Disc Details
Special Features:	Excerpt from Anchors Aweigh
Video Format:	Full Frame (1.33:1) [SS-SL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles:	None
Captions:	No
Casing:	1-Disc Keep Case

Salt Water Tabby (1947)
Tom tries for a restful day at the beach wooing babes, but is distracted by Jerry, a stowaway in the picnic hamper...

Tee for Two (1945)
A Golfing Tom is son distracted by Course resident Jerry - combat ensues...

Mice Follies (1954)
In which Jerry and his nephew convert the kitchen into a makeshift ice rink, Tom, naturally, slips up...

The Cat Concerto (1947) AA
Tom as concert pianist (?!) begins a recital of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody unwittingly disturbing Jerry who is trying to sleep in the piano...

Solid Serenade (1946)

In which Tom goes a courting, careful to avoid entanglements with the bulldog of the house. But of course a disturbed Jerry has other plans...

Zoot Cat (1944)
Tom in romantic mode again goes into Jazz mode and dons a faux Zoot suit to win his prize. Meanwhile the gift Tom has brought turns out to be a miffed Jerry...

Johann Mouse (1953) AA
A Hysterical Historical finds Tom and Jerry as residents in the house of Johann Strauss. When the composer plays, the mouse waltzes. Tom takes piano lessons...

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947)
In which the poison concocted by Tom in fact makes the mouse incredibly large and strong, and the tables are turned...

Mouse in Manhattan (1945)
Jerry decides to leave home and sets out for the big city only to find that the grass is not only less green but has turned to concrete on the other side of the fence...

Jerry and the Lion (1950)
In which an escaped circus lion ends up befriending Jerry which leads to complications for Tom...

The Little Orphan (1949) AA
Jerry invites an orphan mouse to Thanksgiving dinner little aware of "Nibbles" voracious appetites...

Kitty Foiled (1948)
Jerry and a caged pet canary become allies against Tom...

Jerry's Diary (1949)
In which Tom is coerced into a truce courtesy of Be-Kind-To-Animals-Week but all is lost as Tom finds Jerry's diary recounting past exploits...
Includes footage from
Tee for Two
Mouse Trouble
Solid Serenade
Yankee Doodle Mouse

When I was knee high to grasshopper, as they say in the North of England, the first ever film credit I memorized was not for an actor or a director it was for a producer, and the producer's name was Fred Quimby. The reason I noted that name so well was that when my favourite cartoon came on TV, if that name was present, one would be guaranteed a good cartoon, otherwise not. The cartoon show Mr Quimby produced was Tom & Jerry.

Tom and Jerry made their debut in a 1940 cartoon called "Puss Gets the Boot", which features a cat called Jasper and a nameless mouse, despite a few cosmetics the characters are basically Tom & Jerry. The ground rules for all the cartoons are established. Tom, the cat, chases Jerry the mouse, each inflict violent acts upon the other but no lasting damage is done. The mouse (nearly) always gets the upper hand. The fledgling pair netted an Academy Award nomination for that year.

Corporate Movie business shenanigans have meant that the Tom and Jerry catalogue of films have wound up at Warner rather than MGM. Warner have arrived at a policy of releasing their own Tom and Jerry cartoons intermixed with the MGM originals.

Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases is perhaps a typical Warner release. It is basically an excuse to group together a number of cartoons (14 in this case) on a DVD. If there is any logic to Warner's choices of titles, I have yet to see it. All Tom and Jerry cartoons have chases after all...Zoot Cat is a particularly odd choice for inclusion - is the target audience going to understand the concept of a Zoot Suit? On the other hand Tom singing "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" in Solid Serenade is worth the price of the whole disc.

This DVD contains the premier set of 'toons that Warner has so far compiled from a quality point of view. All the titles have my beloved Fred Quimby credit in them. Four of the titles won Academy Awards (T&J cartoons received six altogether!).

The cartoons have not been subjected to Disney style digital remastering, but the quality is fine, you'd never know (unless you do) that these 'toons are Fifty years old or more.

Censorship raises its ugly head. The Little Orphan episode is shorn of a couple of seconds of mayhem which presents, for our amusement, a racial stereotype. Tricky. In today's world the image has no place. In the world of 1940, such things were fair game. So, should it be there? These are cartoons aimed at a kiddy audience and I have to admit that the image is better removed. But I hate myself for saying it, the film buff in me screams release these things untampered with. I hope Warner will one day release these cartoons with an adult viewing path that restores that which is embarrassing. Disney, to my mind, are the bigger villains for withholding "Song of the South" for similar reasons.

I recently watched the disc with a platoon of younger viewers who didn't get it, furthermore seemed distressed at the violence, today's kiddies take violence more seriously than their forebears, I suspect there's a PhD thesis in that avenue of thought. Back in my day various moral groups tried to remove T&J from the BBC, vigorous letter writing, not to mention the fact that the chief objector's son happened to like the show soon scuttled the attempt. So for slightly older children I think...

I'm unrepentant, I still think these are great cartoons, and I'm obviously not alone, Roger Rabbit is a direct descendant of Tom and Jerry and similar Tex Avery cartoons.

Incidentally I happen to think the Tom and Jerry title "The Night Before Christmas" is the greatest Christmas movie of all time, Warner deemed NOT to put it on their Tom and Jerry Xmas compilation. I don't understand their logic at all.

Picture Quality: 8/10

Sound Quality: 8/10

Easter Eggs:

Extra Features: 6/10
The dance routine between Jerry and Gene Kelly from the film Anchors Aweigh is included. An early live action/cartoon crossbreed experiment that works wonderfully and showcases Mr Kelly's effortless charm and astonishing dance skills.

The Final Word:
I have to give the film rating a 10 because these cartoons are so good and superb value at the $8 or so that you pay for it. Having said that Warner haven't lavished the love on this DVD that I felt the characters deserved.

wearysloth