The best was saved for last...
More of your favorite Looney Tunes... your wish is their command...
The concluding release from the Golden Collection Series is a 4-disc set with 60 more of the most looneytic Looney Tunes ever unleashed. Plus, 15 bonus shorts to make this the biggest collection of Looney Tunes ever! Indeed, some have never before been on home video! Fifteen cartoons dating from World War II give Volume 6 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection more focus than previous sets.
Many of the 1940's cartoons remain very funny. Bugs Bunny dresses up as Brunnhilda and rides in to the strains of "Tannhauser" in "Herr Meets Hare" (1945), a gag Chuck Jones re-used to greater effect in "What's Opera, Doc" a dozen years later.
In "Russian Rhapsody" (1940) some of the gremlins who sabotage Hitler's bomber are caricatures of the Warner Bros. artists. Chuck Jones appears as a chunky, pinkish-tan homunculus swinging a mallet; Friz Freleng is a little green man with a saw-like nose. Younger viewers may find the references to wartime shortages puzzling--or fail to recognize the caricatures of Hermann Goering, Hideki Tojo and Joseph Stalin.
Some of the other cartoons can still bring down the house, including "Satan's Waitin'" (1954), in which Sylvester manages to lose all nine of his lives in pursuit of Tweety, and "Bear Feat" (1949), another exercise in futility for Jones' Three Bears.
The early musicals featuring Bosko, Foxy (or Freddy Fox) and Buddy have not aged well. Created by Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising, these characters were modeled on Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, but lack charm and personality.
Some more recent films reveal how social attitudes have changed. "Wild Wife," a spoof of a suburban housewife's tribulations, may have seemed hilarious in 1954; today, it's just a laundry list of sexist gags.
Like the previous installments, Volume 6 comes loaded with extras. The rarest are five shorts Friz Freleng directed at MGM in 1938. Producer Fred Quimby lured Freleng away from Warner Bros -- only to insist he adapt the comic strip "The Captain and the Kids," Rudolph Dirks' version of "The Katzenjammer Kids." Freleng correctly predicted the films would flop as the characters were "the meanest little bastards in the world," and soon returned to Warners.
Here's what you'll get...
- Hare Trigger
- To Duck or Not to Duck
- Birth of a Notion
- My Little Duckaroo
- Crowing Pains
- Raw! Raw! Rooster!
- Heaven Scent
- My Favorite Duck
- Jumpin' Jupiter
- Satan's Waitin'
- Hook Line and Stinker
- Bear Feat
- Dog Gone South
- A Ham in a Role
- Often an Orphan
- Herr Meets Hare
- Russian Rhapsody
- Daffy the Commando
- Bosko the Doughboy
- Rookie Revue
- The Draft Horse
- Wacky Blackout
- The Ducktators
- The Weakly Reporter
- Fifth Column Mouse
- Meet John Doughboy
- Hollywood Canine Canteen
- By Word of Mouse
- Heir Conditioned
- Yankee Dood It
- Congo Jazz
- Smile Dam Ya, Smile!
- The Booze Hangs High
- One More Time
- Bosko's Picture Show
- You Don't Know What
You're Doin'! - We're in the Money!
- Ride 'em Bosko
- Shuffle Off to Buffalo
- Bosko in Person
- The Dish Ran Away
with the Spoon - Buddie's Day Out
- Buddie's Beer Garden
- Buddie's Circus
- A Cartoonist's Nightmare
- Horton Hatches the Egg
- Lights Fantastic
- Fresh Airedale
- Chow Hound
- The Oily American
- It's Hummer Time
- Rocket Bye Baby
- Goo Goo Goliath
- Wild Wife
- Much Ado About Nutting
- The Hole idea
- Now Hear This
- Martian Through Georgia
- Page Miss Glory
- Norman Normal
Animated cartoons and World War II...
World War II changed the possibilities for animation. Prior to the war, animation was seen as a form of childish entertainment. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a turning point in its utility.
On December 8, 1941, the US Army began working with Walt Disney at his studio, stationing Army personnel there for the duration of the war. The Army and Disney set about making various types of films for several different audiences. Most films meant for the public included some type of propaganda, while films for the troops included training and education about a given topic.
Films intended for the public were often meant to build morale. They allowed Americans to release their anger and frustration through ridicule and crude humor. Many films simply reflected the war culture and were pure entertainment. Others carried strong messages meant to arouse public involvement or set a public mood.
Animated cartoons allowed the government to spread their message in a much more entertaining manner, especially when it came to War Bond drives.
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