As everyone knows by now, this is the last of the Golden Collection series (although there will be more cartoon boxsets every year - correct me if i'm wrong here) and Jerry Beck, the compiler decided that, as one last hurrah, it was better to fill the set up with rarities and curios.
The result is, one of the best in the whole series. But let's take this slowly.
The first disc is a grab bag of different cartoons. To be honest I wish there were more of these other than the traditional Bugs Bunny (sorry he irritates me) disc. I like the fact that one cartoon will star Daffy and the next Pepe le Pew. It brings me back to the days when I'd watch the old video compilations of the eighties or the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show on Saturday mornings. Rampant eclectism suits the Looney Tunes discs to a tee and this is no exception. In fact every cartoon here is a winner, my fave being Chuck Jones' ultra violent 'Bear Feat'.
The second Disc focuses on, mostly cartoons with a wartime theme in them, with the exception of three shorts which are about the American economy. Again I'm a big fan of this stuff so I was quite excited to see Jones' marvellous Draft Horse for the first time or the still interesting Herr meets Hare (Freleng). Some cartoons don't exactly hit the mark as the jokes are dated (mostly Jones' The Weakly Reporter) and I've seen the educational short on a near weekly basis so I've become numb to them (although the punchline in By Word of Mouse is still brilliant).
Disc 3 is the one that you'll love or hate as it's about the 1932-1935 batch of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. To be hinest i'm not a huge fan of this era and I got very restless and irritated at times. The twisted humour is there but the cutsiness and constant propaganda of warner films spoils everything. On the other bright side there is soem great restoration work here and i know that some of these cartoons are so rare that it's a treat to see them for the first time.
Besides Bugs Bunny and so on, there were quite a few one offs that the cartoon studio produced, which were basically springboards for other animation styles and FINALLY the best of the lot are collected on one disc. The creepy 'Chow Hound' , the frustrating 'Fresh Airedale' the artistic masterpiece 'Page Miss Glory' and more. This, for me was what Warner Brothers cartoons were all about and those were the cartoons that I would look forward to on the Looney Tunes video compilations back in the 80's. It's also the disc that I've been rewatching constantly for the past month as well.
One gripe I have with this set is that the special features aren't as great. The commentaries ( which I adore) are sparse, the cartoon specials are dull, The Mel Blanc documentary is way too fawning but the Leon Schleisenger christmas clips are quite interesting and the 11 bonus cartoons are a big treat.
It is a great conclusion but now I'm wondering what will happen next? Foghorn Leghorn and Pepe Le Pew still haven not been given proper treatment. So will they be next?? who knows?
The second Disc focuses on, mostly cartoons with a wartime theme in them, with the exception of three shorts which are about the American economy. Again I'm a big fan of this stuff so I was quite excited to see Jones' marvellous Draft Horse for the first time or the still interesting Herr meets Hare (Freleng). Some cartoons don't exactly hit the mark as the jokes are dated (mostly Jones' The Weakly Reporter) and I've seen the educational short on a near weekly basis so I've become numb to them (although the punchline in By Word of Mouse is still brilliant).
Disc 3 is the one that you'll love or hate as it's about the 1932-1935 batch of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. To be hinest i'm not a huge fan of this era and I got very restless and irritated at times. The twisted humour is there but the cutsiness and constant propaganda of warner films spoils everything. On the other bright side there is soem great restoration work here and i know that some of these cartoons are so rare that it's a treat to see them for the first time.
Besides Bugs Bunny and so on, there were quite a few one offs that the cartoon studio produced, which were basically springboards for other animation styles and FINALLY the best of the lot are collected on one disc. The creepy 'Chow Hound' , the frustrating 'Fresh Airedale' the artistic masterpiece 'Page Miss Glory' and more. This, for me was what Warner Brothers cartoons were all about and those were the cartoons that I would look forward to on the Looney Tunes video compilations back in the 80's. It's also the disc that I've been rewatching constantly for the past month as well.
One gripe I have with this set is that the special features aren't as great. The commentaries ( which I adore) are sparse, the cartoon specials are dull, The Mel Blanc documentary is way too fawning but the Leon Schleisenger christmas clips are quite interesting and the 11 bonus cartoons are a big treat.
It is a great conclusion but now I'm wondering what will happen next? Foghorn Leghorn and Pepe Le Pew still haven not been given proper treatment. So will they be next?? who knows?
