DVDFile

Warner / 365 Minutes / 1936-1966 / Unrated / Street Date: October 16, 2012

Decades ago, before theatergoing was dedicated to one feature film, audiences expected a double-feature accompanied by previews, a newsreel, a cartoon, and perhaps a short subject; those featurettes acted as an intermezzo between the two movies on the program. And of these, no cartoons were as sardonic or as witty as the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes.

Long after Warner Animation was dissolved, the roster of characters continued to entertain as they were shown on television, directed at children and frequently edited to remove the most violent and/or culturally improper images. Interestingly, children were not the original target audience. These clever cartoons satirized classical music (Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, Rossini's Barber of Seville, and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, among others), borrowed from a prominent surrealistic artist (Salvador Dali), and were self-reverential by featuring caricatures of Warner Bros. contract players (like Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart).

Looney Tunes have the distinction of having been scored by a wonderfully talented and imaginative composer, Carl Stalling, who conducted a substantial orchestra to underscore the onscreen action. Stalling is credited with many innovations, including an electronic metronome playing in his musicians' earphones for timing, and the use of instruments to punctuate movements, like plucked strings or a xylophone for footsteps. Stalling borrowed liberally from classical composers and blended those themes into his own droll scores.

Mel Blanc was as responsible for the personalities and inherent humor of the Looney Tunes characters as the artists and writers. His voice work was inspired, creating the voices for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Dick, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, and Foghorn Leghorn, and others. Several artists and writers, though, stand out as having had a profound influence on the characters' evolution and success; among them are Chuck Jones, I. "Friz" Freleng, and Michael Mortese. Looney Tunes reached its peak in the 1940's and early 1950's, attaining a synergistic blend of artistic quality and delightful wit.

But as impressive as most of these Looney Tunes shorts are, as a fan who has bought, double-dipped, and then done so again with various home theater formats, it remains a real sticking point for me that Warner continues to reject a completist aim for their Tunes. In short, this isn't a Complete Collection (at least not yet). It seems to me that the pie-in-the-sky desire would be to have a sequential compilation of all Warner's Looney Tunes achievements large and small - Hell, I'll buy four or five volumes, but at least make them all available!

Alas, this continues to be the case with Looney Tunes: Volume Two on Blu-ray. Are there seasoned, fan-adored favorites included here? Of course there are, you wascally wabbit! But unless Warner flushes out future volumes to exceptional ends, releases like this one remain a disappointing Greatest Hits rather than a full representation of our beloved Looney Tunes as a collective whole.

Looney Tunes included:

DISC 1

1. A WILD HARE
2. BUCKAROO BUGS
3. LONG-HAIRED HARE
4. ALI BABA BUNNY
5. SHOW BIZ BUGS
6. THE WISE QUACKING DUCK
7. WHAT MAKES DAFFY DUCK?
8. BOOK REVUE
9. DEDUCE, YOU SAY
10. PORKY IN WACKYLAND
11. YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES
12. PORKY IN EGYPT
13. BACK ALLEY OPROAR
14. LITTLE RED RODENT HOOD
15. CANNED FEUD
16. GIFT WRAPPED
17. BIRDY AND THE BEAST
18. HOME, TWEET HOME
19. GOING! GOING! GOSH!
20. ZIPPING ALONG
21. SCENT-IMENTAL ROMEO
22. THE FOGHORN LEGHORN
23. THE HIGH AND THE FLIGHTY
24. TABASCO ROAD
25. MEXICALI SHMOES

DISC 2

1. WABBIT TWOUBLE
2. RABBIT FIRE
3. RABBIT SEASONING
4. DUCK! RABBIT, DUCK!
5. DRIP-ALONG DAFFY
6. MY LITTLE DUCKAROO
7. BARBARY-COAST BUNNY
8. TORTOISE BEATS HARE
9. TORTOISE WINS BY A HARE
10. RABBIT TRANSIT
11. PORKY’S HARE HUNT
12. HARE-UM SCARE-UM
13. PREST-O CHANGE-O
14. ELMER’S CANDID CAMERA
15. BUGS BUNNY GETS THE BOID
16. THE BASHFUL BUZZARD
17. THE LION’S BUSY
18. STRIFE WITH FATHER
19. AN ITCH IN TIME
20. A HORSEFLY FLEAS
21. HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT
22. PAGE MISS GLORY
23. ROCKET-BYE BABY
24. RUSSIAN RHAPSODY
25. DOUGH RAY ME-OW