Well, they’re back. Another release in the recent line of Looney Tunes Blu-Rays is finally here. However, this is not another volume in the Collectors Choice series, but the start of a new line. The Collectors Vault series is, in essence, a continuation of Choice, but with a second disc. The first disc is the same as the previous releases, with 25 new to DVD/Blu-Ray shorts that are restored on physical media for the first time. The second disc is a wide variety of shorts that have been restored on home media before, but are on Blu-ray in high definition for the first time. This not only creates a larger catalog of shorts but also a more interesting value proposition. There are only so many shorts left that haven’t been on physical media in this manner before, so complementing the more obscure shorts that remain with a disc of more recognizable ones is beneficial.
Like Volume 4 of Collectors Choice, three shorts have been newly restored for this release. Two of them come from director Tex Avery. The first is A Day at the Zoo, which is one of the many travelogue/documentary parodies Avery did throughout the late 30s. While they tend to blend due to being more driven by delivering gags rather than any sort of character focus or distinctive animation, they still are very funny and highlight the director’s great sense of humor. This short in particular follows gags at a zoo with a running joke featuring an early version of Elmer Fudd messing with a lion, ending with the predictable result. The short has never looked that great in its available prints, so a restoration was more than needed.
The other Avery short that’s been restored is Of Foxes and Hounds. Of all the remaining unrestored Looney Tunes shorts, this one is arguably the best of those in the pile and one that’s been the most requested. It’s a simple short following a dim-witted dog being constantly tricked by a fox that is elevated by great comedic timing and vocal performances. You can see the early DNA of the types of shorts Avery would make at MGM in terms of the character dynamics and slightly repetitive but effective comedy. There isn’t as much to say with this one since it is a dog chasing fox short, but the execution and dialogue are great. I will say though that considering how the characters here are a deliberate parody of Lennie and George from Of Mice and Men and that many other shorts would do the same for years on, it does show that even back then animators had a dark sense of humor considering how much milage they got out of consistently parodying a pretty dark story.
The last of the three new restorations is Each Dawn I Crow, which is a much different sort of cartoon compared to most Looney Tunes shorts. A parody of radio dramas of the time, it involves a rooster being convinced by a narrator that farmer Elmer Fudd is planning to kill him, and the rooster falls into paranoia and schemes to take him out. It might be one of the most explicitly dark shorts out of the series since the fear of the rooster is played straight, and the narrator is almost gleeful in gaslighting the rooster. It is complemented by the traditional type of organ music that played with the radio shows this short emulates, which just adds to the unsettling tone and atmosphere. It’s a fascinating short with a distinctive approach, and I’m glad it has been given a spotlight here.
In terms of the rest of Disc One, it continues the variety pack of shorts that the Choice series had. A lot of the shorts here are more interesting from a historical or production perspective, but there are still a lot of great selections. The first short on the disc is Bars and Stripes Forever which is a simple short focusing on prison gags. What makes this short interesting is who directed it: writer Ben Hardaway and animator Cal Dalton. In 1937, Friz Freleng, the most veteran director at the studio, left to work at MGM due to an offer for better pay and facilities, and his position was filled by Hardaway and Dalton. The shorts the two made aren’t particularly great and have a very awkward feeling to them compared to the other shorts made at the studio, both in terms of gags and even designs, given the pie-eyed look of the characters. Even so, they are a guilty pleasure for me in that regard, given how odd they are. Plus, they did make two shorts featuring a rabbit character that would eventually evolve into Bugs Bunny, so their tenure as directors had an impact on the studio. This short in particular is probably their best, being the most consistently funny and well-constructed in terms of its gags, even if it is more amusing than gut-busting. The unit wouldn’t last long as Freling didn’t enjoy his tenure at MGM and came back around 1939. He would famously dramatize his experience in the classic Porky short You Ought to Be in Pictures, where the character also leaves his job at WB.
That short is followed by Beauty and the Beast. It was one of the earliest shorts done in color by the studio and an attempt by Warner to copy the successful Silly Symphony series by Disney on a much cheaper budget. It would be the last color Warner short for a bit until the Merrie Melodies series permanently switched over to color after a few more black and white shorts. The short The Goofy Gophers is the first cartoon featuring the eponymous characters. It was started by director Bob Clampett, who left the studio after finishing the voice recording, and was completed by the director who took over his unit, Arthur Davis. The short highlights how Davis, while not sharing the extreme energy Clampett had in his shorts, was focused on a similar energy involving rubbery animation and aggressive, fast-paced gags. I’ve discussed Davis’s works before in my other Looney Tunes reviews since the recent run of Blu-rays has done a good job putting most of his brief filmography on physical media.
In terms of the more iconic characters, the focus in this volume is less on the bigger stars and more on the secondary ones. Tweety, Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Road Runner, and Sam and Ralph get the majority of focus in particular. The shorts with the latter duo have an odd inclusion, Double or Mutton, which was actually on the last Collectors Choice volume. Its placement here was a mistake, and the next volume of Collectors Vault will have 26 cartoons on its first disc to make up for it. An early short featuring Elmer Fudd, Good Night Elmer, is here as well. It isn’t partially funny given that it was made by Chuck Jones during his time when he was more interested in elaborate, Disney-like animation compared to comedy, but it’s an interesting watch nonetheless. It is funny that Elmer has prominent appearances in two shorts on this disc while Bugs only makes a brief cameo in one.
There is also the only Daffy short on the disc, Quackodile Tears. It is another interesting curio since it was directed by Arthur Davis years after his unit was shut down in 1947. He had been an animator for Freleng’s unit since then and continued to work with him even after the studio closed. Although he wasn’t too involved with the direction here and the short was made near the end of the studio’s life. These factors result in a short that is even more stilted than the already limited shorts made around that time and is shorter than 6 minutes, excluding titles. The Squawkin’ Hawk is another interesting short since it features the first appearance of the character Henry Hawk. He was created before Foghorn Leghorn and was a Chuck Jones character initially. This would be the only short Jones did with the character, and he would be adopted by Robert McKimson in an attempt to make him into a new star, only to be quickly eclipsed by Foghorn.
In terms of disc two, I won’t go into too much detail here on isolated shorts. It’s a great variety with selections throughout each era of the studio and showcases all the beloved and iconic characters. Classic shorts featuring Bugs, Daffy, and Porky alongside more featuring Road Runner, Tweety, and Foghorn pepper the disc. The disc features some of the first appearances of certain characters, such as the first two shorts featuring Daffy, as well as the first Pepe and Speedy shorts. There is also Horton Hatches the Egg, one of the first shorts Clampett made when he got promoted to his new unit when Avery left, and the only time the studio made a short directly adapting another work. While I am not as invested in these shorts compared to those on disc one, I feel they add more inherent value to the set. Not only are there more shorts in general in this release, but they also balance disc one’s focus on more obscure and lesser-known shorts with more beloved and recognizable works. Given that there aren’t many shorts from either the golden age of the studio from the mid-40s to the mid-50s or those featuring major characters left to release, sprucing up some of their already released works in a high-definition state is a good way to keep these releases appealing to those outside of the die-hard Looney Tunes fans and animation/physical media collectors.
In all, this is another winner from the recent run of Looney Tunes releases. I am very happy that this initiative of getting as many of the Looney Tunes shorts a home on physical media is getting a second wind. It is beneficial not only from the perspective of a long-time fan of this series but also as a showcase that physical media still has a place in the age of streaming. Streaming was once viewed as the immediate replacement for DVDs and other media. However, given the state of many services in cost, quality, and how things can simply be taken off due to licensing, the appeal of these services has gone down significantly. Looney Tunes, in particular, were completely removed from HBO Max, and having an outlet for the shorts that were only available in their restored form exclusively on that platform is necessary. If Warner isn’t willing to allow the public proper access through streaming, then allowing that access through physical media that is the ownership of the purchaser is more appealing and helpful. Hopefully, this new Vault format will give new life to these releases and allow for almost all the remaining viable shorts from the LT library (there are a good number of non-PC ones that understandably will remain unreleased) a permanent consumer consumer-friendly home. I’m very excited about the future of these releases and will continue to support them in the future.
