Tom And Jerry has been a staple of animation for decades now. The simple formula of a cat and mouse going back and forth provided creators Joseph Hanna and William Barbera ample opportunity to really flex their creative muscles and come up with some of the most mind numbingly nutty scenarios that mainstream audiences would ever see in cartoon form. Yeah, the Loony Tunes stuff that Warner Brothers animation division was putting out was plenty twisted, but Tom And Jerry almost always equal and frequently best Bugs and company in the violence-as-comedy department and the world is all the better for it.

The Hanna Barbera 40s and 50s era Tom And Jerry cartoons are widely considered by many fans to be the best of the amazingly long lived cat and mouse duo's misadventures, so it's not surprising to see Warner Brothers offer up single disc collections here and there. The hardcore fans of the series will want to get the larger sets that are available but for casual fans? This is a great way to get a cheap and easy fix - and what a fix it is.

First things first. The complete list of cartoons contained on this DVD is presented in the following order:

The Mouse Comes To Dinner: Tom brings a date home for dinner, though with Jerry acting as the waiter, you know this isn't going to go well.

Springtime For Thomas: Tom winds up competing with another cat for the affections of a lady kitty with Jerry pulling some strings behind the scenes.

Trap Happy: Tom has had enough of Jerry so he calls in an exterminator only to get under his foot and foil his efforts to catch that mischievous mouse.

Polka-Dot Puss: Jerry paints spots on Tom's face so that when he wakes up, he thinks he's sick, but Tom soon realizes what's happened and plots his revenge.

Saturday Evening Puss: Tom has a cat party and with so many fired up felines around, Jerry's not going to get any much needed sleep unless he does something about it.

Little Quacker: Jerry helps out a baby duckling just trying to find his mother, while Tom just sees the little guy as lunch.

Cruise Cat: Tom takes a job working on a cruise ship only to disrupt things when Jerry shows up and he gives chase.

The Missing Mouse: Tom hears about a white exploding mouse on the radio, so Jerry takes advantage of his paranoia by making himself appear white to give Tom some good scares.

Jerry And Jumbo: Jerry hooks up with a missing elephant who he dresses up as a giant mouse just to mess with poor Tom's head.

Just Ducky: That little duck is back, this time missing his mother who has swam off without him. Jerry decides to help, and Tom once again gets those hungry eyes about him.

Little School Mouse: Jerry pulls Tuffy, his little mouse pal, out of class to give him a one on one session in the art of messing with cats.

Tom And Chérie: Jerry enlists Tuffy's help in delivering a love letter to his lady friend, but Tom is determined to stop it from happening. Goof thing Tuffy's got his Mousketeer training to fall back on.

Muscle Beach Tom: Tom and the constantly competitive alley cat wind up trying to outdo one another on the beach to win the heart of a lady cat.

Down Beat Bear: Tom wants to cash in on the reward being offered for a missing dancing circus bear, who Jerry continues to distract with music.

Anyone familiar with the series is going to recognize a few of those titles, as this release, probably more than the three that have come before it, really does a great job of gathering up some of the best of the best. Most, though not all, of these episodes move at an incredible pace with non-stop jokes, pranks and violent high jinks thrown at the viewer in a barrage of insane comedy, while the animation style employed here is detailed, well designed, and just really cool to look at. Music plays a big part in the success of the material, as is often the case with Hanna-Barbara cartoons, complimenting the action and in some cases, actually being worked into the story itself. Foley work and sound effects are as over the top and 'zany' as any other cartoon out there, and revisiting this material it really becomes obvious why the series was so popular as it was and why it remains as beloved as it is.

Video:

The first eleven cartoons were composed for 1.33.1 fullframe which is how they are presented here, with the last three episodes being shown in their original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35.1 and enhanced for anamorphic sets.. While the quality isn't perfect, the colors are still pretty nice with decent black levels and only minimal dirt visible throughout. There is some shimmering that occurs in a few scenes and some very minor print damage throughout but it's minor in the literalist of senses and doesn't really ruin the experience much at all. Fans should be happy with the appearance of the cartoons here as they generally look quite nice.