Tom and Jerry Golden Collection is a series of two-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets, produced by Warner Home Video. It was expected to be collecting the 161 theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoon shorts released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from the 1940s through the 1960s.
The first volume was released on October 25, 2011, and features 37 shorts (roughly one-third of the 114 Tom and Jerry shorts directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera from 1940 to 1958). [1] The second volume, containing the next 42 shorts, was initially scheduled to be released on June 11, 2013, but was later postponed indefinitely. [2] [3] [4]
The first volume Blu-ray was reissued, released this time by Warner Archive Collection, on March 17, 2020, after having been out-of-print for several years. [5]
Warner Home Video had previously released the majority of the original 114 Hanna-Barbera-directed shorts in the Spotlight Collection over three volumes. The primary differences between the Spotlight Collection and the Golden Collection is that the latter was intended to feature the shorts in chronological order and uncensored. Also, because most of the original pre-1951 MGM cartoon negatives were destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire, the Golden Collection features new, restored transfers from CRI negative elements, as opposed to the Turner broadcast television prints previously used. The Golden Collection is being released on both DVD and Blu-ray (the latter restored to HD quality), whereas the Spotlight Collection was only available on DVD.
Lastly, according to animation historian Jerry Beck on his March 2012 appearance on Stu's Show, the Golden Collection series will feature the later, 1960s shorts directed by Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones in addition to the Hanna-Barbera shorts. Although the shorts are presented digitally restored (just like how it was shown in theaters), however, because many of the original pre-1951 MGM cartoon negatives are destroyed in the vault fire in 1965, some of the pre-1951 Tom and Jerry cartoons were restored using their Metrocolor negatives which were their 60's television transfers so some of the cartoons couldn't be presented in pristine condition.
It had been announced that Mouse Cleaning would be available on the Tom and Jerry Golden Collection - Volume 2 on DVD and Blu-ray, with the short being presented uncut, uncensored, remastered, and restored from its original nitrate elements that had been recently discovered. [6] The set was originally scheduled to be released on June 11, 2013. However, on February 6, 2013, it was announced by TVShowsOnDVD.com that Mouse Cleaning was not a part of the list of cartoons set to be on the release, as well as the cartoon Casanova Cat , which was also skipped over on the Spotlight Collection, Volume 3 DVD release in 2007 (both cartoons are accused of featuring controversial content, specifically allegedly racial stereotypes of the time in which they were originally produced). [7] Many collectors and fans proceeded to post negative reviews of the product on Amazon and other various websites in protest. In addition His Mouse Friday was also planned to be omitted.
In addition, Jerry Beck, who already wrote liner notes for both shorts for the release, was shocked to hear about the omissions, saying that he wrote notes for both cartoons and that they were supposed to be included on the set. [8] When asked for an interview request, a Warner Bros. spokesperson said “The company felt that certain content would be exceedingly inappropriate for the intended audience and therefore excluded several shorts." [9] However, on April 1, 2013, as a result of the complaints and controversies from fans and collectors, the second set was confirmed to be delayed indefinitely. [10]
Volume One was released on October 25, 2011 in the US and in France on November 23, 2011. All of the shorts are shown in their original 1.37:1 aspect ratio. [1]
An asterisk (*) indicates that the cartoon is restored with washed-out colors and grainy picture and has the 1960 MGM Metrocolor logo with Leo the Lion.
A hash (#) indicates that the cartoon has been previously seen on the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection DVD set.
An asterisk (*) indicates that the cartoon is restored with washed-out colors and grainy picture and has the 1960 MGM Metrocolor logo with Leo the Lion.
A hash (#) indicates that the cartoon has been previously seen on the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection DVD set.
Frederick Clinton Quimby was an American animation producer and journalist, best known for producing the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, for which he won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film. He was the film sales executive in charge of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, which included Tex Avery, as well as William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of Tom and Jerry.
The Censored Eleven is a group of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that were withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) in 1968. UA owned the distribution rights to the Associated Artists Productions library at that time and decided to pull these eleven cartoons from broadcast because the use of ethnic stereotypes in the cartoons, specifically African stereotypes, was deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences. The ban has been continued by UA and the successive owners of the pre-August 1948 Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. These shorts have not been officially broadcast on television since 1968 and have only been exhibited once theatrically by Warner Bros. in Spring 2010 since their withdrawal. They have turned up, however, on low-cost VHS and DVD collections over the last thirty years.
The Cat Concerto is a 1947 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 29th Tom and Jerry short, released to theatres on April 26, 1947. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, and animation by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge and Irven Spence and additional animation by Richard Bickenbach (uncredited).
Tom and Jerry is an American animated franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the rivalry between the titular characters of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Many shorts also feature several recurring characters.
Puss Gets the Boot is a 1940 American animated short film and is the first short in what would become the Tom and Jerry cartoon series, though neither were yet referred to by these names. It was directed by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera and Rudolf Ising, and produced by Rudolf Ising and Fred Quimby. It was based on the Aesop's Fable, The Cat and the Mice. As was the practice of MGM shorts at the time, only Rudolf Ising is credited. It was released to theaters on February 10, 1940 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Mammy Two Shoes is a fictional character in MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons. She is a heavy-set middle-aged African American housemaid who takes care of the house in which Tom and Jerry reside. She would scold and attack Tom whenever she believed he was misbehaving; Jerry would sometimes be the cause of Tom’s getting in trouble.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on November 14, 2006.
This is a complete list of the 164 shorts in the Tom and Jerry series produced and released between 1940 and 2014. Of these, 162 are theatrical shorts, one is a made-for-TV short, and one is a 2-minute sketch shown as part of a telethon.
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was the in-house division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio in Hollywood during the Golden Age of American animation. The studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters. Active from 1937 until 1958, the cartoon studio created some popular cartoon characters, including Tom and Jerry, Droopy and Barney Bear.
The Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection is a series of two-disc DVD sets released by Warner Home Video. Originally planned as an uncensored, chronological set, the issued Spotlight Collection sets wound up including selected Tom and Jerry shorts on each volume. Volume one was released on October 19, 2004, volume two on October 25, 2005, and the third and final volume on September 11, 2007. On October 15, 2019, the set was repackaged and had fixed some of the errors, which consists of 4 discs.
Mouse Cleaning is a 1948 one-reel animated cartoon and the 38th Tom and Jerry short. The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on December 11, 1948, by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and again on February 17, 1956. It was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby; no writer has yet been credited. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were created by Robert Gentle.
Casanova Cat is a 1951 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 55th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby.
Due to the success of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection and Popeye DVD series, Warner Home Video issued a 3-DVD set on February 12, 2008 showcasing the various animation properties that they own, including their home-grown Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Other animation properties represented on this set were Tom and Jerry, Droopy, and other classic MGM cartoons as well as entries from Max Fleischer's Popeye and Superman series. All cartoons selected for this release were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, with the exception of the film So Much for So Little which won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. A total of 41 cartoons were chosen for this set, 15 of them being winners.
Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection is a two-disc DVD collection of animated short cartoons starring Tom and Jerry, produced by Chuck Jones, released by Warner Home Video on June 23, 2009 in the US and September 21, 2009 in the UK. These are the same 34 cartoons that appear on European DVD collection in PAL format, Tom and Jerry: The Classic Collection - Volume 6 . All 34 of the Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry shorts are included, along with two new documentaries. All versions of this set are shown in matted 1.75:1 widescreen, as shown in theatres, unlike the Classic collection which present the shorts in filmed academy ratio of 1.37:1
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is a DVD box set from Warner Home Video that was released on October 25, 2005. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short subject cartoons, nine documentaries, 32 commentary tracks from animators and historians, 11 "vintage treasures from the vault", and 11 music-only or music-and-sound-effects audio tracks.
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 is a Blu-ray and DVD box set by Warner Home Video released on October 16, 2012. It contains 50 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements. Disc 3 is exclusive to the Blu-ray version of the set. Unlike Volume 1, which was released in a digibook, Volume 2 was released in a standard 1 movie case.
The Tom and Jerry Deluxe Anniversary Collection is a two-disc DVD set, released by Warner Home Video.
Tom and Jerry: The Classic Collection is a series of Region 2 DVD sets released by Warner Home Video featuring Tom and Jerry. These DVDs are available in 6 double-sided DVDs and 12 single-layer DVDs. The DVDs in the UK were re-released as "Collector Editions", which were Digipak versions with 2 Volumes inside.
Tex Avery Screwball Classics is a series of single-disc Blu-ray and DVD sets by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Warner Archive unit collecting various theatrical cartoons from animation director Tex Avery during his tenure at the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer's cartoon division between the years of 1942 and 1955. It is the first comprehensive collection of Avery's MGM shorts to be released on home media in North America since The Compleat Tex Avery series of laserdiscs in the 1990s, with many of the shorts having been previously unreleased on DVD or Blu-ray.