Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

They're back, and wider than ever.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 26, 2025

Celebrating its 85th anniversary this year, Tom and Jerry still remains an enduring and internationally loved animated franchise that first scored big with audiences of all ages and maturity levels upon its 1940 debut. Though it stood on its own even back then, Tom and Jerry certainly had plenty in common with the other "big fish" in the pond, Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes, since both productions were fueled by madcap comedy, slapstick shenanigans, and a fully orchestrated score. It was created by the recently-united team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for MGM, who co-directed 114 shorts during the next 18 years before the studio abruptly shuttered its animation division and they formed their own production company. Hanna and Barbera's shared output on Tom and Jerry remains a career highlight with seven Academy Award wins and six more nominations dating back to the very first episode, "Puss Gets the Boot."

Near the end of the Hanna-Barbera era (but several years before the franchise's quirky new direction led by Prague-based American animator Gene Deitch), the duo directed a series of Tom and Jerry shorts produced in the then-new CinemaScope format between 1954 and 1958. This ultra-wide aspect ratio was designed to lure stray audiences back to theaters and away from their square TV sets... but while Tom and Jerry doesn't always benefit greatly from this type of format, most of these 23 episodes still rank highly for their outstanding visuals and overall entertainment value. Most if not all have been included in various laserdisc, VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray collections, but Warner Archive's new Complete CinemaScope Collection helpfully herds them all together on one thoughtfully curated Blu-ray disc. These 23 shorts are presented in sequential order and three other MGM CinemaScope cartoons are also included as extras.

Episode List

1. Pet Peeve (1954) - Tom and Spike fight for domestic dominance after their owners have to give up a pet.
2. Touchè Pussycat (1954) - The second of the four Two Mouseketeers shorts, this one's a prequel.
3. Southbound Duckling (1955) - Quacker does his best to migrate while Tom just wants a nice roast duck.
4. Pup on a Picnic (1955) - Spike and Tyke's peaceful outdoor lunch is interrupted by Tom and Jerry's antics.
5. Tom and Cherie (1955) - Tuffy figures out if he's a man or mouse in this third Mouseketeer short.
6. That's My Mommy (1955) - Newly-hatched duck Quacker assumes that hungry Tom is his mother.
7. The Flying Sorceress (1956) - Tired of chores, Tom leaves home to work as a witch's feline companion.
8. The Egg and Jerry (1956) - Jerry unknowingly "hatches" an egg and now must raise a baby woodpecker.
9. Busy Buddies (1956) - Tom and Jerry look after an infant while babysitter Jeannie yaks on the phone.
10. Muscle Beach Tom (1956) - Tom and Butch square off in the sand for the heart of a lovely female cat.
11. Down Beat Bear (1956) - "We interrupt this program to announce that a dancing bear has wandered away from the carnival. He is a trained bear and will dance if he hears music." A childhood favorite and an absolute joy.
12. Blue Cat Blues (1956) - That infamous episode where a despondent Tom contemplates suicide by train.
13. Barbecue Brawl (1956) - Spike and Tyke's peaceful outdoor lunch is interrupted by Tom and Jerry's antics.
14. Tops With Pops (1957) - The last cartoon featuring Spike and Tyke together, this one's more of the same.
15. Timid Tabby (1957) - A play on "Jerry's Cousin" in which Tom's mouse-phobic cousin George pays a visit.
16. Feedin' the Kiddie (1957) - A remake of "The Little Orphan" where Tuffy comes over for Thanksgiving.
17. Mucho Mouse (1957) - This Spanish outing sees Tom brought in to deal with the mouse "El Magnífico".
18. Tom's Photo Finish (1957) - Jerry uses a camera to prove Tom has been framing Spike for stealing food.
19. Happy Go Ducky (1958) - This Easter-themed short features an egg delivery with little Quacker inside.
20. Royal Cat Nap (1958) - The last of the Mouseketeer shorts, and Tom is tasked with finally catching them.
21. The Vanishing Duck (1958) - Similar to "The Invisible Mouse", except Quacker's the ghost this time.
22. Robin Hoodwinked (1958) - Jerry and Tuffy raid Nottingham's castle to free an imprisoned Mr. Hood.
23. Tot Watchers (1958) - A sequel to "Busy Buddies" where T&J rescue the baby from a construction site.

Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Word has it that these 23 shorts -- as well as the three bonus shorts below -- were all sourced from inherited masters created several years ago, with additional work performed more recently including manual cleanup and color correction. The results look quite good from a base-level perspective and offer soft but solid image detail, striking color palettes (especially in the back half), and an overall commitment to film grain preservation, which certainly varies from short to short but never is completely absent from the picture. ("Muscle Beach Tom" and "Tot Watchers") look smoother than most on the whole, but I'll leave that up to viewer opinion.) Both frame-by-frame and in motion, these shorts seem to strongly advance on earlier home video presentations -- at least the ones I've personally seen -- but are presumably identical to those included as bonus features on a handful of semi-recent Warner Archive Blu-rays.

So, what's the catch? It appears as if all of these masters -- which again, were created years ago and inherited by Warner Archive as "the best available elements" -- display at least small amounts of gate weave, otherwise known as "telecine wobble", which means the source elements weren't completely stabilized during film scanning and thus move around slightly. (The exact level varies from short to short, and again is often very slight but more noticeable in select ones such as "Pup on a Picnic", "The Egg and Jerry", and "Feedin' the Kiddie".) The good news is that it's usually only a distraction during the opening credits, which are of course completely static, as Tom and Jerry's generally quick pace means that such tiny frame movements won't pose any kind of real issue during the actual cartoon. That said, it's again up to viewer opinion, which may also depend on screen size; in other words, someone watching these via projection might consider this a more notable problem than another person using a 50" TV. I can say with confidence that it didn't really dampen my overall enjoyment of these shorts and, while of course a totally stable image would be ideal, the careful manual cleanup and color correction done to these imperfect masters is more than a fair trade-off.

Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I certainly wouldn't call this audio a mixed bag in terms of quality, but it does make use of more than one format: the first three shorts are sourced from original magnetic stereo tracks, while the remaining 20 are all in mono -- this was apparently due to a budget-related change in policy at MGM back in 1955, so no true stereo versions of the other 20 shorts has ever existed. (The good news is that most of the mono tracks are at least sourced from magnetic masters, but a few were deemed unusable due to damage so optical tracks were used instead.) In any case, the end result is generally what you'd expect under the circumstances: channel separation is present if possible, dialogue and sound effects are mixed well, the music sounds decently dynamic, and only stray amounts of damage or other source remain; for example, some of Spike's dialogue in "Pup on a Picnic" is slightly buried in the mix. The overall volume leveling is largely consistent, but you may need to make a few small adjustments along the way.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during all 23 shorts, as well as the three bonus shorts below.

Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with attractive cover art. No episode-specific extras are included, but we do get three Hanna-Barbera CinemaScope shorts produced during the same time period, all similarly restored.

• Good Will to Men (1955) - An Oscar-nominated short that's essentially a remake of "Peace on Earth" (1939), updating the subject matter of this cautionary church-mouse tale with destructive post-WWII warfare.

• Give and Tyke (1957) - The first of only two proposed spin-off Spike and Tyke cartoons, this one sees the poor little pup in deep doo-doo after a stray dog steals his license to avoid a trip to the local pound.

• Scat Cats (1957) - "When the owners are away, the cats will play." This second Spike and Tyke short finds them in charge of the house... that is, until Butch the cat calls his friends over for a big party.

Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tom and Jerry has had no shortage of iterations over the years, with most fans agreeing that the original Hanna-Barbera era was the duo's finest hour. These 23 CinemaScope shorts were produced at the tail end of that run and, besides for a few blatantly familiar plots and outright remakes along the way, they hit the spot nicely with beautiful widescreen visuals and loads of vintage H-B charm. I had a lot of fun revisiting all 23 thanks to Warner Archive's new Complete CinemaScope Collection, which presents them all in style with a trio of like-minded widescreen shorts as extras. It's not a perfect release, but it'll certainly do until we finally get more Tom and Jerry on Blu-ray.