Hi There.

Here in Scandinavia the Tom & Jerry cartoons are now comming out on DVD, with all the classic ones on the first 8 DVD's. Since I've allways liked them I've startet to buy the good ones.
But they look pan-scanned, even though they are clean 16:9. This indicates that they must be 1:2.35. Does anybody know if this is true?

Our 2½ old son, who is normally a vivid teletubbyfan has taken a great fancy for Tom & Jerry. He thinks Micky Mouse is too lame and Donald Duck too wicked, but likes Goofy. There is probably a psykological reason for this, but it nice to join him in watching the mayhem.

Yes, a number of T&J shorts from the mid-1950s were made in Cinemascope (2.35:1 or wider). However, I believe the only letterboxed source for them is a laserdisc boxed set from a few years ago. I don't think any of the DVDs are letterboxed.

Peace,
Thom

The ones from the 60s had a very cheap low budget look, so you might want to avoid them. The movie made in the 90s truly sucked also. But the ones made from the 50s and earlier are classics.

<<<-- Originally posted by Joe Carney : The ones from the 60s had a very cheap low budget look, so you might want to avoid them. The movie made in the 90s truly sucked also. But the ones made from the 50s and earlier are classics. -->>>

Do you mean the ones done by Gene Deitch in the Czech Republic?
They just not only had a cheap low budget look... they had very little budget.
And maybe because of this, I find these much more interesting than the ones made by Hannah Barbera after this period (specially when they become friends and all that nonsense), but I also find this guy´s life story very interesting as well.

Somehow I find this story very inspirational and can relate it to a grat degree to the independent filmmaking struggle I´m going through.

http://genedeitch.awn.com/

So, I´m not saying you should like or buy the ones from the 60´s, but if you can catch them in the Cartoon Network, then give them a chance. Specially if you have read the above site.

Avoid the 1960s Tom and Jerry???!!! Forget "Dicky Moe"? Or the one in the penthouse in the snow where Jerry haunts Tom for kicking him out? Never! Just cuz they were cheap looking (subjective) doesn't mean they weren't great episodes. I loved some of those. They're ALL classics to me, from the very first HB to Deitch to Chuck Jones and back to HB... Love them all.

Does anyone know, though, if these new DVDs coming out have the 'fixes' done to them? For example, Mammy on recent air play here in the U.S. has been redubbed into a voice that still sounds African American, but less... well, less old-time African American sounding. Sorry, coudn't think of a more politically correct way to phrase that.

Either way, the altering of the dubbing makes me mad. I understand why they did it, but come on. It's a cartoon. It's bad enough that old Warner Brothers cartoons have been censored on air play as well. For example, in the "Food around the corner" cartoon with the flea, at the very end, a cat says "Now I've seen everything" and shoots a hole through his head. That's been yanked form air play.

The thing i really like about these forums is that you get real info.

You are great!

Thanks