Looney Tunes: Golden Collection Volume 4 (DVD)

Most of the reviews spotlight the cartoons that are on here but going another direction I'm going to focus on a couple of the extra's.The Golden Collection in my opinion is a fascinating series of DVD's spotlighting the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. I own all of the volumes that were released. One of the things that I liked about the series was the extra's. I think I've played and re-played and re-re-played several of those "Behind The Tunes" segments on all the Volumes. The history that's presented and the comments from those who were there or those who are part of today's cartoon world are captivating (at least I think so).The critically maligned "Bugs Bunny: Superstar" documentary, from 1975, is broken into two parts on Disc 1 and Disc 2. I happen to like the documentary, if for the only reason, is that I love seeing the clips of the directors/animators from a point in time where they hadn't really experienced the fame and glory that was to come as younger people became more and more fascinated with the whole body of Warner Brothers cartoons. Of course, the Warner Brothers cartoons had been airing on TV since the early '60s, but even by 1975 the cartoons had become increasingly pushed as "children's programming" and weren't taken as serious works of art or entertainment and their weren't any lavish praise heaped upon the Warner cartoons and those who worked on them like their is today. Why was this documentary maligned by critics? Well, it has to do with some of the commentary made by a few of the participants who either took credit for things they shouldn't have or omitted credit where credit should've been given.Orson Welles narrates the documentary.Each cartoon director that went through the studio and had any considerable time-span has their 'followers' even today. There's the fans of the wild, zany cartoons epitomized in the works of Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Norm McCabe, and Robert McKimson. Frank Tashlin's cartoons have a live-action flavor. I was not familiar with Tashlin's cartoons due to how they rarely, if ever, played on TV and so I learned quite a lot about him in this Volume...he has a disc all to himself. There are a few extra features displaying sketches made by Tashlin for children's books...with animation edited in. June Foray narrates the story of "Little Chic's Wonderful Mother" while Stan Freberg narrates "Tony and Clarence".Later, after I purchased the previous release, Volume 3, I found out even more thanks to the documentary called Tish Tash: The Animated World of Frank Tashlin.It should be pointed out that I didn't purchase these Golden Collections in numerical order.Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones are the two directors from the studio that garner the most acclaim and attention. A lot of that has to do with their longevity with the studio but also because their cartoons were often aired on television the most for 3 decades. It should also be noted that Freleng's cartoons won the most Academy Awards for Warner Brothers, a total of 4: Tweetie Pie, Speedy Gonzales, Knighty Knight Bugs, and Birds Anonymous.Friz Freleng gets spotlighted on a documentary called "Friz on Film". It's a wonderfully done salute to arguably the best director from the Golden Age of Warner Brothers Animation in terms of stats, accolades, and total body of work. Freleng directed just about all the Warner cartoon characters at some point or another with a large percentage of his work concerning Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and Speedy Gonzales.Speedy was created by Robert McKimson (who directed the character's debut and some later cartoons from the studio's final years) but Freleng directed the ones considered by historians to be the most popular. In this documentary, as well as in other extra features that elaborate on Freleng, the creation of Yosemite Sam is almost always discussed. His peers and colleagues routinely state that the character is a complete duplication of the real-life Friz Freleng. His daughter remarks that Friz had red hair in his younger days and that he had a temper and several animators affectionately recall Friz being impatient, fuming, pacing a lot, and anxious during the animation process.Friz himself, in archive footage, laughs about his tyrannical reputation during the production of the cartoons but remarks that he obtained that reputation due to his perfectionism and insisting that the cartoons come across exactly as he envisioned. The character of Sam, by the way, was created as a replacement for Elmer Fudd.Chuck Jones, in addition to his many contributions to Warner Brothers cartoons, did a lot of mostly seasonal animation projects and specials away from Warner Brothers from the early '60s through the early '70s that often play on cable television annually to this day and that's probably a big reason why his name is much more recognizable by those outside the audiences of Warner cartoons. He did critically acclaimed work for MGM. The crowning achievement away from Warner Brothers, in hindsight, would be his adaptation of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", a story from Dr. Seuss, that plays every year. Jones returned to Warner Brothers in the late '70s and remained a pivotal figure in keeping the public remembering the classic Warner Brothers characters as well as providing newer animation projects utilizing the classic characters.Jones introduced the world to the Duck Season/Rabbit Season routine and changed the personality of Daffy from being a free-for-all, zany, looney character into a gigantic egomaniac forever jealous of the popularity enjoyed by Bugs Bunny. The fans who love this depiction have Chuck Jones to thank.The funny thing is that this characterization of Daffy remained constant...being picked up by the other directors...and today Daffy is known as a greedy, vain, egotistical braggart. In his memorable role as Duck Dodgers, Daffy plays the part of the know-it-all hero scolding and blaming his associates for his own incompetence. This is not the Daffy that intrigued movie audiences of the '30s and '40s...but it's a comical stroke of genius all the same.Jones directed three cartoons that are in the National Film Registry: Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc?. Ironically, those three cartoons didn't win any awards during their original releases, but decades of showings on television and the viewer response to those three in particular elevated them above the other cartoons. Three of his theatrical cartoons did win Academy Awards: For Scent-imental Reasons, So Much For So Little, and The Dot and the Line. Jones won an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 for career/lifetime achievement.One of the things about these Golden Collections is that the work of the directors are on full display and you're able to enjoy the various styles and characterizations associated with specific animators and directors. Until these collections started being released it was next to impossible to see cartoons from Frank Tashlin, for example, or see Norm McCabe's earliest work for the studio.The four disc's, like the 4 disc's in the previous collections, all follow a specific theme:1. Bugs Bunny Favorites2. A Dash of Tashlin3. Speedy Gonzales in a Flash4. Kitty KornerThe "Behind the Tunes" segments are exceptional. There are 8 altogether:1. The Art of the Gag2. Looney Tunes: A Cast of Thousands3. One-Hit Wonders4. Sing-a-Song of Looney Tunes5. Wild Lines: The Art of Voice Acting6. Twilight in Tunes: The Music of Raymond Scott7. Powerhouse in Pictures8. Fifty Years of Bugs Bunny in Three and a Half Minutes

I'm going to be frank here. First, and foremost, I am grateful for the Looney Tunes Collections.There are three camps out there regarding the animation of these cartoons: Black and White 1930's, Color classics 1940's and 1950's, and the color demise cartoons in the 60's.We all have our favorite era and that's fine.In reading these posts there is a history of these cartoons!Cartoons in the WB case, were simply additional entertainment before a feature movie at the nickelodeon or the bijou or the movie theatre.When was the last time you saw a cartoon like the WB's at a movie theatre in this day and age?All of the cartoons we enjoy from the WB collection are the works of talented individuals to create a lightened atmosphere given thier interpretation of life, history and just plain fun!The demise was television and other venues of entertainment that killed them. That and cost. WB only has the film shot, not the original cells, because they were washed clean from the mylars and then re-used for the next cartoon! Disney saved everything.But what the WB cartoons gave us were fresh, funny and goofy situations, whose comedy was geared for adults...even the animators said the creations were for 'them' and not the general public....they could care less.... working away in the termite trailer!All of the WB cartoons are important. The selfless work of the individuals working away at restoring some 1200 gems of the animators who have gone before them is extremely important to recognize, reflect and respect those few decades of hard work. And for that, I am grateful.The focus of these collections is to support and THANK those that work tireless hours to use the ratted old films they have, and bring them to life again for generations to come.My only reservation is the need to keep them original and uncut.I remember in the 70's the idiot group that came along thinking these cartoons were making children act out what they saw in them. What a fallacy.Then, we have to suffer Whoopie Goldberg teaching us about how bad these cartoons were in stereotypes and how we must remember that was a different time and that although this happened, she still laughed at them. What the heck does that mean...Be policitically correct and if you have to laugh, by god, it better not be out loud displaying that you are a racist or an idiot because you did not properly respond in the politiclly correct venue?If we have to have Whoopie then fine. If that's the disclaimer to keep the cartoons original....okay. I'll just hit 'next' on my dvd remote.Lastly, I would caution you parents regarding viewing these cartoons with your children... they may light dynamite, they might set a deadfall of a rock on a roadrunner...they might go against slow poke Rodriguez...and god forbid...paint thier backs to look like a skunk!