I have heard the outcry from my readership: “Help! What DVDs should I buy? I don’t know what to spend my money on!” Well, things have been a bit busy over the last few weeks, and new DVD releases have been few and far between. However, I wanted to make sure that one release didn’t slip through the cracks:
If you have ever enjoyed a cartoon, you owe it to yourself to pick up Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume Two. This four-disc set contains 60 classic Warner Bros. cartoons, including two from the Chuck Jones Holy Trilogy, What’s Opera, Doc and One Froggy Evening. (The third, Duck Amuck, is on the first Looney Tunes Golden Collection. There has been endless debate over which of these three cartoons is the greatest of all time, but for my money, One Froggy Evening holds the title, with Duck Amuck a close second.) The collection of cartoons is truly astounding, with this second set shoring up some of the deficiencies of the first, most notably the lack of Road Runner cartoons. With numerous documentaries, commentaries, and music-only tracks, this set (and the previous one) will keep you entertained for days, if not years.
Of particular note is the restoration work done for each of these collections. Simply put, the image work is astounding. (One comparison is at the right, with several more below.) If you are used to watching these cartoons on network television, as many of us have for years, you may not realize how washed out and degraded the picture has become over the years. The difference between the faded originals and the newer versions is like night and day. Some of the original opening credits have also been restored, instead of the later “Blue Ribbon” titles that were used by Turner and others. In any case, you can get each set for $45 and change from Amazon, so make sure and pick them both up with your extra Christmas money.
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By the way, I hope you’ve been saving up your pennies, because next week’s DVD Tuesday update may break the bank. You have been warned….
