To quote a certain waterfowl, “You’re here at last, and you’re mine, all mine.” Yes, there’s another Looney Tunes release from Warner Archive that continues the goal of getting almost every remaining short a restored release on home media. Last year, the Collectors’ Choice series of 20 to 25 new-to-disc shorts gave way to the Collectors Vault, which consists of the same disc of 25 new shorts as well as another disc with 25 previously released shorts that are on Blu-ray for the first time. Now we have gotten a second volume in the series. The wait for this release was a bit longer than usual since it was pushed back due to the Tom and Jerry Blu-ray that came out last December, but now it’s here, and I’m very excited. It consists of 51 cartoons. 26 new to home media and 25 new to Blu-ray. This is because the last volume had a short that had already been put on a Collectors’ Choice, so an extra new short is here to make up for that.
This time, there are four new restorations on this release. The first is a highly requested Bugs Bunny short, A-Lad-In His Lamp. This one involves Bugs finding a genie lamp and getting involved in Arabian-set shenanigans. Considering how Bugs has had most of his shorts restored and released on home media, the pickings have gotten slim, with only a couple of stragglers left. This one is notable for having another voice actor besides Mel Blanc be prominently featured. That is the voice of the genie, whom Bugs calls Smokey, who is voiced by Jim Backus. His most notable role was that of the character of Mr. Magoo. He was one of the biggest cartoon characters of the 50s, as he was created by the studio UPA, which had defined the cartoons of the decade by making more modern-looking and dialogue-driven shorts. Of course, he isn’t as remembered today, mostly because of how his main gag of being ignorant about being short sighted being something that is both a bit repetitive and hasn’t aged well, and it is seen as ableist. Regardless, this is a solid short done by the underrated 40s Robert McKimson unit, which, while not as good in character writing, excelled in slapstick and fluid and aggressive animation to match it.
The next restoration comes right after that, and it’s a Daffy Duck short. Called Ain’t That Ducky, it involves Daffy having to contend with both a hunter and a duckling who is both sobbing at what’s inside a bag he has and being aggressive to anyone who tries to ask him what’s in it. It also has a notable performer voice a character, but this time it’s an actual actor. Usually, when Looney Tunes shorts parody the likeness and voice of a celebrity, they just imitate it. Here, however, they managed to get the actor they were parodying. That being Victor Moore, who was a famous Broadway performer and comedian who had a timid and feeble persona. He plays the stand-in for what would normally be the Elmer or Porky role of the hunter, and it does bring a distinct flavor to the short compared to others. It’s also oddly one of the few Daffy shorts directed by Friz Freleng, who, while one of the most important directors at the studio, didn’t make that many Daffy shorts compared to the other directors.
There’s another Daffy short that got a restoration as well. It’s a black and white one called The Daffy Duckaroo. It has Daffy, playing a movie star who has decided to abandon Hollywood to be a cowboy, running into a Native American female duck, and contending with her boyfriend. It’s more of an odd curiosity, both in how it’s been rarely seen and how its director, Norm McCabe, only made shorts for the studio briefly until he was drafted into WWII. The most fascinating part of the short is that a previously discovered scene was actually reinserted into the cartoon. It’s only an establishing shot of Daffy riding a donkey that’s pulling a trailer, but a reference to WB being on the trailer resulted in the studio cutting the scene when it went to TV due to not wanting the brand name to be associated with television due to business conflicts between the two media industries. The TV print was the only one available for a while, and it was in very poor quality, so having a full, clear print now is appreciated.
Regarding this short, there is also the elephant in the room that this is a short that, unfortunately, has stereotypes of Native Americans. This short and a few others being on here is because of the success of the aforementioned Tom and Jerry Blu-ray collection, which has softened restrictions on shorts with non-politically correct elements. I feel that these shorts, while not having aged well, should have some way to be accessed. Warner Bros has always operated with the mindset of allowing media accessibility. Plus, LT collections in the past have always had the disclaimer clarifying that the shorts are products of their time, but will be presented as originally made. Warner always acknowledges that the poorly aged elements of these shorts were wrong then and now, but shouldn’t be censored to act like that history didn’t happen. It also opens up the options for what shorts could be available on future releases as well, including a few of the remaining shorts featuring big characters. Though I do agree that some should remain in the vault simply because their content is way too offensive even for the time. Do not watch some of the WWII shorts that focus on the Japanese.
The last of the restored shorts is a Tweety one, and one that has been a long time coming. I Taw A Putty Tat was the first short made with the character after the short that defined his new look and rivalry with Sylvester, Tweetie Pie. This is another showcase of both the early steps of the iconic duo and things that would be ironed out later. The dynamic here is slightly more aggressive as Tweety is shown to be more willing to fight back, akin to the personality he had when Bob Clampett created him. His design also seems to be going through growing pains, both resembling his iconic cute look, but still retaining elements that would be trimmed out, like a larger beak, a smaller head and eyes, and a blue sailor hat. Like many shorts that have been restored for these releases, the available prints always looked too murky, so giving this a restoration makes it look almost like a completely new cartoon.
As for the rest of the first disc, it resembles Volume 4 of Collectors Choice in mostly being a wide spread of shorts featuring iconic characters, with a handful of one-shot cartoons. There are 2 shorts for Road Runner, Sam and Ralph, and the Goofy Gophers. Three feature Foghorn Leghorn, and 3 more feature either Sylvester or Tweety. There are two shorts, I Was A Teenage Thumb and To Itch His Own, which were made by Chuck Jones in the latter half of his filmography, which focused more on experimentation and stylization. The second was also the last short composed by Carl W. Stalling, the longtime composer of the Looney Tunes shorts, who retired after 3 decades of defining the sound of the shorts. There are also two shorts from the 30s and two from the early 40s that feel much different in pace and animation compared to the usual Looney Tunes short. The first of the 30s cartoons, Boulevardier from the Bronx, is actually a short with an important milestone since it’s the first cartoon to feature the iconic Merrily We Roll Along theme. I will admit, I do slightly prefer when these discs have a mixture of known characters and obscurities since it makes the viewing experience more interesting. However, this disc does knock out most of the last shorts featuring the big stars and some of the most requested as of late, so it will make future releases more eclectic in terms of the short line-ups since a majority are from the same odd line-up from the 30s and early 40s.
The second disc continues what the previous volume did and features a variety of iconic shorts that haven’t had a Blu-ray release yet, and many of which are interesting to note. Hare Remover was the second Bugs short director Frank Tashlin did and the last short he ever directed for Warner Bros. He had left before in the late 30s (which resulted in Chuck Jones inheriting his unit), but came back in 1943 after he was removed as head of Columbia’s Screen Gems cartoons studio. Both periods, while short in tenure, were very stylistically different from each other and showcased a knack for experimentation in applying filmmaking techniques to animation and stylizing design and movement. He would go on to direct live-action comedies that carried the fast-paced sensibilities of tone and gags that his animation work had.
There’s also Bowery Bugs, which is the sole Bugs short directed by the short-lived Arthur Davis unit, since he was the bottom rung of the studio and was mostly relegated to Daffy and Porky shorts. There are two Davis-directed Porky shorts as well as two Porky and Charlie Dog cartoons. Odor of the Day is another Davis short that has an early Pepe Le Pew who doesn’t speak and interacts with a dog trying to find shelter in the winter. Claws for Alarm and Jumpin’ Jupiter showcase how Chuck Jones experimented with more realistic character personalities as they cast Sylvester as a silent and constantly fearful figure and Porky as his abrasive yet oblivious owner as they encountered dangerous situations. The Heckling Hare was the last Bugs short directed by the director who made his first short, Tex Avery, and ended up being the catalyst for him leaving for MGM due to a dispute with management over the ending, being one of many conflicts that led to his departure.
The Last Hungry Cat is a compelling 60s short that puts the Sylvester and Tweety dynamic into a Hitchcockian homage where the cat grows guilty over thinking he ate the bird and is egged on by the Hitchcock impersonator narrator. You Were Never Duckier showcases one of the first experiments by Chuck Jones in giving Daffy a greedier personality that would eventually evolve into his characterization in the 50s with his shorts with Bugs. There is one short on the second disc that is an odd inclusion, though, and that’s Hop and Go. Not only because it’s the only one shot on the second disc and the only black and white one, but because it actually hasn’t had a restored release before, so it feels like they put a short more fitting for disc one on here. It was released previously as an unrestored extra on the 6th volume of the Golden Collection series, while the others were restored already when released. It does mean that we technically have 27 new to disc shorts, and this did clean up the audio to its original state since the music was dubbed over for some reason in recent releases.
While it’s great to get another release like this, there’s an unsettling shadow regarding the future of not just this series, but home media like it from Warner Bros. While a third volume has been confirmed to be close to getting a greenlight, the future of home media out of Warner’s might be affected heavily by the potential merger with Paramount. Considering how much debt both companies are in and how many of their businesses intersect, there will be a lot of layoffs if the merger goes through. Now, I need to say first and foremost that the important thing here is that these people should keep their jobs. The AT&T and Discovery mergers have already done a lot to the staff at Warner Bros, and cutting even more off, especially in the current job market in Hollywood that has downsized across the board and has left the creatives with few options for work, while the profits rise, will be bad for the industry. Especially with a merger that feels more like a studio trying to eat another for no good reason other than to get more stuff. Regarding Warner Archive, there is the concern that more niche divisions of Warner Bros could be seen as redundant or unnecessary in the face of the hacking and slashing that will occur from new management trying to cut down debt. I do hope it doesn’t get to that point, and, at the moment, the division seems to be safe, and restoration work will continue, but this is an important thing to consider.
Regardless, this is a great collection of shorts. The new restorations present the shorts in the best quality I think they’ve ever been in. The overall lineup of new cartoons feels like the rounding up of the remaining big shorts that haven’t gotten a proper home on disc yet. With the shorts featuring iconic characters, there are only about two dozen or so left, with most of them being Sylvester or Tweety ones. Even regarding shorts that need restoration, there are also about two dozen that need work done, at least regarding the ones that usually get chosen for these releases. It really feels like we’re getting close to the endpoint of getting almost every important Warner short availability on home media. There are only a little over a hundred or so shorts left to tackle at this point of the 1,000 made. This is ignoring the early black and white stuff and the infamously cheap shorts made by other studios after the initial 1964 studio closure (which consists of the remaining, and very bad, Road Runner shorts not made by Chuck Jones that no one likes). Those aren’t as valued by fans and collectors, though, and probably would be better off in their own isolated collections anyway. Especially since they’ve mostly been ignored at this point by these releases anyway. Considering that volume 2 has had a huge amount of support, here’s hoping we get volume 3 by the end of the year and enough volumes in general to cover most, if not all, of the shorts left. Considering that most of these shorts already have the work of restoration done a few years back as part of HBO Max’s launch, not a matter of it, but when they will get released. I really do appreciate that even at a time when home media isn’t as valued by consumers and companies, efforts like these continue, and I do hope they can keep going in the face of an ever-changing industry. Frankly, I’m extremely thankful that these types of releases have continued to happen at all over the past few years and hope to see more in the near future.
