TEX AVERY SCREWBALL CLASSICS
VOL. 3 (1943-1951)
Label: Warner Archive Collection
Rating: Unrated
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 150 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD (1.37:1)
Director: Tex Avery
This third volume of the Tex Avery Screwball Classics again dives into animation directors seminal work for MGM, where he produced a ton of legendarily zany animated shorts. His toons were the most action-packed, nutty and fleet footed of all the toons I was ingesting as a kiddo; the humor was sarcastic and the characters regularly broke the fourth wall and addressed the audience directly, they had a kinetic energy that was off the charts and the humor was off the wall. Even as a kid I knew that when I saw Tex Avery name on the title card I was in for some classic animation gags and good times.
This collection features twenty shorts from Avery's MGM years, and a bonus WB Merrie Melodie's short. Again not, it's not a chronological collection, but an archival sampling with Warner Bros - who own the MGM animation catalog - cherry picking some of his most iconic works. This collects a handful of his one-offs, plus several of the Screwy Squirrel toons, a couple with The Wolf and more of those classic Droopy shorts spanning from 1943-1951.
Depending on your parenting style keep in mind that not all of these are going to be for kids of all-ages, they are fully uncensored and uncut, and some of not exactly kid-friendly, with quite a few of them depicting lustful and sexist stereotypes, cartoonish violence, beer drinking and cigarette smoking, and some cringe worthy racial and ethnic stereotypes; so just keep in mind that these are from an era when society as a whole was not as sensitive about a lot of things and they might rub you the wrong way.
Warner Bros. have included the following disclaimer relating to that content: "Some of the cartoons you are about to see are a product of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros.' view of today's society, some of these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."
Watching these Tex Avery sets I am instantly transported back to a time when I didn't know what a mortgage was, I was care-free and eating sugary bowls of cereal in front of the TV - it was a magical time! This fantastical slapstick style humor is absolutely timeless and I am looking forward to more volumes of all the MGM-era Tex Avery toons that WB have in the vaults. I know that most if not all the original film elements were destroyed in a vault fire years ago, and Warner Archive scoured vaults around the world looking for the best possible surviving elements to restore these shorts to the best possible condition for fans, and they absolutely do not disappoint.
Audio/Video: This third collection of loony Tex Avery toons arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Archive presented in the original 1.37:1 full frame ratio, uncut and uncensored, transferred with brand new scans from the best possible surviving elements. The restorations look pretty great, the painted backgrounds showcase the brush strokes of the artists the, lush delicate water coloring and minute detail come through wonderfully. The cell animation lines are clean and well- defined, it's just a gorgeous restoration. There's some imperfections by way of color density fluctuations from toon to toon, occasional softness and source related defects, but I these vintage toons look so dang good. The worst of it might be the first few minutes of "Blitz Wolf" which had drain color and was obviously sourced from a source element that was not great, but after that I had zero complaint.
Audio on the set comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The vintage audio sounds great, while it might not have the fidelity and depth of a modern recording the 70+ year-old source elements are well preserved and sharp sounding.
The sole extra on this set is the Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies "Crackpot Quail" animated short, which is also great stuff. The single-disc arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, with the same artwork on the disc inside.
Special Features:
- Crackpot Quail (with original audio)
Episodes:
- Blitz Wolf
- The Early Bird Dood It!
- One Ham’s Family
- Happy-Go-Nutty
- Jerky Turkey
- The Shooting Of Dan McGoo
- Swing Shift Cinderella
- Wild And Woolfy
- Northwest Hounded Police
- Slap Happy Lion
- King Size Canary
- What Price Fleadom
- Little ‘Tinker
- Señor Droopy
- Cock-A-Doodle Dog
- Rock-A-Bye Bear
- Little Johnny Jet
- Billy Boy
- Deputy Droopy
- Cellbound
Tex Avery Screwball Classics Vol. 3 is another fantastic collection of vintage animation from one of the masters of the animated form. These shorts hold up quite nicely, with the caveat that some of the ethnic and racial stereotypes are definitely cringe, but watching these is about as close to time-travel as I have yet encountered, it was good to be a kid again for another two and half hours, and it's hard to put a price on that; but someone has, and you can pick up this wonderful set for under $20, and that's a steal in my opinion.
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
