Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 6

DVD Review by Lee Glover

Own it now on DVD looneytunes.com

Could this be true? Is this the final Golden Collection? Or could they change their minds and release a volume 7? But let's not worry about the future at the moment (Jerry Beck assures us that, even if this is the final one, more Looney Tunes DVDs are planned for 2009) and concentrate on this latest volume.

This volume is like no other before it: it has only three Bugs cartoons, there is a war-themed disc (as evident on the front cover), loads of one-shot cartoons, and even Bosko and (believe it or not) Buddy even share their very own DVD! It's plain to see that this one for the die-hard collector and not for the casual fan (who might be better suited to the family-friendly Spotlight Collection version). It's also worth noting that the disclaimer says that this volume “is for the adult collector and IS NOT suitable for children”, as opposed to the “MAY NOT BE suitable” warning on recent volumes.

So let's embrace this set in all its restored and uncut looney glory:

Disc 1

The disc begins with the Bugs Bunny short Hare Trigger, which marked the debut of Yosemite Sam. Also on this disc, Daffy Duck battles against Peter Lorre in Birth of a Notion, tackles Nasty Canasta in My Little Duckaroo, and heckles Porky Pig in My Favourite Duck . Porky also stars in Jumpin' Jupiter with a cowardly Sylvester, but the kitty regains his courage and battles against Tweety (and Lucifer) in Satan's Waitin'.  Pepe is still in a romantic, philosophical mood in Heaven Scent, and the Three Bears return with more slapstick action in Bear Feat.

One of the highlights of this disc is To Duck...or Not to Duck. A very common cartoon found on PD tapes, the restoration of this short shows it off with a lot more clarity and colour.

Crowing Pains was Foghorn Leghorn's second cartoon, but the intended star was Henery Hawk, as indicated by the re-instated titles. Re-released as a Merrie Melodie sans opening credits, the fact that there is some Henery Hawk animation on those very titles highlights the travesty of their reissue policy at that time. Another Foggy cartoon, Raw Raw Rooster, is also featured on this disc.

A Ham in a Role is another stand-out cartoon featuring the Goofy Gophers, with some very clever writing by the underrated all-rounder Sid Marcus, who would reunite with director Robert McKimson for a short while in the 1950s (two more McKimson-Marcus shorts from this era are also included in this collection).

LT favourite Charlie Dog features in two cartoons on this disc: Dog Gone South, and Often an Orphan (with Porky Pig). The former has its original Merrie Melodies opening titles reinstated.

This disc features four bonus cartoons, but only two are restored: the Ralph Phillips cartoon Boyhood Daze (a sequel to From A To Z-Z-Z-Z) and the Bugs Bunny short Rabbit Rampage (an unworkable follow-up to Duck Amuck). The other two cartoons, Hippety Hopper and Sniffles Takes A Trip (dubbed version) are off-the-shelf copies, but the soundtrack of the latter is very tinny. Other audio issues on a couple more bonus shorts rears its ugly head on the other discs.

Also included are two (non-compilation) television specials: Chuck Jones' timid entry Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court and Friz Freleng's Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement.

Disc 2

The patriotic-themed disc starts off with the Bugs short Herr Meets Hare, and Daffy doing his duty in Daffy the Commando. Another PD cartoon, Fifth Column Mouse, makes a welcome appearance as a restored version.  Famous celebrities (characterised as dogs) also do their bit in Hollywood Canine Canteen, and there are spot-gags aplenty in Rookie Revue, Wacky Blackout, The Weakly Reporter, and Meet Joe Doughboy. The “fowl” axis leaders get their comeuppance in The Ducktators, and Hitler himself gets rattled by Russian gremlins (all characitures of the Looney Tunes staff) in the Clampett classic Russian Rhapsody. The Draft Horse is also included, which marked a turning point in Chuck Jones' directorial career, steering away from cute animation into producing more gag-orientated cartoons.

The disc obviously has a WW2 theme, but there are a few exceptions – Bosko the Doughboy, which is set in the trenches during the first world war. Also, there are three cartoons that were sponsored by the Sloane Foundation and all have an economics theme to them: By Word of Mouse,  Heir Conditioned, and Yankee Dood It.

Three bonus cartoons are included: Confusions of a Nutsy Spy (not restored, but a better copy than the version doing the rounds amongst collectors), The Fighting 69 ½ th (dubbed version), and Hop and Go (unfortunately, they supplied a version where the music is beefed up in expense of vocals, to allow redubbing for international markets). There are a further five cartoons, but these are MGM's Captain & The Kids cartoons, all directed by Friz Freleng during his brief departure from the LT studio. Having seen these, it's no wonder he returned to Schlesinger, but they are still a welcome addition.

But I have to say, I'm surprised there's no Private Snafu cartoons on this disc!

Disc 3

Now this the surprise in this collection: a DVD dedicated to its earliest stars, Bosko & Buddy, with a handful of B&W Merrie Melodies thrown in.

Bosko features in five cartoons, the highlight being Bosko's Picture Show, which gained notoriety for Bosko's alleged use of the f-word (personally, I don't believe he actually said it).

Ride Him, Bosko is also particularly memorable for its unique live-action ending, where Rudy Ising and his fellow cronies ponder over how this cartoon should end.

Other Bosko cartoons include Congo Jazz and The Booze Hangs High, and Bosko in Person.

Six Merrie Melodies, from the Harman-Ising era, are included: Smile, Darn Ya, Smile and One More Time (both featuring the short-lived Foxy), You Don't Know What You're Doing, We're In The Money, Shuffle off to Buffalo, and The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon.

After H-I left the studio (and took Bosko with them), the hastily-assembled new team came up with a new “star” for their LT series: Buddy. Described as “Bosko in whiteface”, he had even less appeal than his predecessor. Three cartoons are featured: Buddy's Day Out (his debut cartoon), Buddy's Circus, and Buddy's Beer Garden (watch out for his impersonation of Mae West!). The only truly amazing thing about Buddy's cartoons are the restoration: they look unbelievably pristine!

But there's enough room on this disc to cram in one Beans cartoon , A Cartoonist's Nightmare.

The bonus cartoons are four B&W MM shorts: the H-I cartoons I Love A Parade and I Like Mountain Music (both dubbed versions), and the 1934 shorts Sitting on a Backyard Fence and How Do I Know It's Sunday. The prints of the latter two are not in particularly good shape, and the transfers are somewhat ancient, but they are by no means unwatchable.

Another extra is The World of Leon Schlesinger, a wonderful featurette gallery hosted by Jerry Beck, who is assisted by former ink-and-painter Martha Sigall. It starts off with a (quaintly-titled) Spooney Melody, a musical short featuring a singing organist and a montage of cut-outs, which makes for a surreal combination that actually works! It follows by an animated titled sequence produced for the John Wayne movie Haunted Gold (both animation and film was produced by Schlesinger). However, the real gems in this featurette are two Christmas Party home-movies, made for fun by the staff and even Schlesinger himself. Both shorts feature commentary by Beck and Sigall, the latter able to identify the participants and also reveals a hidden talent of hers!

Disc 4

A disc dedicated to one-shots, this takes off with Horton Hatches the Egg, adapted from the Dr Seuss tale.

There are several interesting shorts to note: the 1936 Avery classic Page Miss Glory, features some glorious art deco designs; McKimson's “auteur” film The Hole Idea (he almost animated this one single-handed!); the surreal Now Hear This (Treg Brown in his element); and the the cult favourite Norman Normal, released as a “cartoon special”.

But perhaps the best one on this disc is the deliciously-dark Chow Hound, where the canine bully torments a weak-willed feline into handing him over his meals from his succession of owners (to which the dog always retorts “What! No gravy?!”). Needless to say, the mutt gets his comeuppance in the most ironic way possible!

Other one-shots are Lights Fantastic, Fresh Airedale, The Oily American, It's Hummer Time, Rocket-bye Baby, Goo Goo Goliath, Wild Wife, and Martian Through Georgia.

Bonus cartoons includes Bartholomew Versus The Wheel, Punch Trunk, Sleepy Time Possum, and Wild Wild World. Again, quality varies.

The disc features a documentary of “the man with a 1000 voices” himself, Mel Blanc (narrated by Maurice LaMarche). Despite a few faux pas (perpetrated mostly by Blanc himself), this is still a fascinating documentary of the life and works of the legendary, one-of-a kind voice actor.

Like the previous volumes, this set features commentaries, but surprisingly only three animation historians have participated: Jerry Beck, Greg Ford, and Mark Kausler. All three provide a wealth of information, but Kausler has the edge, as he's the one who readily points out who animates what in a particular cartoon. There are also music-only tracks on a handful of cartoons.

To the avid Looney Tunes fan, this one is a no-brainer. To the more casual fan, you might want to consider the Spotlight Collection version (featuring the more-popular cartoons from the GC set). But to the uninitiated who want to discover more about these classic cartoons, I urge you to buy this set, not only for the rare cartoons, but also to let WB know that we want more LT sets, in whatever form they may end up in. And to those who want to know if this set beats other Golden Collections, I'm afraid I'm unable to decide. They're ALL good!!!

Cheerio, and Keep Britain Tidy!