Reviewed by Rich Depping
Warner Home Video – 413 minutes – 2008 – Unrated – 1.33:1 – Dolby Digital Mono – English SDH – Four Discs

Another volume chock full of classic Warner cartoon, remastered and unedited, politically incorrect content and all. 4 discs of various era and themed Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, entries from the 1960s’ Seven Arts efforts, and even some MGM classics thrown in!

THE COLLECTION
Each disc has a theme, tho some stray more than others.Disc one is an assortment of the primary players – Bugs Bunny, Daffy, Porky, Sylvester, and so on, in a hodge podge collection ranging from the greats like McKimson, Jones, Freleng, and so on.

Disc two includes a smörgåsbord of WWII wartime cartoons, including a visit from Pvt. Snafu. This disc is overflowing with abhorrent racial caricatures and stereotypes, not to mention myopic jingoism, but remain a fascinating historical record. When was the last time you saw Bart Simpson hawking Victory Bonds, Peter Griffin giving jihadists a hotfoot, or South Park flaunting horrible ethnic caricatures… well, scratch that last one… This disc also includes one of my personal favorite WW2 shorts, Herr Meets Hare, wherein Bugs winds up in the Black Forest and gives Hermann Goering the business.

Disc three focuses on the early Merrie Melodies shorts, with a focus on semi-forgotten stars Bosco and Foxy, whom you would swear was Mickey Mouse at first glance. I personally have always loathed these musical shorts, but I do recognize their historical significance.Disc four is literally presented as filler – ‘fan requests’ and one-off characters fill out the set. It had been quite some time since I had seen “Punch Trunk”, where the miniature elephant grips Manhattan in mass hysteria, along with the classic Dr. Seuss adaptation, “Horton Hatches an Egg”. I mean what I said, and I said what I meant…These are, undoubtedly, a strong batch of shorts, but the patchwork feeling of being thrown together just can’t be shaken…

VIDEO
The vast majority of the content has been restored to probably an even better state than when theatrically screened originally, but there are some here and there where I imagine the surviving source material wasn’t quite up to snuff. Some of the black and white entries seem to have been sourced from video stock if I had to guess, with occasional flickering and an odd jitter during the opening credits. I’m no cinematographer so take that with a (film) grain of salt…

AUDIO
Again, it’s a case of only being to do so much with the source material provided. Audio has been remastered into Dolby Digital monaural, and is actually very nice, except for a handful of the early 1930’s Merrie Melodies shorts. Again, it’s hard to be that harsh on nearly 80 year old material originally intended as disposable filler.

EXTRAS
Each disc has 4 ‘bonus’ shorts that, some more than others, follow the predicating theme of the disc. There are a handful of commentary tracks, with a mix of archival audio from the directors & artists as well as film historians. There are also 2 of the Chuck Jones made-for-TV Looney Tunes specials, which always weirded me out a bit as a kid, as my parents didn’t quite know how to explain Mel Blanc was quite a bit older than when the classic shorts were made, leading to my inquiry as to ‘Why does Bugs sound all funny?’There is also a smattering of MGM shorts done between Termite Terrace tenures by a few directors, which Warner now conveniently owns. It’s funny how things work out in the end…

BOTTOM LINE
This is apparently the final entry in the Golden Collection series – Warner will be releasing more Looney Tunes in the future, but with what focus remains to be seen. I can say without any sarcasm I personally await a dedicated Cool Cat release, but I know I am definitely a minority on this one…Despite being a fairly uneven amalgamation, overall this is a damn fine collection of cartoons any animation fan should not be without.

SCORES (Out of 5):
The Movie: 3.5
Video: 4.0
Sound: 3.5
Extras: 3.5
Bottom Line: 4.0Note: We were also provided a copy of the “Spotlight Collection Volume 6”, which is a sanitized 2 disc companion to the Golden collection, consisting of roughly 40 (including bonus shorts) non-offensive cartoons mostly from Golden Collection v6 and two from Vol 2. If you have small children in your household you don’t think could easily be explained to the various offenses and social maladaies of the time (or why Bugs keeps talking funny and calling Yosemite Sam “Suh”) found in the Golden Collection, we recommend picking this up instead for family viewing. Big kids only for Golden Collection, sorry. Overall score of 4.0 for Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volume 6.