‘Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice: Volume 3’ Blu-ray (review)

Warner Archive

When I was a college student in Philadelphia and living with no air conditioning during a stifling heatwave, I usually found myself at the movies every day.

One summer, as part of a promotion, each visit to the theater was made even more special with the addition of a Looney Tunes short before the feature.

Having grown up watching The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show every Saturday morning, it was a completely foreign and amazing experience seeing these shorts as originally intended, in the theater with an audience.

Since then I haven’t missed any Looney Tunes collections releases

From the Golden Collection to The Platinum Collection to the present, it’s one of the rare instances where regardless of when they were made, are as fresh today as they ever were.

I’ve seen other reviewers comment on quality of the various restorations, and to be honest, having grown up loving these shorts pre-cable on a TV with tinny sound and mediocre reception from a rabbit ears antenna, but I really haven’t ever been disappointed with any of these releases.

Some shorts look better than others, but overall, I can’t complain when these are shorts look better than I ever imagined.

This release features twenty-five assorted shorts including:

• “A Feud There Was” (1938, dir. Tex Avery)
  The McCoys and the Weavers are two feuding hillbilly clans. Elmer Fudd, Peacemaker, attempts to end the fighting; but violence and zaniness win out.
• “China Jones” (1959, dir. Robert McKimson)
  Ethnic stereotypes run wild in this short which follows Daffy Duck (as an Irish private eye, China Jones) and Porky Pig (in animated yellow-face as Charlie Chung) teaming up to locate an ex-con Limey Louie who tricks Jones into trying to save a hostage allegedly being held in a Chinese bakery.
• “Cinderella Meets Fella” (1938, dir. Tex Avery)
  This short has Cinderella going to the ball, where she meets Prince Charming (Egghead, a character who later evolves into Elmer Fudd ).
• “Dumb Patrol” (1964, dir. Gerry Chiniquy)
  The short features a biplane battles over France in World War I between Bugs and Baron (Yosemite) Sam Von Schpamm. with a cameo appearance by Porky Pig.
• “Egghead Rides Again” (1937, dir. Tex Avery)
  City dweller Egghead (in his first appearance) dreams of being a cowboy, but his bouncing around gets him kicked out of his boarding house. He sees an ad for a ranch looking for a cowboy and applies and goes through various training sessions, but fails them all. Egghead, believing uselessness decides to leave, but the expert cowboys give him a different job: cleaning up after the cows and horses.
• “Elmer’s Pet Rabbit” (1941, dir. Chuck Jones)
  Elmer Fudd spots Bugs in a pet shop window, but after he takes him home Bugs makes Elmer’s life a living nightmare.
• “Hobo Bobo” (1947, dir. Robert McKimson)
  Little Bobo the Elephant decides to leave a jungle, where he is assigned to the thankless task of moving logs with his trunk, for a glamorous life in a circus in America. Upon his arrival Bobo learns that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
• “Honeymoon Hotel” (1934, dir. Earl Duvall)
  In Bugtown, young ladybug couple has just gotten married, and have a stay at the Honeymoon Hotel, although a fire breaks out midway through the night.
• “Hop, Skip and a Chump” (1942, dir. Friz Freleng)
  The grasshopper Hopalong Casserole easily outwits two crows (modeled on Laurel and Hardy) who find Hopalong far more difficult to catch than they imagined.
• “I Only Have Eyes for You ” (1937, dir. Tex Avery)
  Iceman, a lonely ice-delivery bird — who’s admired by a spinster on his route — tries to woo lovely Katie Canary, a music fan who worships radio crooners, so he hires Professor Mockingbird a voice imitator to lip-sync and win her affections.
• “Mexican Joyride” (1947, dir. Arthur Davis)
  Daffy Duck drives to Mexico for a vacation, and after a harrowing experience with the local cuisine that literally sets his mouth afire, Daffy finds himself accidentally in bullfight. This short features a number of dated Mexican stereotypes that didn’t age particularly well.
• “The Mouse on 57th Street” (1961, dir. Chuck Jones)
  A mouse helps himself to what he thinks is a huge lump of cheese but finds himself inebriated after realizing he ate rum cake. With a throbbiing headache. The mouse takes a priceless diamond, thinking it’s a soothing piece of ice.
• “Mr. and Mrs. is the Name” (1935, dir. Friz Freleng)
  Buddy, a Merman is playing tag with a Mermaid. They discover a sunken ship and discover treasure and a piano. While playing,the Mermaid is abducted by a savage octopus which leads Buddy to chase after it in pursuit. Buddy and the octopus fight, which ends with the victorious Merman getting rewarded with a kiss from the Mermaid.
• “Of Rice and Hen” (1953, dir. Robert McKimson)
  Miss Prissy, a slow-witted hen, is determined to find a husband and sets her sights on Foghorn Leghorn. Barnyard Dog decides to assist her by disguising himself as a rooster to create the illusion of competition, hoping to spark Foghorn’s nonexistent affections through jealousy. The plan works flawlessly, and Foghorn Leghorn falls for the ruse completely.
• “Pre-Hysterical Hare” (1958, dir. Robert McKimson)
  Bugs Bunny discovers a Micronesian documentary in “Cromagnonscope” featuring Elmer Fuddstone and a familiar looking saber-toothed bunny from 10,000 BC.
• “Punch Trunk” (1953, dir. Chuck Jones)
  A shipment of bananas from Africa arrives with an astonishing stowaway: a fully-grown bull elephant, but only five inches tall. This tiny titan inadvertently triggers chaos and pandemonium throughout the city.
• “Quentin Quail” (1946, dir. Chuck Jones)
  In a playful homage to the “Baby Snooks” radio program, an exasperated Mr. Quail embarks on a comedic quest to catch a worm for his demanding daughter, Baby Toots. His efforts are hilariously thwarted by a cunning and tough crow, who has his own plans for the coveted worm.
• “Riff Raffy Daffy” (1948, dir. Arthur Davis)
  Patrolman Porky Pig orders vagrant Daffy Duck out of a gopher hole in the City Park. So, Daffy takes up residence near a fireplace inside a closed-for-business department store. When Porky sees Daffy through one of the store’s windows, he enters, intending to throw Daffy out. The resulting chase takes them through the store’s many departments.
• “Saddle Silly” (1941, dir. Chuck Jones)
  A Pony Express rider’s adventures in getting the mail through an Indian country in this fairly average short.
• “Sheep Ahoy” (1954, dir. Chuck Jones)
  After punching in for work, Sam Sheepdog deals with Ralph Wolf’s attempts to steal the flock, which this time make use of a balloon, a fake Acme-brand rock and a bicycle-propelled submarine.
• “The Sheepish Wolf” (1942, dir. Friz Freleng)
  A flock of sheep is guarded by Sam Sheepdog, a talkative canine who must stay alert to prevent an attack by Ralph Wolf.
• “There Auto Be a Law” (1953, dir. Robert McKimson)
  This documentary-style cartoon tells of the development of the automobile in America and the comical effects of cars, traffic, and road design on various kinds of people.
• “Tugboat Granny” (1956, dir. Friz Freleng)
  Tweety Bird and his mistress, Granny, are at the controls of a tugboat that Sylvester tries unsuccessfully to board.
• “War And Pieces” (1964, dir. Chuck Jones & Maurice Noble)
  Wile E. Coyote tries to catch the Road Runner with a grenade, a bow, a rope, invisible paint, a gun disguised as a peep show, and a rocket that tunnels him through the Earth to arrive in the Orient, where a Japanese Road Runner greets him.
• “Wet Hare” (1962, dir. Robert McKimson)
  Bugs Bunny finds himself at odds with Blacque Jacque Shellaque, a ruthless lumberjack who wants to control the water supply by building a series of dams.

No extras are included (some commentaries from experts Jerry Beck, Leonard Maltin, Thad Komorowski, etc. would have been a welcome addition).

Nevertheless, Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice: Volume 3 is a wonderful release and the ongoing commitment from the Warner Archive to restore and preserve the availability of these shorts is notable as physical media and Saturday morning cartoons have been replaced by unreliable streaming quality and availability.