Click to enlarge.I am painfully aware that my Tom & Jerry cartoons were savaged by most of the critics and hardcore H&B fans. Besides being a play on words, it was actually about the story! But the mighty Metro moguls simply didn’t get it.Īn MGM trade paper advertisement announcing the Gene Deitch Tom & Jerry series. As the story centered on a mad scientist turning cats into dogs, I thought my title was funny and apt. Over my bruised body, it went out with the totally idiotic title, Switchin’ Kitten.
The one and only issue I had with Joe Vogel was the title of our pilot episode. Whereas I had scrupulously attempted to follow the H&B character model sheets, Chuck didn’t bother to, but made them his own. The new executive leadership chickened out on a communist country issue, so the great Chuck Jones took over. The fact that I was the very first director chosen to continue T&J, following the great successes of Hanna Barbera, and my episodes got loud laughs in the theaters, it didn’t cut any ice. That’s how Hollywood worked, and still works But he was de- Metro-ed, and as we were “ his,” we went out with him. We could have continued on if Joe Vogel had stayed in charge. Vogel loved our effort, especially because he was proud that he had lucked onto a first rate foreign animation studio which could crank out such an elaborate T&J cartoon for half the H&B cost! So we got the job. It didn’t cost a nickel more if our background painter put a castle or a hovel on the Strathmore background paper! Gene Deitch in 2010 sitting for an interview that is now part of this new DVD collection.When the lights came up in the other-worldly MGM executive screening theater, Head-Hocho Joe Vogel took a deep drag on his stogie, and said, “You don’t need to build such expensive sets! ‘Right away, it was clear that these 6-figure honchos didn’t have the faintest ideas how cartoon films were made. Our career and personal lives were on the line so I put everything I had into it. In spite of my negative feelings about the T&J cartoons, as being senselessly violent, and downright racist, I knew this was a crossroad, and though I hadn’t asked for this assignment, I was under pressure to accept it, and I became determined to make a success of it.
Download tom and jerry episodes 1970 full#
Our assignment was actually a test, to see if we would be awarded a contract for the full 13-film package.
Download tom and jerry episodes 1970 trial#
When I flew to Hollywood to present our first trial Tom & Jerry film, it was in fact a weird situation as if we were speaking different languages. Here in his own words, Gene Deitch recalls his feelings about Tom & Jerry and his many memories of that production year. For that alone, it is worth having in your collection. The restorations on this DVD are surprising, as it is the first time we see them crystal clear and bursting with color. The prints of these cartoons in circulation for decades always looked like dupes of dupes – and I’ve accepted that because, heck, they were made in Prague and I figured we were watching some second generation version. From the cock-eyed animation, to the voices of Allen Swift (“Dickie Moe” in particular). For me – I’ll just say that there is much to enjoy in Deitch’s Tom & Jerry films. Gene Deitch has been candid about his work on these cartoons, as you will see on the bonus doc – and in the exclusive piece he has written for Cartoon Reseach below. to feature restored cartoons and include a bonus documentary. Considering the sorry state of the DVD business – at least among the major studios – this may be the last classic theatrical cartoon collection from Warner Bros. EDITOR’S NOTE: Tomorrow is the release date for TOM & JERRY: THE GENE DEITCH COLLECTION.
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