Tom and Jerry-Classic Collection-Volume 7 (1953)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1953
Running Time	84:49
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Daws Butler June Foray William Denby Hanna Wes Harrison Lillian Randolph
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Scott Bradley

"It's like saying Charlie Chaplin films are pornographic…It's the sort of humour circus clowns purvey. No one gets hurt, they always bounce back."
The late Joe Barbera reacts to criticism that the Tom and Jerry animated series is violent.

Volume seven of the Tom and Jerry Classic Collection assembles 13 animated shorts produced by Fred Quimby and written and directed by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio during 1953-1954.

The cartoons are presented in chronological order:

• Two Little Indians (6:30)
• Life with Tom (7:11)
• Puppy Tale (6:40)
• Posse Cat (6:08)
• Hic-cup Pup (6:06)
• Little School Mouse (6:52)
• Baby Butch (6:44)
• Mice Follies (6:43)
• Neapolitan Mouse (6:58)
• Downhearted Duckling (6:14)
• Pet Peeve (6:10)
• Touché, Pussy Cat! (6:26) - Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons
• Southbound Duckling (6:01)

Video

From 1953 to 1956, some Tom and Jerry animated shorts were produced in both 1.37:1 and 2.66:1. On the single-sided, single layered DVD all the cartoons are presented in an aspect ratio of Full Frame 1.33:1. However, the opening credits of Touché, Pussy Cat! and Southbound Duckling are presented in non-16x9 enhanced 2.66:1. These episodes appear to have been cropped from the original aspect ratio.

The animated series is sourced from tape and has been encoded at an average bit-rate of 5.46 Mb/s, achieving a smooth transfer with average colour rendering. The transfer remains relatively clear, although heavy film grain and film artefacts are perceptible. There is a selection of subtitle options available, which appear in a small white font.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio track is available in a number of language options. There are no errors apparent in the soundtracks and they remain clear and audible. Dialogue is limited in these animated productions; subsequently much of the comedy is reliant on the musical language of the late Scott Bradley. The composer employed a 20 piece orchestra to mimic and emphasise the onscreen action, creating a comedic language based on both timing and originality. Unfortunately the soundtrack does not make use of surround sound, but nevertheless is suitable in respect to the age of the source material.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu

A static and practical 16x9 enhanced menu, featuring an image of the characters with language, subtitle and episode selection. There are no scene chapters for episodes.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

There have been various DVD releases of Tom and Jerry cartoons in themed compilations. In terms of the “classic collection” there have been two other major releases:

Region 1 - Tom and Jerry: Spotlight Collection.

This 2-disc DVD set contains a selection of 40 cartoons. Various cartoons have been omitted due to censorship, while at least three cartoons on this release have been altered in terms of dialogue and have had visual gags edited out due to being regarded as racially contentious. These cartoons are The Milky Waif, The Truce Hurts and The Little Orphan.

Extras included on this set are:

• Animation historian Jerry Beck providing a commentary on three episodes.

• A 27 minute documentary entitled How Bill and Joe met Tom and Jerry.

• A 17 minute documentary entitled Behind the tunes: the MGM orchestra.

• “Anchors Aweigh”: a dance sequence with Gene Kelly (8:11)

• “Dangerous When Wet”: swimming sequence with Esther Williams (7:46)

This NTSC set includes an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack and English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Region 2 – Tom and Jerry: Complete Collector's Edition.

This 6-disc, double-sided DVD collection includes 157 Tom and Jerry cartoons out of the 161 episodes produced. The negative is that 15 episodes have had either audio changed or video edited out. The only soundtrack available is English Mono with no extras.

An excellent visual guide to the censorship implications can be found here.

Region 4 – Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 1-12

It seems the local release is actually the Region 2 DVD collection, released as single-layer, single-sided DVD discs and as such the censorship still exists on the local release.

Overall, each region unfortunately has become a victim of political correctness and your preference will depend on whether the Region 1 extras are of importance to you, or whether you would rather have the majority of episodes. Also, the Region 2 release suggests the cartons have been digitally re-mastered but this is not the case.

An average and unfortunately flawed release of a classic animation series.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall