Animation fans have been perpetually disappointed that MGM’s classic Tom and Jerry shorts have received a series of piecemeal home video anthologies and not comprehensive box-sets – at least until now. Available this month in both Blu-Ray and DVD sets is TOM AND JERRY: THE GOLDEN ERA ANTHOLOGY 1940-1958 (Warner Archive), which collects all 114 of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera’s original MGM Tom & Jerry cartoons, each remastered in high-definition and collected in one package at last.
It’s hard for those of us who grew on Hanna-Barbera’s formulaic, if obviously much beloved, Saturday morning cartoons to gauge the superior animation and frantic comedic shenanigans housed in the theatrical T&J shorts. Before they became a singing and dancing friendly duo, Tom and Jerry sparred in a series of chase-centric affairs, kicking off in 1940 with “Puss Cets the Boot” – albeit with Tom called “Jasper” and Jerry an unnamed mouse – before settling in with 1941’s “The Midnight Snack.” Dozens and dozens of adventures followed, including a run-in with Gene Kelly in the 1945 musical “Anchors Aweigh,” a series of Cinemascope framed shorts (recently collected in their own Blu-Ray), and ample kudos and awards – including seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short and a half-dozen additional nominations along the way.
All of these riches have finally been collected in one place for the first time ever. Even during the heyday of laserdisc, only sections of the classic Tom and Jerry shorts made their way into an anthology release – never all 114 of them, which take the viewer from the duo’s earliest appearances, through the 1940s and 50s, until their end which was marked by the closure of MGM’s animation unit in 1958. These AVC encoded transfers look superb across the board, with solid compression and detail evident throughout, and the Cinemascope shorts mastered in full 2.55.
In addition to all that, a bonus booklet listing the respective discs’ content with rarely seen conceptual art designs, there’s also a fifth disc of special features. These includes two all-new featurettes: “Lady of the House: The Story of Mammy Two Shoes,” which looks at T&J’s caretaker and Lilian Randolph, who provided her voice; and “Animal Hijinks: The Friends and Foes of Tom And Jerry,” which profile the various supporting characters (like Spike and Tyke and Butch and Toodles Galore) Tom and Jerry run into over the years.
Some nine additional, archival featurettes are included – with the “Anchors Aweigh” sequence presented in full as well as T&J’s other foray into live MGM action, “Dangerous When Wet,” with the boys opposite Esther Williams – along with 20 commentaries and a trio of bonus shorts. In all, this Blu-Ray (also available on DVD) is one of Warner Archive’s finest releases and a perfect cap to 2025.
New From Criterion
PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (85 mins., 1985, PG; Criterion) is a personal favorite of mine, and no, I’m necessarily not a hardcore fan of Mr. Herman or his alter-ego, Paul Reubens. Tim Burton’s 1985 directorial feature debut is such a fast-paced, colorful romp – affectionately spoofing various genres along the way of its “road trip” plot – that you needn’t have enjoyed Pee-Wee’s comical stylings to get a big kick out of this one.
It’s gleeful, giddy entertainment with a boisterous Danny Elfman score, several brilliant set-pieces (the trip to the Alamo, the backlot chase on the Warner Bros. lot that ends the movie, and the now-classic moment when Pee-Wee hitchhikes and gets picked up by a truck-driver who knows how to scare people!) that remain hilarious and fresh, the product of screenwriters Phil Hartman (yes, the late SNL great), Reubens and Michael Varhol, along with Burton, who certainly brought his trademark imagery and imagination along for the comic journey. When Pee-Wee tried to fly solo without Burton in 1988’s drab “Big Top Pee-Wee,” it just didn’t work – a testament to what Burton brought to this project, which landed the director firmly on the map.
Making its surprise Criterion Collection release in ideal time for holiday giving, “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” premieres a 4K (1.85) transfer with Dolby Vision HDR grading, supervised by Tim Burton. Colors and details are, as you’d anticipate, more consistently rendered than Warner’s previous Blu-Ray, with 2.0 and 5.1 sound options along with a reprise of the older Danny Elfman commentary/isolated score mix. Elfman’s discussion on this track is quite insightful, recalling with some nostalgia his work on the picture, educational background at Cal Arts, his idols (Korngold, Herrmann), working with Tim Burton, and specific cues and scoring session stories. It’s still one of Elfman’s freshest, most energetic scores, all these decades later.
Other archival extras include Paul Reubens and Tim Burton participating in a funny, generally amusing commentary track, with Burton addressing head-on the misframing of the movie overseas, where viewers could see the boom microphone in every other shot! (No, it wasn’t done on purpose, as some French critics had thought!). Several deleted scenes, taken off a ragged-looking videotape, are also included, along with a theatrical trailer.
New extras produced by Criterion are highlighted by a Tim Burton interview conducted with Richard Ayoade; additional interviews with producer Richard Abramson, production designer David L. Synder, co-writer Michael Varhol, and editor Billy Weber; an interview with Reubens culled from the 2005 program “Hollywood’s Master Storytellers”; and excerpts from the 40th Anniversary screening hosted by comedian Dana Gould.
Also New From Warner Archive
Released around the same time as “Ben-Hur,” the Warner Bros. Technirama epic THE MIRACLE (122 mins., 1959) needed one in order to compete with the MGM Charlton Heston/William Wyler classic. Alas, it didn’t get one, as this adaptation of the stage play met with mixed reviews and loads of reported friction behind the scenes involving young star Carroll Baker – playing the main role of a castoff nun who falls for soldier Roger Moore in early 19th century Spain – and director Irving Rapper. The resulting religious epic is melodramatic and yet still quite watchable thanks to Elmer Bernstein’s scoring and the widescreen images restored in an Archive Blu-Ray (2.39) sporting mono sound and a pair of bonus WB cartoons on the supplemental side.
Alan Ladd essays Jim Bowie – he of the famous knife – who attempts to make in-roads with southern society circa 1825 in THE IRON MISTRESS (91 mins., 1952), a Warner Bros. drama pairing Ladd with Virginia Mayo, essaying Judalon de Bornay, a belle of the ball coveted by numerous men but who succumbs, of course, to Bowie’s charms. Max Steiner scored this passable costume drama which is a bit talky despite its relatively short length; its native Technicolor has been restored in another good-looking Warner Archive Blu-Ray (1.37, mono) sporting the trailer and a bonus cartoon.
Screwball comedy of the Golden Age can be found in high supply thanks to IT’S LOVE I’M AFTER (90 mins., 1937), an underrated Warner Bros. vehicle that finds Leslie Howard pushing Olivia De Havilland’s attention away from him and towards her suitor Patric Knowles, while Howard’s own fiance (Bette Davis) offers up nuttiness of her own towards the whole situation. Finely cast and well regarded, this late ‘30s WB comedy debuts on Blu-Ray (1.37 B&W, mono) sporting a pair of Porky Pig shorts and the trailer.
Not regarded as one of the boys’ classics, AT THE CIRCUS (87 mins., 1939) may not be “A Night at the Opera” but still provides an entertaining enough outing for Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx as the group tries to save “Wilson’s Wonder Circus” from a conniving loan shark. “Wizard of Oz” songwriters Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg contributed songs – most notably “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” – for this 1939 MGM production which premieres on Blu-Ray (1.37 B&W, mono) sporting an MGM cartoon, “Our Gang” short, “Leo is on the Air” radio promo and the trailer.
Golden Age romantic comedy is served with the terrific 1940 MGM romancer I LOVE YOU AGAIN (99 mins.), starring William Powell as a con man who wakes up after nine years of amnesia to find out he’s married to Myrna Loy and involved in a phony oil scam. The prolific W.S. Van Dyke II helmed this swiftly-paced, acclaimed comic confection with Warner Archive’s Blu-Ray (1.37 B&W, mono) also featuring a 1941 Lux Radio Theater adaptation with Loy and Cary Grant; a Fitzpatrick Traveltalks short; MGM cartoon; and the trailer.
Last but not least, THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. (92 mins., 1941) teams pilot James Cagney with Bette Davis as a runaway heiress whom Cagney’s about to transport to her father when Davis decides to jump ship (err, plane). Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein of “Arsenic and Old Lace”/”Casablanca” fame scripted this most entertaining second (and final) pairing of the legendary stars, remastered on Blu-Ray (1.37 B&W, mono) with Warner Archive’s release sporting a full-fledged “Warner Night at the Movies” 1941 viewing option with vintage newsreel, shorts and cartoons. There’s also a 1941 Lux Radio broadcast with Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr.
SILVER RIVER Blu-Ray (110 mins., 1948) features a late Errol Flynn lead role as a Union Army captain whose career is disgraced, leading him to flee to Colorado where he gets involved with a married woman (Ann Sheridan) while plundering the silver market. Raoul Walsh helmed “Silver River” with all the trimmings of a top WB studio product from the time, from its cast and exciting opening set-piece to Max Steiner’s score, yet the movie comes up flat after that opening Gettysburg battle, awash in a series of characters you just don’t care much for. Warner Archive’s Blu-Ray (1.37, B&W, mono) includes two classic studio cartoons and the trailer.
Also New & Noteworthy
O.C. AND STIGGS Blu-Ray (110 mins., 1985, R; Radiance): Radiance brings their previous UK-exclusive Blu-Ray of “O.C. and Stiggs” to the U.S. – a little-seen Robert Altman film, shot in 1983, which MGM/UA basically gave up on after poor test screenings in 1985, never released nationwide, and subsequently sent onto the more obscure shelves in your old video store after a very limited theatrical run in 1987 – some four years after the original shoot wrapped.
Of course, it didn’t take a genius to figure that the combination of director Altman with National Lampoon and the teen comedy genre wasn’t a pre-ordained recipe for box-office success. Lampoon writers Donald Cantrell and Ted Mann had scripted “O.C. and Stiggs” as a mostly traditional ‘80s youth comedy, but Altman had other ideas in mind, and directed the film with a satirical edge like many of his works.
The fusion is this oddity, starring Daniel H. Jenkins and Neill Barry as the title heroes: a pair of teens who enjoy making life miserable for the Schwab family (Paul Dooley and Jane Curtin), who run an insurance agency in their Arizona town. Dennis Hopper (parodying his “Apocalypse Now” role), Ray Walston, Martin Mull, Jon Cryer, Cynthia Nixon, Melvin Van Peebles, Tina Louise and Louis Nye are a few of the familiar faces who pop up in Altman’s bizarre little movie, which isn’t so much funny as it simply feels off-kilter…very, very “off.”
Radiance’s Blu-Ray (2.35, mono) is a 3,000 copy limited edition that’s highlighted by a feature-length documentary packed with new and archival interviews, comprehensively covering the appropriately oddball production of this eclectic misfire. Other extras offer a new interview with Altman’s son, Robert Reed Altman, who was a camera operator on the movie; a 32-page booklet with essays and a reversible sleeve. Technically the transfer is excellent with Fidelity in Motion encoding, while King Sunny Ade’s musical numbers do provide a brief lift, coming through decently in the monophonic soundtrack.
SAGA OF THE PHOENIX Blu-Ray (94 mins., 1989; 88 Films): Wilder and woollier late ‘80s import from Hong Kong serves as a sequel to “The Peacock King,” reuniting monks Peacock (Yuen Biao) and Lucky Fruit (Abe Hiroshi) who jump back into action to stop a supernatural threat from demons and sorcerers, while trying to guide Gloria Yip’s “Ashura” onto the right path and away from her link to the underworld.
This is pretty flamboyant, wild entertainment for HK enthusiasts, best recommended for those who enjoyed the movie’s predecessor, which this picture tonally reprises with even more special effects and comedy mixing in with its goofy tone. 88’s Limited Edition, hardbound package offers an O-ring and rigid slipcase, a collectible postcard and a 40-page book with writing by Andrew Heskins and David West. Visually, the 2K Blu-Ray restoration (1.85) is super with Cantonese mono audio, English subs and extras including alternate Japanese version footage, an interview with Albert Lee discussing Golden Harvest’s overseas distribution history, and a commentary from Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto rounding out the release.
TED LASSO: THE RICHMOND WAY 4K UHD (1453 mins., 2020-23; Warner): Apple TV breakout series, featuring SNL vet Jason Sudeikis as a decidedly small-time American soccer coach who becomes the unlikely new leader of an English Premier League football team, earned nearly a dozen Emmys throughout the course of its three seasons. The series also generated a legion of fans during the pandemic, though I can’t count myself as one of them, as I just didn’t find the humor or its assorted story lines all that engaging. Quite obviously others’ mileage varied quite a bit, as “Ted Lasso” became a sensation for the fledgling Apple service, and now comes to 4K UHD for the first time. Warner’s 4K UHD, dubbed “The Richmond Way,” offers the complete series in no-frills Dolby Vision HDR transfers and 5.1 DTS MA soundtracks.
KILL THE JOCKEY DVD (97 mins., 2024; Music Box): A jockey (Nahuel Perez Biscayart) is forced to go on the lam — and perform a temporary gender switch — after the horse he’s entrusted to ride dies on the track, with the mob following on his trail while his fellow jockey (Usula Corbero) is pregnant with his child. Luis Ortega’s latest mixes eclectic characters with comic situations in a crime thriller context that netted strong reviews on the arthouse circuit; Music Box’s DVD (1.85) includes 5.1 Spanish audio, English subtitles, an interview with Biscayart and an image gallery.
NEXT TIME: Kino Lorber’s NINJA TRILOGY in 4K and more as we wrap the old year and welcome in the new! Until then, don’t forget to drop in on the official Aisle Seat Message Boards and direct any emails to our email address. Cheers everyone!