Tom and Jerry-Classic Collection-Volume 9 (1956)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1956
Running Time	65:27
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Tex Avery Joseph Barbera William Hanna Michael Lah
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Heck Allen Tex Avery Joseph Barbera Joseph Barbera William Hanna William Hanna Rich Hogan Rudolf Ising Michael Lah Tom Ray Tex Avery Joseph Barbera Billy Bletcher
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	None Given

Volume nine of the Tom and Jerry Classic Collection assembles the last 10 theatrical animated shorts produced by Fred Quimby and written and directed by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1957.

• Tops With Pops (1957) - CinemaScope remake of Love That Pup (1949).

• Timid Tabby (1957)

• Feedin The Kiddie (1957) - CinemaScope remake of The Little Orphan (1949).

• Mucho Mouse (1957)

• Tom's Photo Finish (1957)

• Happy Go Ducky (1958)

• Royal Cat Nap (1958)

• The Vanishing Duck (1958)

• Robin Hoodwinked (1958)

• Tot Watchers (1958)

With the growth of television and the subsequent decline in revenue from theatrical films, and short subjects, MGM decided to close their animation studio as the older animated shorts brought in just as much revenue as the new films. The MGM animation department was shut down in 1957 and the final Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Tot Watchers, was released on August 1, 1958.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera established their own television animation studio, Hanna-Barbera Productions, in 1957. Hanna-Barbera Productions went on to produce such popular shows as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show, Jonny Quest, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo, and Smurfs.

Video

From 1956 until the close of the MGM animation studio a year later, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in CinemaScope. Unfortunately on this single-sided, single layered DVD all the cartoons are presented in a cropped aspect ratio of 1.33:1 Full Frame, except for Tops With Pops and Feedin The Kiddie which are presented in non 16x9 enhanced 2.66:1 widescreen. The animated series is sourced from tape and has been encoded at an average bit-rate of 5.72 Mbps achieving a smooth transfer with average colour rendering. The transfer appears soft but remains relatively clear although heavy film grain, film artefacts and background noise artefacting is perceptible. Most likely this is a result of the age of the source material. There is a selection of subtitle options available which appear in small white text.

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Audio

Towards the end of the MGM era some of the Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts had the soundtracks recorded in stereo. However on this DVD there are Dolby Digital 1.0 audio soundtracks available in a number of language options. There are no errors apparent on 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 emplaced 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.

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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 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:

R1 - 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 a English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack and English, French and Spanish subtitles.

R2 – 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

R4 – Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 1-12

It seems the local release is actually the R2 DVD collection released as single-layer, single-sided DVD releases 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 for version will depend on whether the R1 extras are of importance to you or whether you'd rather have the majority of episodes. Also, the R2 release suggests the cartons have been digitally re-mastered but this apparently is not the case.

Volume nine of the Tom and Jerry Classic Collection compiles the last ten Tom and Jerry theatrical animated shorts of the Hanna-Barbera era (1940 – 1958) at the MGM cartoon studio.

The cartoons are unfortunately presented in unremarkable fashion, however it is great to see the classic episodes on DVD.

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