Animation legend Chuck Jones had a mythic set of ground rules for his ingenious Road Runner series: the setting was always the desert, the characters never spoke, the Road Runner never left the road, the Coyote never caught the Road Runner, etc. A similar set of rules seems at work in THE GOLDEN COLLECTION introductory DVD presentation of Warner Bros. animated shorts. Here is the breakdown:
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1. The majority of the fifty-six motion pictures included are artistically valuable and the collection as a whole is a sheer delight which belongs in the library of anyone who loves classic cartoons. The set includes such masterpieces and popular favorites as “Duck Amuck”, “Bully for Bugs”, “Deduce You Say”, “Fast and Furry-ous”, “Long-Haired Hare”, “Rabbit of Seville”, “Rabbit Fire”, “Rabbit Seasoning”, “The Scarlet Pumpernickel”, “Wabbit Twouble” and “Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2 Century”. All the films, even the weakest, deserve preservation, restoration and DVD availability.
2. The selection of complete shorts spans two decades (1940-59), according to year of initial theatrical release. This means that the heyday of Porky Pig (1936-39) is excluded, along with the historic Harman-Ising period (1930-33) and such early characters as Bosko, Buddy and Foxy. On the other hand, the set is also free of material from the Warner cartoon studio’s years of decline (1960-64) and decay (1965-69).
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3. Within the 1940-59 span is an intensive focus on the six-year “middle” period 1948-53, when the Warner cartoons were at their technical zenith. Fully half of the films in the collection were released during the three peak years of 1949-51 (ten in 1950 alone). The high degree of concentration allows for appreciation of the studio output of a particular era, lent contrast and variety by the broader context.
4. The star of the show is unquestionably Bugs Bunny, with twenty-one cartoons. There is an adequate amount, for a starter set, of Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Sylvester & Tweety. Key films of the Road Runner, Pepé Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn and Speedy Gonzales are duly included. Important supporting characters like Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam and Marvin the Martian are well-represented, and the Tasmanian Devil makes a token appearance. The bill is rounded out with a few one-shots and curios.
5. The individual directors at Warner’s animation studio are as notable as its character stars. A full twenty-five of the films (almost half) are by superstar director Chuck Jones (and written by Michael Maltese). Most of the rest are directed by Friz Freling, with several by Robert McKimson and one by Arthur Davis. Only three films are directed by the great Bob Clampett.
6. There are no films directed by the legendary Tex Avery, who departed the studio in the early 1940’s, or the influential stylist Frank Tashlin.
7. Most cartoons are voiced by the amazing Mel Blanc.
8. All cartoons are scored by Music Director Carl W. Stalling or his immediate successor.
9. Most notable of the anomalies is the poor showing of the ultra-popular (and ultra-”violent”) Road Runner, with only one episode (albeit his debut); while tired old Foghorn Leghorn encores with an undistinguished late episode — rather than, say, “The High and the Flighty”, his memorable pairing with Daffy Duck. In keeping with Rule #6, Avery’s Oscar-nominated classic “A Wild Hare” (1940), the first “true” Bugs Bunny cartoon, is supplanted by Jones’ “Elmer’s Candid Camera”, a rare prototype from earlier that year which features the debut of Elmer Fudd and the still-evolving Wascal Wabbit. And the extras, in their mania for completeness, include the animated excerpts from the feature films TWO GUYS FROM TEXAS and MY DREAM IS YOURS twice each, but only one version is digitally restored.
10. Not all of these Golden Era cartoons are masterpieces or true classics, but the less exceptional films included represent the high standard against which the extraordinary stand out. A technically crude quota quickie like McKimson’s “Rabbit’s Kin” shines because voice artist Stan Freburg’s endearingly dumb Pete Puma character is memorable. A couple of genuine duds (Davis’ “Porky Chops”, for instance) have been thrown in for good measure, and even these serve to offset the overall excellence of the remainder.
11. Organization is minimal, with most of the Bugs Bunny material on Disc One, Daffy and Porky on Disc Two, and the others in an “All-Star” free-for-all on Discs Three and Four. The cartoons are presented in seemingly random order, but this very randomness is exactly how audiences experienced them both in theaters and on television.
12. The hours of extras are an embarrassment of riches.
13. Such beloved masterpieces as “Beanstalk Bunny”, “Duck, Rabbit, Duck!”, “Robin Hood Daffy”, “The Singing Sword”, “The Three Little Bops”, the Oscar-Winning Rabbit’s “Knighty-Knight Bugs”, and (supremely) “One Froggy Evening” and “What’s Opera, Doc?”, have been withheld for future DVD editions. The set is designed to whet the appetite for more and leaves the grateful viewer with much to look forward to.
14. THE GOLDEN COLLECTION is worth more than its cost in dollars and is an infinitely better investment than the cheap alternate “Premiere Collection”, which simply duplicates Discs Three and Four with no extras. The Premiere Collection is kiddie fodder for the undiscerning bargain-store shopper and is to be avoided by anyone concerned with art and popular culture. High sales of the vastly superior Golden Edition will determine future releases, so buy ‘em up and give ‘em to your friends.
CARTOONS ARE FOR EVERYONE!
For those of you who have a favorite Director you may have found categorization by character quite frustrating. Personally I don’t care for a whole disc of Bugs, or a whole disc of Daffy; I want a whole disc of Chuck or a whole disc of Friz. Even the fine episode lists above, which really do hold all the information you need, are not organized according to how the episodes appear on the discs in the collection. To remedy this problem I have the following list to provide you with the episodes, organized in the order they appear on the discs, and who directed them. I hope this proves useful to someone, and will save them from having to do this all over again themselves.
Volume One: Disc One
1.Baseball Bugs (Friz Freleng)
2.Rabbit Seasoning (Chuck Jones)
3.Long-Haired Hare (Chuck Jones)
4.High Diving Hare (Friz Freleng)
5.Bully for Bugs (Chuck Jones)
6.What’s Up Doc? (Robert McKimson)
7.Rabbit’s Kin (Robert McKimson)
8.Water, Water Every Hare (Chuck Jones)
9.Big House Bunny (Friz Freleng)
10.Big Top Bunny (Robert McKimson)
11.My Bunny Lies Over the Sea (Chuck Jones)
12.Wabbit Twouble (Bob Clampett)
13.Ballot Box Bunny (Friz Freleng)
14.Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones)
Volume One: Disc Two
1.Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones)
2.Dough for the Do-Do (Bob Clampett)
3.Drip Along Daffy (Chuck Jones)
4.Scaredy Cat (Chuck Jones)
5.The Ducksters (Chuck Jones)
6.The Scarlet Pumpernickel (Chuck Jones)
7.Yankee Doodle Daffy (Friz Freleng)
8.Porky Chops (Arthur Davis)
9.Wearing of the Grin (Chuck Jones)
10.Deduce, You Say (Chuck Jones)
11.Boobs in the Woods (Robert McKimson)
12.Golden Yeggs (Friz Freleng)
13.Rabbit Fire (Chuck Jones)
14.Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ Century (Chuck Jones)
Volume One: Disc Three
1.Elmer’s Candid Camera (Chuck Jones)
1.Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (Chuck Jones)
2.Fast and Furry-ous (Chuck Jones)
3.Hair Raising Hare (Chuck Jones)
4.The Awful Orphan (Chuck Jones)
5.Haredevil Hare (Chuck Jones)
6.For Scent-imental Reasons (Chuck Jones)
7.Frigid Hare (Chuck Jones)
8.The Hypo-Chondri-Cat (Chuck Jones)
9.Baton Bunny (Chuck Jones)
10.Feed the Kitty (Chuck Jones)
11.Don’t Give up the Sheep (Chuck Jones)
12.Bugs Bunny gets the Boid (Bob Clampett)
13.Tortoise Wins by a Hare (Bob Clampett)
Volume One: Disc Four
1.Canary Row (Friz Freleng)
2.Bunker Hill Bunny (Friz Freleng)
3.Kit for Cat (Friz Freleng)
4.Putty Tat Trouble (Friz Freleng)
5.Bugs and Thugs (Friz Freleng)
6.Canned Feud (Friz Freleng)
7.Lumber Jerks (Friz Freleng)
8.Speedy Gonzales (Friz Freleng)
9.Tweety’s S.O.S. (Friz Freleng)
10.The Foghorn Leghorn (Robert McKimson)
11.Daffy Duck Hunt (Robert McKimson)
12.Early to Bet (Robert McKimson)
13.Broken Leghorn (Robert McKimson)
14.Devil May Hare (Robert McKimson)
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