Looney Tunes Volume 4: 11/14/06 (1 Viewer)

[PaulP]

Why is that disingenuous? I was merely making a point, and perhaps Popeye and the other characters in that series of cartoons are a bad example. I was trying to think of a typically exaggerated animated character. Let's take some animal characters then. Do mice look like Mickey Mouse? Do rabbits look like Bugs Bunny? No, they're just caricatures, and a product of that time's animators' capabilities. Only fairly recently have animators been able to draw a life-like human face with the help of computers. Before this, distortion was necessary, I believe. Otherwise you have a portrait.

 

[WillardK]

Tell me you're really Stephen Colbert. That man is hiLArious!

I can't take your arguments seriously so in respect of the forum (and Robert's noting this topic as a hijack) I will agree to disagree.

 

[Patrick McCart]

It's just WB covering their asses. Even Maltin seems to be a little sarcastic in his Disney un-PC cartoon intros.

 

[JeffSchiller]

What exactly consitutes "A-List stuff" though? Everybody's version is different. Is everything released on Laserdisc constitute your definition of "A-List" ? Really?!?

I'm not saying to get rid of your Laserdiscs, just that you have to give the Golden Collection and many bonus cartoons recognition. There have been over 50 cartoons released on DVD that were never released on Laserdisc and that number is only going to go up...

 

[Ruz-El]

First off, I don't care if the toons are considered racist or not, I just loike the cartoons. I do however feel that PAulP is getting a slight painting with the unPC brush so I'm going to offer this comparisson inthe hopes that I'm right about his characture arguement, which I agree upon based on style.

Are Jews upset with the portrayal of the Marx Bros in the 3rd set as they are all characatured with bulbus noses?

It's not that different from many of the black charactures which seemed largely based on Jack Bennys butler (can't remember his name) and other black actors from the period. It's not right, and I'm not defending it, and I can see how some people are upset by it, but I totally understand how stylisic exageration in characatures work in cartoons.

 

[Adam_S]

Count me in as someone who loves the fifties cartoons dearly. I like what I've seen of Tex Avery's forties outputs, but I've not been blown away, though I can see why he's admired. while I"m sure I've seenmore of his and the other directors work, I wouldn't know it because I didn't pay attention to such things at the time I saw it. Let me just say that Looney Tunes have been consistently great, not all are equal, but the banner has it's gems in any decade. the attitude against the fifties cartoons that has been leveled in this thread is ridiculous. Warner Bros has been putting a great deal of time and resources into restoring these cartoons at the rate of more than one a week for the last four years, and I imagine another three releases are in the pipeline since they work two years in advance. We are not privy to the conditions of the shorts, but maybe WB has been working as fast as they could on the older shorts, but the work is less intensive on the shorts from the fifties so they have more material to work with right now. I've no doubt all the cartoons you want have been prioritized in some manner for restoration and publication, but there is a vast library to publish, and after this release we'll have over 200 Looney Tunes released, that's a damn fine number even if it's not equally representative of all eras of their animation department.

The fact that they're doing this for shorts should be praised considering you can't even get some studios, like Paramount, to release major academy award winning films like Wings or the African Queen.

 

[george kaplan]

I love many (though not all) of the WB cartoons from the 40s and the 50s. I'm not taken with the pre-40s nor the post-50s. My least favorites released so far have been toons like The Dover Boys & Have You Got Any Castles?

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

Some such people are specifying '40s Yosemite Sam only, though. Before "formula" set into his cartoons with Bugs. And the "more Foghorn" cries don't seem near as vocal as the "more '30s Porky and more zany Daffy" cries...

The glacial pace in which the cartoons are being released doesn't help. Even Doctor Who, which has long, long history and which was being as slowly brought to DVD, has now received a near doubling per year of DVD output. If we do reach a point, in the 2010s, where the GC DVD range ceases short of its target, because sales have dropped off or whatever, I still think it's the latter group you cite that will be ahead, for they are seen as the real serious aficionados. To be serious about the post-1948s has become wrong; those cartoons are of acceptable interest only to casuals who can't see the forest for the trees. As distasteful as I find this view, there are many vocal people who do espouse it. And it won't be any easier for me to accept, my views being as irrelevant as ever...

Still, it was very nice of Warner and the GC compilers to put my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon in Volume 2 along with intros to my favorite television presentations of the cartoons. Bastardised though my favortism for those evidently is. ... There I go doing it again.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

The 1940s were the Golden Age of Animation, not just for Warner Bros.

However, in the '50s, I do like the Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety and Sylvester series.

I'm such a sucker for cute little birds with cute voices -- Tweety can do no wrong where I'm concerned. I love Huey, Dewey and Louie, too. I watched the Little Quacker "Tom and Jerry" cartoons about a hundred times. I even bought the Yogi Bear DVDs just to get the Yakky Doodle cartoons. If this means I'm strange, well, fine.

 

[Adam_S]

Academia across all boundaries in the humanities runs in very specific and set patterns, the most basic is: If something is popular it cannot be a masterpiece.
It usually takes between one and two generations to reverse this, because it is also part of the cycle, then within another one and two generations, another reversal will happen back to the original academic position. This can continue ad infinitum. especially if accessibility is somehow limited and only an 'elite' have sought everything out.

Take for example, the responses on some of the criterion DVD forums. These people threw an unholy fit just at the thought that Dazed and Confused was being released, at HTF there was a great deal of pleasure expressed at the release. But if you were to limit your sampling only to Criterion specialists, you would come to the conclusion that it was an extremely unpopular release and a very poor decision on Criterion's part. So in limiting your sampling only to Looney Tunes specialists (and amazon ratings are easily bamboozled by fan groups when it comes to a passionate turf war such as pre 48 versus post 48 and cannot be considered reliable) you're bound to come to the conclusion that they, the elite group, have already determined to be the current 'correct' way to think.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Here's the list of cartoon shorts for volume 4:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6237

 

[JohnPM]

Can anyone tell us how many of the cartoons in this list are black-and-whites from the thirties and early forties?

http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

 

[Brandon Conway]

A bit disappointed that there's no "Bewitched Bunny", but I'll gladly take the 60 films we're getting. Thanks Warner!

 

[JeffSchiller]

The following are Black & White shorts:

Porky's Poultry Plant
Little Beau Porky
Porky In The North Woods
Porky's Railroad
The Case Of The Stuttering Pig
Porky The Fireman
Porky's Poor Fish
Puss N' Booty

I may have missed one or two...

 

[Kevin Martinez]

All in all this is a decent set, but the complete lack of Tex Avery is egregious, criminal, and unforgivable (He gets only 7 cartoons on the GCs while Clampett gets 21 and Tashlin gets 23?? Come ON!)

 

[george kaplan]

Now that the list is final, I'll admit to being disappointed, not so much as to what's included (I'll get and enjoy this set), but with what's missing. Still not even one of the controversial cartoons. :frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

 

[Kevin Martinez]

Some cartoons on this set are definately controversial (Mississippi Hare and Southern Fried Rabbit come readily to mind).

 

[Tory]

At www.cartoonbrew.com, Jerry Beck lists the special features of this collection.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Just a few thoughts on the lineup

- I agree that at least 2-3 Avery cartoons should have been included. Hopefully we'll get a disc devoted to his work on the next volume. His WB work is really underrated since he's praised more for his films at MGM. Although, one of his best, The Blow Out, will probably take a while since it centers around a mad bomber. There's also the newly discovered original title frames found by a collector. Given that all of Avery's cartoons are from 1936-1941, it's possible they're more fragile than the rest.

- A lot of really great cartoons in the mix... The Case of the Stuttering Pig, Plane Daffy, The Stupid Cupid, and Operation: Rabbit.

- I'm really unfamiliar with a lot of the others due to Cartoon Network not really showing a lot of them. That's probably good since it'll be more fun for me to re-discover them. I haven't seen any Speedy cartoons since they were aired on Nickelodeon over a decade ago.

- Mississippi Hare is one of the funniest Bugs cartoons... It has a very un-PC opening, so I'm glad to see WB taking another chance.

 

[Brandon Conway]

3 more Snafu shorts. 50 Years of Bugs Bunny 1989 short. 2 army shorts by Chuck Jones. Vintage '70s Bugs Bunny doc. All new 1-hour Friz Freleng doc. Storyboards, featurettes, commentaries, and more.

Warner, you rule.