Warners’ latest cartoon roundup pulls in some rare treats and character debuts
Note: This post includes over 100 screen captures which were snapped from the discs, but have been resized and compressed for online viewing by our image display engine. They are not representative of the full uncompressed 1080p image and included for illustration purposes only.
Warner Bros may be failing Looney Tunes at the box office, but their phenomenal Warner Archive home video division is still doing a great job of mining the treasure-filled archives from the Merrie Melodies to Bugs and the gang.
The latest collection marks a new Blu-ray branding nomenclature as Volume 1 of the “Collector’s Vault” – following three volumes of “Platinum Collections” (the first two of which have just been re-released after becoming out of print and difficult to find), Bugs Bunny and mouse-themed collections, and most recently, four volumes of “Collector’s Choice” which were also combined into a single set.
Why the change this round? Well, I suspect it’s because as the earlier collections leaned toward “playing the hits”; there have been so many cartoons released on Blu-ray that we’re getting to the more obscure stuff – thus the “vault” designation as an acknowledgement that they’re digging deeper.
This branding doesn’t represent a drop in quality – popular doesn’t necessarily equate to better – but it does point to a shift in content. From here on out, we’ll probably see relatively fewer appearances from the classic gang like Bugs, Daffy, Porky, and friends, and more of the one-offs and lesser knowns.
And the great thing about these various Looney collections on Blu-ray is that, despite the various name changes and editions, they have almost zero overlap, so each collection is essentially new to Blu.
Collector’s Vault Vol. 1 is a 2-disc Blu-ray collection which ties its discs to two different groupings of shorts. Disc One collects material that’s new to disc, with no prior DVD or Blu-ray releases (with the exception of “Double or Mutton”, which also appeared on the collection immediately prior – likely a mistake, albeit an ironic one). Disc Two’s cartoons have been released on home video before (for example, on DVD collections or as bonus features on a non-Looney Tunes movies), but are making their debut in a Blu-ray collection.
As with any Looney Tunes collection, you can expect a mix of shorts across several decades (in this case ranging from 1934 to 1963), and the work of legendary animators and directors like Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, and Bob Clampett.
Overview – Disc One
And after enjoying these shorts, I think I would advise watching them in the opposite order, at least if you’re mainly here for the core Looney Tunes gang. Daffy stars in one episode on Disc One, while Bugs and Porky are not featured at all, except for a brief cameo gag or two. The shorts on this disc consist of one-offs (like the earlier Merrie Melodies which were an answer to Disney’s Silly Symphonies), or feature secondary or less familiar recurring characters like Elmer Fudd, Egghead, Sylvester & Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, and Claude Cat.
To me the top picks of Disc One are the cartoons that feature two of my favorite antagonistic pairings: Sam Sheepdog & Ralph Wolf, and Roadrunner & Wile E. Coyote (incidentally, Ralph and Wile E. are dead ringers). I love these characters, and these cartoons represent Looney Tunes at its best: inventive and infectious slapstick with antagonists as protagonists, who always lose but just don’t know when to give up.
Some other observations and highlights:
- Animals are an unofficial recurring theme on this disc, with most cartoons featuring all manner of farm and forest critters: roosters and chickens, chicken-hawks, foxes and wolves, cats and dogs, etc – including both familiar and unique characters.
- Beauty and the Beast is the only 2-Strip Cinecolor short in this collection.
- A Kiddies Kitty features an inadvertently abusive redheaded girl who traumatizes Sylvester – likely an inspiration for Tiny Toons Adventures’ Elmyra.
- The Goofy Gophers is the pairing’s first appearance.
Overview – Disc Two
The second disc features more of Bugs and the gang, and notably has first appearances from several familiar characters. In terms of viewing order, I think watching Disc Two first is the better choice, starting with the familiar before digging deeper. My kids and I viewed these in the numbered order and got a little impatient, enjoying the cartoons but also wondering when the gang would show up.
Disc Two is definitely the big warm hug of the set, pulling in a bunch of new-to-Blu appearances from Bugs, Porky, and friends. We also get the debut appearances of several several beloved characters including Daffy Duck, Pepe le Pew, Speedy Gonzales (looking different than his refined version), and Yosemite Sam.
Another incidental theme in this set is fourth-wall breaks – there are some pretty terrific ones – my favorite being a gag where a character shoots a member of the theatrical audience for causing a distraction.
Notes and highlights:
- Hollywood icon Peter Lorre makes a couple of unofficial “guest appearances” on this disc, caricatured in Birth of a Notion and Horton Hatches the Egg.
- Cat-Tails for Two features the first appearance of Speedy Gonzales.
- Horton Hatches the Egg is worth noting; a loose adaptation of the Dr. Seuss tale. The author’s work would again intersect with Looney Tunes creators, most notably Chuck Jones, over the course of his later TV specials.
- Odor-able Kitty introduced Pepe le Pew.
- Daffy Duck is often screen-paired with Porky Pig, this association goes back to his first appearance in Porky’s Duck Hunt. This short is also the only black and white film in this collection.
Full List of Shorts with Screen Captures – Disc One:
Bars and Stripes Forever (1939) – dir. Ben Hardaway & Cal Dalton
Beauty and the Beast (1934) – dir. Friz Freleng
A Day at the Zoo (1939) – dir. Tex Avery
New restoration
The Dixie Fryer (1960) – dir. Robert McKimson
Double or Mutton (1955) – dir. Chuck Jones
Each Dawn I Crow (1949) – dir. Friz Freleng
New restoration
Easy Peckin’s (1953) – dir. Robert McKimson
Feather Dusted (1955) – dir. Robert McKimson
A Fox in a Fix (1951) – dir. Robert McKimson
Good Night Elmer (1940) – dir. Chuck Jones
The Goofy Gophers (1947) – dir. Arthur Davis
I’d Love to Take Orders From You (1936) – dir. Tex Avery
A Kiddie’s Kitty (1955) – dir. Friz Freleng
Let It Be Me (1936) – dir. Friz Freleng
Of Fox and Hounds (1940) – dir. Tex Avery
New restoration
Quackodile Tears (1962) – dir. Arthur Davis
Ready, Woolen and Able (1960) – dir. Chuck Jones
Robin Hood Makes Good (1939) – dir. Chuck Jones
The Squawkin’ Hawk (1942) – dir. Chuck Jones
Terrier Stricken (1952) – dir. Chuck Jones
Tweet and Lovely (1959) – dir. Friz Freleng
Tweety’s Circus (1955) – dir. Friz Freleng
Two’s a Crowd (1950) – dir. Chuck Jones
Wild About Hurry (1959) – dir. Chuck Jones
Zip ‘N Snort (1961) – dir. Chuck Jones
Full List of Shorts with Screen Captures – Disc Two
Ain’t She Tweet (1952) – dir. Friz Freleng
Banty Raids (1963) – dir. Robert McKimson
Birth of a Notion (1947) – dir. Robert McKimson
Bye, Bye Bluebeard (1949) – dir. Arthur Davis
Cat-Tails for Two (1953) – dir. Robert McKimson
Daffy Dilly (1948) – dir. Chuck Jones
Daffy Duck & Egghead (1938) – dir. Tex Avery
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z (1956) – dir. Chuck Jones
Gonzales’ Tamales (1957) – dir. Friz Freleng
Hare Conditioned (1945) – dir. Chuck Jones
Hare Trigger (1945) – dir. Friz Freleng
Hare Trimmed (1953) – dir. Friz Freleng
Horton Hatches the Egg (1942) – dir. Bob Clampett
Little Boy Boo (1954) – dir. Robert McKimson
Much Ado About Nutting (1953) – dir. Chuck Jones
Odor-able Kitty (1945) – dir. Chuck Jones
Past Perfumance (1955) – dir. Chuck Jones
Porky’s Duck Hunt (1937) – dir. Tex Avery
Rabbit Punch (1948) – dir. Chuck Jones
Red Riding Hoodwinked (1955) – dir. Friz Freleng
Rhapsody Rabbit (1946) – dir. Friz Freleng
Snow Business (1953) – dir. Friz Freleng
Tom Turk and Daffy (1944) – dir. Chuck Jones
Two Crows from Tacos (1956) – dir. Friz Freleng
Zoom and Bored (1957) – dir. Chuck Jones
A/V Out
