Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (1940-1958)

Product Ratings

About This Product

The Complete Collection of Hanna Barbera’s Oscar Winning Masterpieces At Last! Every lit stick of dynamite. Every fur-flying chase. Every back-firing mouse trap. Restored. Complete. Uncut. The ultimate compilation of animation’s favorite feuding duo – Tom & Jerry. All 114 theatrical cartoon shorts, the entire series, as originally released to theaters by MGM during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For the first time ever, all in one set - they are now all yours.

Product Details

Brand

William Hanna (Director), Joseph Barbera (Director) Rated: NR Format: Blu-ray

Manufacturer

William Hanna (Director), Joseph Barbera (Director) Rated: NR Format: Blu-ray

ASIN

B0FQLTG3TM

Customer Reviews Summary

Like many fans of Tom & Jerry, I've kept an eye out for a decent Blu-Ray collection. I've obtained a couple in the past, but they were not what you would consider "complete". Now with the Golden Era Anthology, we have something that is more than satisfactory.For one, this collection has all of the MGM produced cartoons directed by William Hanna & Joseph Barbera from 1940's "Puss gets the Boot" to 1958's "Tot Watchers" and every single cartoon in between. From Standard format to Widescreen Cinemascope. All Uncut and Unedited. This last point is particularly important because we've all seen attempts to censor or edit some of these cartoons for "offensive" material (more on that later). 114 cartoons on 5 discs.Also included is a 6th disc for Bonus Features. There are two brand new documentaries ("Lady of the House: The Story of Mammy Two-Shoes" and "Animal Hijinks: The Friends and Foes of Tom and Jerry"), a Pencil-Test of "Midnight Snack", six older documentaries, two movie excerpts ("Dangerous when Wet" and "Anchors Aweigh"), and three Cinemascope bonus cartoons carried over from the Tom & Jerry Cinemascope Collection released earlier in 2025 ("Good Will to Men", "Give and Tyke", and "Scat Cats"). Finally, there is a 32-page booklet included with the set that includes art and pencil sketches from select cartoons (it was tucked in between the slipcover and the case). All in all, a very full collection!The cartoons themselves look fantastic. Great color and sound on nearly all of them. Some of them seem a little dark (like the Oscar-winning "Quiet Please!"), but I think this may be due to the source elements. It's my understanding that some of the original film negatives to some cartoons have been lost and all that we have to work with are secondary prints. However, this is fine and doesn't detract from the enjoyment too much. And, as stated before, they're unedited so every gag is there that we fans would expect to see. Each one is a joy to watch.There are a couple of critiques. One is the complete lack of listing for the episodes on the discs. It's not on the label or included anywhere in the case. The discs are labeled almost identically (except for the disc number), so there is no help there either. The only way to know what's on the discs is to insert and play each disc to check the menu. If you have a favorite cartoon, you may have to insert and play a few discs before you find what you're looking for. This has been an issue with a lot of Warner Bros physical media packages. Not sure why there is an aversion to providing episode lists, but it sure would be helpful.Another critique is the "Product of Their Time" disclaimer that Warner is compelled to attach to these packages. When the disclaimers were left off of the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice collections, I thought that maybe they were done with them. However, the disclaimers are now present at the beginning of every disc. I've always felt these Product of Their Time disclaimers were unnecessary and frankly sanctimonious. They would have you believe that people from previous generations were somehow unsophisticated and ignorant and were nowhere near as "enlightened" as we are today. We're not smarter or better. All that's changed are the priorities, methods and players. They also act like they're doing us a favor by presenting us these cartoons in any way other than what was originally intended. Those of us who collect these cartoons know full well what we're getting into. We don't need to be "warned" about what we're going to see.Some may wonder about this collection and the Cinemascope collection that was released earlier in 2025. The truth is that everything that's on the Cinemascope collection is also here on the Golden Era Anthology. That includes the 3 bonus cartoons. Some of you (like myself) may have already purchased the Cinemascope Collection before finding out that the Golden Era Anthology was on its way. If you have not purchased Cinemascope, you may not find it necessary once you've purchased Golden Era. The only real difference is that the Cinemascope has ONLY the widescreen cartoons while Golden Era (which provides all cartoons in release order), can intermix standard versions and Cinemascope since MGM was releasing both formats back in the day. Your choice if you want both.In the end, however, this is probably the best Tom & Jerry collection we'll ever see. It's not fully complete as there were some Chuck Jones cartoons later on, but this is a great start. Tom & Jerry Fans will not be disappointed!