Looney Tunes: Golden Collection, Volume Four

The Looney Tunes: Golden Collection is an absolutely essential DVD archiving of the Warner Bros. cartoon legacy, even though quibbles over cartoon selection are inevitable. The short subjects in this fourth volume are a decidedly mixed bag—none rank in the pantheon of Warner masterworks—still, it's a fundamental release for animation fans, especially those fond of Speedy Gonzales, as one disc of the four included here boasts 15 shorts featuring “the fastest mouse in all Mexico.” The requisite Bugs Bunny disc contains "Rabbit Hood" with its "it couldn't be him" cameo by Errol Flynn, and the Oscar-winning "Knighty Knight Bugs." Vintage delights are uncovered on a disc devoted to Frank Tashlin, whose cartoon style would later animate some fine live-action films (including Caprice, The Glass Bottom Boat, and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?); in fact, the synchronized sight gags of the 1930s gems "Now That Summer Is Gone," "Cracked Ice," and "You're an Education," make for particularly charming Merrie Melodies. The fourth disc is devoted to a menagerie of cat-toons. This is the first of the Golden Collection sets in which the extras upstage the cartoons. The audio commentaries are entertaining, authoritative, and illuminating. We learn, for example, during the beloved Bugs Bunny cartoon "8 Ball Bunny," that the adorable stranded penguin Bugs delivers to the South Pole is named Playboy. During the otherwise undistinguished "Romeo Rabbit," Queen of Cartoons June Foray reflects that her voice for the amorous Slobovian rabbit anticipates her Natasha in Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends. Musical maestros John Williams, Mark Mothersbaugh, and other notables honor unsung composer Raymond Scott, while "Behind the Tunes" featurettes pay tribute to Warner Bros. secondary and one-hit-wonder characters, the gag writers, and Mel Blanc's voice artistry (with testimonials by The Simpsons' Hank Azaria and Tom Kenny of SpongeBob SquarePants fame). "From the Vault" segments highlight niche cartoons (the wartime "Private Snafu" shorts) as well such parental guidance rarities as Porky Pig stuttering over an obscenity in "Porky's Breakdowns." And that's not all, folks! The set also includes the wonderful 1975 feature-length documentary Bugs Bunny Superstar, a celebration of the golden age of Termite Terrace—the ramshackle studio building in which these classic characters were created—and features interviews with legendary animators Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, and Friz Freleng, as well as nine full-length classic cartoons, including Foghorn Leghorn's debut, "Walky Talky Hawky." Recommended. (D. Liebenson)