Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Once upon a time there was a wolf...

One of the most talented contributors to American animation's Golden Age, Frederick "Tex" Avery directed some of MGM and Warner Bros.' best-loved shorts and co/created many iconic characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd Egghead, and Droopy while mutually influencing contemporaries like Tom and Jerry. Avery's work was known for its raucous energy and demolition of "the fourth wall", resulting in unpredictable and addictive six-minute powder kegs often aimed squarely at adult audiences. Although some of his Looney Tunes work is already on Blu-ray as part of the (hopefully returning) Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, Warner Archives' new Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1 is the first time he's gotten an HD release to himself. 19 uncut MGM Technicolor shorts are included here... and if this Blu-ray's name (and pre-order sales figures) are any indication, we'll get more soon.

Please note that, while these shorts are largely presented in chronological order within their respective categories, Warner Archive has opted for the "pick and choose" approach unlike their ongoing Popeye collections.

• "Red Hot Riding Hood" - While not Avery's first work for MGM (that honor goes to "Blitz Wolf", which we'll hopefully get on a future collection), this fractured fairly tale offers the best overall introduction to his brand of humor. It's also his most well-known, even outside of that meme, and for good reason: this short's breakneck pace and off-color characters are still a joy to watch, even if some of the slang has aged like milk.

• "Who Killed Who?" - This feverish haunted house murder mystery is a sly send-up of typical "Whodunit" stories and offers an outstanding mix of genuinely creepy visuals and absurd humor that just feels perfect. This might be the first Avery short I saw as a kid and the "endless falling bodies" gag left a pretty big impression on me. (Well, the whole thing did, even if I was too young to know who Red Skelton was at the time.)

• "What's Buzzin', Buzzard?" - A simple but infectiously funny tale of two turkey vultures -- one of whom sounds like Jimmy Durante -- who are starving in the desert. Hallucinations lead to cannibalism attempts, the likes of which wouldn't be seen again until A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. And how about that T-bone steak?

• "Batty Baseball" - Another of Avery's more accessible shorts, this madcap baseball game leads off with perhaps the best false start in cartoon history. Sure, the ending's sad, but everything up until that is a gas.

• "The Hick Chick" - Not one of the director's strongest efforts, this twisted love triangle features a dim-witted but lovable country rooster battling a city slicker for the hand of a fair farm maiden. Some of the names and catch-phrases indicate a more subtle (and appreciated) nod to the popularity of Red Skelton, but aside from a few clever sight gags there's not a whole lot of repeat value here. (I did like the twist, though.)

• "Bad Luck Blackie" - Sure, it plays like a re-purposed Tom and Jerry or Road Runner cartoon, but this back-and-forth battle between brutish Spike the Bulldog and a helpless li'l white kitten is just too much fun. It's basically got everything you love about ridiculously violent slapstick...including the kitchen sink.

• "Garden Gopher" - Another familiar-feeling but enjoyable short, this features more Spike the Bulldog as he battles a defensive gopher for control of a suburban backyard. Like a few other shorts in this collection, it's fully uncut and features a blackface gag that was cut out of television prints for several decades.

• "The Peachy Cobbler" - A return to more original fare, this starts out awfully dark but serves up a number of funny visual gags involving helpful elves who help out a sickly old shoe cobbler and his wife after he feeds them his last crust of bread. Lightweight but surprisingly heartwarming, though not without a little bite.

• "Symphony In Slang" - Perhaps the only Tex Avery short in this collection fit for preschoolers, this charming tale of a man's life story -- as told through an endless barrage of visual puns -- is, as far as I know, the only one sampled by Madvillain and MF DOOM. Remember kids, all caps when you spell the man name.

Screwy Squirrel

• "Screwball Squirrel" - Here lies the first appearance of this Avery-created character, who might be best described as a combination of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Much like "Red Hot Riding Hood" (released just one year earlier), it trades off innocent children's fare for something with a little more pepper.

• "The Screwy Truant" - Like the last cartoon, Screwy abuses a dog just for laffs and even finds time to break the fourth wall with a visual gag. Red and The Wolf also show up during this lightweight fishing adventure.

• "Big Heel-watha" - Probably the biggest "elephant in the room" short on this collection as far as un-PC content goes, but once again it's thankfully presented in uncut original format. Anyway, this Native American adventure follows the titular brave -- voiced by Bill "Droopy" Thompson -- as he tries to win the heart of lovely (?) Minnie Hot-Cha. Heel-watha attempts to catch a squirrel to prove his bravery, but that predictably doesn't go well.

• "Lonesome Lenny" - The last of the Screwy Squirrel shorts, this one finds our hero stuck in a pet shop until he's bought by a rich old bag -- their words, not mine -- to provide companionship for her dim-witted dog Lennie. Clearly inspired by the Of Mice and Men character (a Tex Avery trope that begin with his 1940 Warner Bros. short, "Of Fox and Hounds"), it's a predictable but entertaining romp that neatly wraps up this series.

George and Junior

• "Hound Hunters" - The second of four shorts featuring these Avery originals, this follows the anthropomorphic bears after they're hired as dog catchers. Their dynamic bears an even closer resemblance to Of Mice and Men (see above), which is probably why the series didn't last long. Worth a watch, but this one -- and its follow-up below, the third of four shorts starring the duo -- might be the least essential of the bunch.

• "Red Hot Rangers" - George and Junior, now serving as park rangers, battle a living flame as it threatens to start a forest fire. Not a particularly memorable short, but as usual the animation and designs are fluid and attractive.

Droopy

• "Dumb Hounded" - The first of eighteen Droopy shorts directed by Tex Avery before MGM closed their animation department in 1957, this serves as a good intro to the formulaic but largely enjoyable series. After a wolf named Killer escapes from prison (not sure what he was in for), he's hunted down by a pack of bloodhounds...and good ol' Droopy Poodle who, as usual, reminds us that slow and steady wins the race.

• "Wags To Riches" - My personal favorite of the included Droopy shorts, this one finds the returning Spike the Bulldog in a heated competition with Droopy to secure their millionaire owner's inheritance. This one was also remade as "Millionaire Droopy" in 1956 as the first of seven Cinemascope Droopy shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera, and the remake also doubles as the last Avery short featuring the character.

• "The Chump Champ" - The heated rivalry between Droopy and Spike (under the alias "Gorgeous Gorillawitz") continues in an anything-goes athletic competition. Plenty of solid sight gags and boatloads of creative cheating highlight what might otherwise be a pretty generic and episodic short.

• "Daredevil Droopy" - Yet another outing with Spike (which makes this set great for completists, even though it sacrifices variety in the process), this short finds them competing for a job at a travelling circus, which includes such trials as a test of strength, the flying trapeze, target shooting, the human cannonball, figure skating (um, OK?), and, uh, driving a car right through a brick wall. What the hell kind of circus is this?

All 19 shorts are presented on a dual-layered disc with room to breathe. They're organized exactly as listed above with handy "Play All" options for each category, although you can't skip backwards once a short is over.

Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As usual, Warner Archive Collection has treated these shorts with care that extends beyond presenting them in their original, uncut format. First of all, it's important to note that all of MGM's original Tex Avery nitrate negatives (as well as those for dozens of classic Tom and Jerry shorts, silent films, newsreels, and more) were destroyed in a vault fire decades ago -- just one of many that have claimed untold reels of that extremely fragile and flammable format. The good news is that, per usual, Warner Archive Collection has painstakingly assembled the best available surviving source materials and given them a fresh 4K scan with extensive manual cleanup. Although these varying source materials -- which include Technicolor separation masters, color reversal internegatives, and others -- might normally indicate a "pot luck" visual presentation, the resulting 1080p transfers look remarkably consistent from start to finish in the areas of color vibrancy, image detail, and black levels. The best-looking ones even rival those on the Popeye collections released by WAC last year, which were all sourced from their (thankfully surviving) nitrate negatives.

One visual variance between these shorts worth noting is film grain, which is more pronounced in some shorts than others; both George and Junior films, for example, are likewise smoother and softer in appearance. However, this is clearly not a result of excessive noise reduction or other digital filtering: as usual, WAC has employed a very light restorative touch, yielding results that purists should be happy with. Dirt and debris are, for the most part, completely absent while stray brush strokes and color discrepancies between frames (read: original mistakes) are left intact. All things considered, it's a an excellent presentation that easily beats all previous home video releases...and considering some of these never even made it to DVD, this is good news indeed for die-hard Avery enthusiasts.

But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words: feel free to peruse this review's 40 screenshots, which include approximately two images for each of the included 19 shorts. They provide a fair representation of this Blu-ray's overall image quality, but should by no means be a substitute for evaluating the disc with your own eyes.

Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track has been assembled from different source materials but sounds clean and crisp overall. (Going further, the optical audio tracks for some cartoons were actually chosen from multiple surviving options on a case-by-case basis.) Tex Avery shorts are no stranger to volume variances -- during which time dialogue and music cues push and pull against one other violently -- but both elements are completely intelligible throughout. Even at its highest levels, the one-channel audio rarely sounds clipped or strained within the boundaries of normal dynamic range. No obvious signs of hiss, distortion, or audio sync discrepancies were heard along the way.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during all 19 shorts and are formatted perfectly with no sync issues.

Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with no inserts. Although no bonus features have been included, the amount and type of content on this Blu-ray more than makes up for it.

Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

After the continued success of Warner Archives' ongoing Popeye collections, as well as the Jonny Quest and Jetsons complete series sets, it was only a matter of time before we got more vintage animation on Blu-ray. This Tex Avery collection is long overdue but absolutely worth the wait, serving up 19 classic shorts that showcase the celebrated director's uniquely infectious brand of humor. They look and sound great thanks to a careful 4K-sourced restoration job, which bodes well for future collections. Screwball Classics Volume 1 earns my highest possible recommendation for die-hard fans and curious newcomers alike -- even with half the content, this would be worth buying.