Tom & Jerry – Greatest Chases, Vol. 3 (Warner DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Animated Shorts: B-
After
seeing the general compilation DVD Tom & Jerry - Greatest Chases, Vol. 2, I did not know if there
would be any other volumes or Warner would try new series. We previously looked at that and the Chuck
Jones collection. You can read more at
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8678/Tom+&+Jerry+%E2%80%93+The+Ch
This set
has some of the best shorts in the series, which is more surprising since so
much material has already been issued on DVD.
In addition, some of these transfers are huge improvements over prints
that were circulating for along time, namely in the 1970s on TV. There is also a healthy mix of original block
style and CinemaScope shorts, including:
1)
Cat Napping
2)
The Flying Cat
3)
The Two Mouseketeers
4)
Smitten Kitten (a cheat short sampling several
older ones)
5)
Baby Butch
6)
Designs On Jerry
7)
Pecos Pest
8)
Touché, Pussy Cat*
9)
The Flying Sorceress*
10) Blue Cat Blues*
11) The Night Before Christmas
12) The Bowling Alley-Cat
13) Fine Feathered Friends
14) Puttin’ On The Dog
This
might make it (one of?) the best compilation despite being a single disc, but I
am happy with the quality more than expected. The 1.33 X 1 image on the older films looks
good for the prints supplied, rarely looking soft and with better than average
color, with most of these shorts being in lavish three-strip Technicolor. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 shorts (in
which the back of the DVD case almost implies they are only letterboxed) are marked
* above and also look good. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono on again is decent sounding, but it seems like at least one of
the scope shorts are simple stereo.
Previews for other DVDs are the only extras, so this is pretty much a
basic release.
Now if
only we could see a Gene Deitch/Tom & Jerry set and some Tom & Jerry on
Blu-ray.
- Nicholas Sheffo
