone who\u2019s known cats could capture, and this sort of acting helped make the series so unique.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Prod. #78)<\/strong>
\nNostalgic-favorite with a chase around the Christmas tree that cements the series as \u201cnot your typical cat and mouse cartoon\u201d, with some genuinely compelling staging and acting that convinces you that Tom might actually not want to kill Jerry. Later attempts at \u201cheart\u201d didn\u2019t get it nearly as right. The sixth Tom & Jerry to go into production, but the third released, perhaps to make it in time for holiday season screenings. Oscar nominee.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

FRAIDY CAT (Prod. #69)<\/strong>
\nJerry preys upon Tom\u2019s fear of the supernatural, which ends with an assault on \u201cMammy\u2019s\u201d backside.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

DOG TROUBLE (Prod. #64)<\/strong>
\nThe first time Tom and Jerry team up against a foe, this time Spike the bulldog in his first appearance. Early showcase for Bill Hanna\u2019s turn-on-a-dime timing, and the beauty of a belabored set-up (Jerry rigging the house with yarn) paying off with instant destruction.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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PUSS N\u2019 TOOTS (Prod. #74)<\/strong>
\nTom\u2019s first failed romance, with his \u201cgifting\u201d of Jerry to his gal backfiring in a fabulous record-player display.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

THE BOWLING ALLEY CAT (Prod. #79)<\/strong>
\nAfter hour antics at a bowling alley with the cat and mouse. This routine entry gets a reprieve with a stunningly nice new restoration that highlights some interesting lightning techniques.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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FINE FEATHERED FRIEND (Prod. #81)<\/strong>
\nTom pursues Jerry through the remnants of a Happy Harmony-style barnyard, where Tom and a mother hen receive quite a bit of abuse to their respective backsides.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

SUFFERIN\u2019 CATS (Prod. #85)<\/strong>
\nThe introduction of Tom\u2019s alley cat chum Meathead, who quarrels with Tom over eating Jerry in a particularly brutal fashion. As noted before, this one boasts a wholly new, colorful transfer.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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THE LONESOME MOUSE (Prod. #89)<\/strong>
\nJerry regrets getting Tom kicked out of the house, so the two stage the cat\u2019s redemption. Unique for being the only cartoon with Tom and Jerry both talking (voiced by Bill Hanna and Harry Lang) throughout, and the only one where they treat \u201cMammy\u201d with active contempt and violence. This awkward misfire\u2019s reissue in 1950 generated a formal complaint from the NAACP (there\u2019s also a gag where dice and a razor fall from her skirt), which probably went a long way in retiring the character (the last ones with her would have been in production at the time).<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE (Prod. #91)<\/strong>
\nTom and Jerry wage war in the basement in the series\u2019 first Oscar-winner, a win owing more to wartime patriotism than anything else. This one has been missing a scene involving a wrench, Tom\u2019s tongue, and ration stamps ever since it was cut for reissue in 1950.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

BABY PUSS (Prod. #99)<\/strong>
\nTom suffers humiliation dressed as a baby doll at the hands of a bratty girl, Jerry, and his alley cat chums (two of them, Butch and Topsy, in their first appearance). Maybe the most \u201cqueer\u201d coded entry in the series, they certainly didn\u2019t make one like this ever again.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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THE ZOOT CAT (Prod. #104)<\/strong>
\nTom gets hep with a makeshift zoot suit to woo his southern belle gal in this 1944-specific cartoon that\u2019s endured as an immortal classic. The last time for any dialogue for the mouse (aside from Anchors Aweigh<\/em>), but they would often have the cat talk if the gag called for it. Looking particularly ratty for years in the HD era, this one boasts a great new transfer here.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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THE MILLION DOLLAR CAT (Prod. #109)<\/strong>
\nTom will forfeit his inheritance if he harms Jerry in a story that was done a little funnier with Bugs and Elmer by Friz Freleng and Mike Maltese two years earlier, but this one has a particularly strong Scott Bradley score. Like Zoot Cat,<\/em> this one, too, gets a reprieve with a great new transfer.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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THE BODYGUARD (Prod. #114)<\/strong>
\nJerry earns around-the-clock protection when he frees Spike from the dog catcher. Another where the music really carries the cartoon, and Irv Spence\u2019s handling of Tom\u2019s pasty gumball scheme is the highlight.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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PUTTIN\u2019 ON THE DOG (Prod. #117)<\/strong>
\nUnderrated entry with Jerry seeking refuge in a dog pound, and Tom utilizing the cartoon logic that the dogs won\u2019t recognize him so long as he wears a fake dog head at all times. The circumstances get crazier and stupider. Another 1944 cartoon sporting a new transfer.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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MOUSE TROUBLE (Prod. #118)<\/strong>
\nWriter Cal Howard insisted he wrote this Oscar-winner uncredited when he worked for MGM, which I have no trouble believing. The use of the blackout gag format, centered on Tom\u2019s using the book \u201cHow to Catch a Mouse\u201d to destroy Jerry, and Tom\u2019s bodily injuries carrying over to the next scenes (and the cat ultimately dying, which didn\u2019t happen any other time besides Heavenly Puss), make this a wholly unique entry in the series\u2014and one of its best, darkest, and funniest.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

\n

THE MOUSE COMES TO DINNER (Prod. #123)<\/strong>
\nTom crashes his owners\u2019 dinner party, inviting Toodles over and coercing Jerry to be their waiter, with the expected results. The funniest, unspoken aspect is that Toodles is still sitting there watching all of this carnage happen.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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MOUSE IN MANHATTAN (Prod. #132)<\/strong>
\nThe most lyrical cartoon in the series. Jerry seeks a better life in New York City, with Bradley utilizing \u201cManhattan Serenade\u201d for nearly the entirety of the soundtrack. This always felt like a cartoon specifically made to win the Academy Award, but it wasn\u2019t even nominated and the prize went to a more routine T&J.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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TEE FOR TWO (Prod. #126)<\/strong>
\nThe first cartoon that casts Tom as not a housecat but a regular \u201chuman\u201d funny animal character, out playing the worst game of golf with Jerry as his shanghaied caddy. Noteworthy for the savage gag (animated by Ken Muse) of Tom getting a swarm of bees stinging his throat in a manner that\u2019s both horrifying and hilarious.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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FLIRTY BIRDY (Prod. #129)<\/strong>
\nThis oddball entry has Tom donning the worst drag possible to reclaim Jerry from a horny eagle. It works too well, as the cat ends up married and hatching eggs. Another uncredited Cal Howard story?<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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QUIET, PLEASE! (Prod. #131)<\/strong>
\nSpike threatens to skin Tom alive if he makes any more noise trying to slaughter Jerry. What could possibly go wrong? Funny stuff, and an Oscar-winner, for some reason.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

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COMING SOON:<\/strong> I’ll be back to discuss Disc Two, when the series is at its peak.<\/p>\n

EDITOR’S NOTE:<\/strong> Thad will do four posts that will review each of the six discs. This was the first of those posts. I will post his subsequent reviews the day he sends them in – resulting in several days this month having two posts on a single day. So “Stay Tooned”…<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

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