Tom and Jerry-Classic Collection-Volume 12 (1965)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1965
Running Time	105:07
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Abe Levitow
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	Eugene Poddany Maurice Noble Philip DeGuard

Volume twelve of the Tom and Jerry Classic Collection assembles the final 17 animated shorts produced by Chuck Jones at Sib-Tower 12 Productions and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1967.

• Jerry Go Round

• Love Me Love My Mouse

• Puss N Boats

• Filet Meow

• Matinee Mouse

• The A-Tom-Inable Snowman

• Catty Cornered

• Cat And Dupli-Cat

• O Solar Meow

• Guided Mouse-Ille

• Rock N Rodent

• Cannery Rodent

• The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R

• Surf Bored Cat

• Shutter Bugged Cat

• Advance And Be Mechanised

• Purr-Chance To Dream

The movement and the style of the animation is distinct to Jones' work on Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, as the animators experimented with placing Tom and Jerry in different environments (circus, snow, space) and against nameless foes. It seemed Jones did not want to be restricted with the origins of Tom and Jerry, in which William Hanna and Joseph Barbera pitted a war between a domesticated house cat and a clever mouse.

Jones' experimentation with the Tom and Jerry formula not only changed the look of the main character (Tom's thick eyebrows are influenced by the facial features of Boris Karloff) but the energy and pacing of the gags are fast and unpredictable. The later episodes produced by Jones are playful as Tom is no longer a threat to Jerry (for example Cat and Dupli-cat) and while this approach may not exude the original spirit of Tom and Jerry, Jones' contribution to the series demonstrates the enduring yet simple and versatile quality of the characters originally conceived by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

Video

The cartoons are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 Full Frame.

As expected due to the age of the source material, the transfer does contain film artefacts but as the cartoons have been encoded at an average bit rate of 5.60 Mbps the transfer is smooth with average color definition.

The opening credits incur mild telecine wobble. There is no indication of MPEG compression on this single-sided, single-layer DVD release. A selection of subtitle options are available which appear as a small white text.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

The Dolby Digital 1.0 is available in a number of language options. There are no errors apparent on the soundtracks and they do 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 Eugene Poddany.

As the environments were experimented with, the episodes began to fall into different genres, the music was equally experimented with for example Surf-Bored Cat has a surf rock influenced soundtrack, while the science-fiction influenced episodes Guided Mouseille, O-Solar Meow and Advance and Be Mechanized include an epic orchestral soundtrack. Cat and Dupli-cat features the Neapolitan ballad Santa Lucia.

Unfortunately the soundtrack does not make use of the surround sound but never the less is suitable due 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 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.

This release contains Chuck Jones' reinvention of the successful Tom and Jerry animation series. The animation style and the speed of the gags are distinctive to Jones' vision and psychedelic influences. Unfortunately the 12th and final volume of the DVD series is an unremarkable release of the classic animation series.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall