The fifth collection of Looney Tunes and Merrie
Melodies continues Warner Bros.' scattershot approach, mixing
classics and obscurities. Among the best-known and funniest cartoons
are "Ali Baba Bunny" (Daffy yelling, "I'm rich! I'm socially
secure!"), "Bewitched Bunny" (Witch Hazel galloping off in a cloud
of hair pins), and "Buccaneer Bunny" (a sterling example of one of
director Friz Freleng's favorite gags: having the characters run up
and down stairs and in and out of various doors). "Gold Diggers of
'49" and "Little Red Walking Hood" show Tex Avery beginning to
explore the self-reflexive gags that would be become one of the
hallmarks of his mature style. In "Walking Hood," Grandma stops the
action to answer the phone and place her order with the
grocer--including a case of gin. "The Daffy Doc" is Bob Clampett at
his most surreal, with Daffy and Porky getting sucked into an iron
lung, bulging and shrinking like balloon animals. Some of the
earliest cartoons predate the adoption of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke
Down" as the theme song for the Warner Bros. cartoons. Many shorts
from the early '30s were built around songs from Warner's musicals:
"I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" (written for Gold Diggers of 1933)
features caricatures of Mae West, George Bernard Shaw, Benito
Mussolini, and Bing Crosby frolicking to the title tune. Greta Garbo
delivers the closing, "That's All, Folks!" Like the previous four
sets, Golden Collection Volume 5 comes loaded with extras
that range from three WWII films in which Mr. Hook urges sailors to
buy war bonds to "Extremes and In-Betweens: A Life in Animation"
(2000), a documentary about Oscar-winning director Chuck Jones. Many
of these cartoons will have viewers of all ages in stitches.
(Unrated, suitable for ages 6 and older: cartoon violence, ethnic
stereotypes, mild risqué humor, alcohol and tobacco use)
--Charles Solomon
