DVD set released by Warner Home Video
Warner Bros.' library of Oscar-nominated cartoons were showcased in a DVD set released by Warner Home Video on February 12, 2008 that included their own Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, as well as Tom and Jerry, Droopy, and other classic MGM cartoons, together with entries from Max Fleischer's Popeye and Superman series (both originally released by Paramount Pictures). All cartoons selected for this release were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, with the exception of the film So Much for So Little, which won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. A total of 41 cartoons (completely uncut and unedited) were chosen for this set, 15 of them being Oscar winners.
Many of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts featured on this collection have also been released on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets, but this set includes a handful of others. The cartoons A Wild Hare and Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, which were previously reissued as Blue Ribbons, have their full original titles restored, the latter having its original titles first restored on the 1995 Turner print. The cartoon From A to Z-Z-Z-Z, previously released as a Blue Ribbon but retaining its full slate of credits, is shown here in its original format. All the Tom and Jerry shorts have been previously released on the Spotlight Collections, but most of them here are presented restored and remastered, previous copies, as for Mouse Trouble and Quiet Please!, being poor transfers of Turner broadcast TV prints. Three MGM cartoons, Touché, Pussy Cat!, Good Will to Men, and One Droopy Knight, are presented in their original Cinemascope aspect ratios.
To this day, this is Warner's only DVD release of classic animation to feature a variety of different cartoon studios. Warner has also released each of the discs separately.
Disc 1
All 15 cartoons on this disc won Academy Awards
Special Features
Audio Bonuses
- Music-only tracks
- Speedy Gonzales
- The Dot and the Line
- Audio Commentaries
- Mark Kausler on Quiet Please!
- Eric Goldberg on The Cat Concerto and The Dot and the Line
- Greg Ford on For Scent-imental Reasons
- Jerry Beck on So Much for So Little
Disc 2
All 14 cartoons on this disc were nominated for Academy Awards, but did not win
#
|
Title
|
Studio
|
Star(s)
|
Year
|
Director(s)
|
1
|
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor
|
Fleischer Paramount
|
Popeye, Olive, Wimpy, Bluto
|
1936
|
Dave Fleischer
|
2
|
Peace on Earth
|
MGM
|
|
1939
|
Hugh Harman
|
3
|
A Wild Hare*
|
Warner Bros.
|
Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd
|
1940
|
Tex Avery
|
4
|
Puss Gets the Boot
|
MGM
|
Jasper, Jinx
|
1940
|
William Hanna Joseph Barbera
|
5
|
Superman
|
Fleischer Paramount
|
Superman, Lois
|
1941
|
Dave Fleischer
|
6
|
Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt
|
Warner Bros.
|
Bugs Bunny, Hiawatha
|
1941
|
Friz Freleng
|
7
|
Rhapsody in Rivets
|
Warner Bros.
|
|
1941
|
Friz Freleng
|
8
|
The Night Before Christmas
|
MGM
|
Tom and Jerry
|
1941
|
William Hanna Joseph Barbera
|
9
|
Blitz Wolf
|
MGM
|
|
1942
|
Tex Avery
|
10
|
Pigs in a Polka
|
Warner Bros.
|
|
1943
|
Friz Freleng
|
11
|
Swooner Crooner
|
Warner Bros.
|
Porky Pig
|
1944
|
Frank Tashlin
|
12
|
Walky Talky Hawky
|
Warner Bros.
|
Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Barnyard Dawg
|
1946
|
Robert McKimson
|
13
|
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse
|
MGM
|
Tom and Jerry
|
1947
|
William Hanna Joseph Barbera
|
14
|
Mouse Wreckers
|
Warner Bros.
|
Hubie and Bertie, Claude Cat, Hector the Bulldog
|
1949
|
Chuck Jones
|
(*): Original opening title card restored for this release, as the releases in The Golden Age of Looney Tunes and Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 borrowed the opening title card for A Gander at Mother Goose
Special Features
Audio Bonuses
- Audio Commentaries
- Jerry Beck, Leslie Cabarga, Ray Pointer and Bob Jacques on Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor
- Greg Ford on Peace on Earth and A Wild Hare
- Mark Kausler on Puss Gets the Boot
- Paul Dini on Superman
- Eric Goldberg on Blitz Wolf
- Jerry Beck on Walky Talky Hawky
Disc 3
All 12 cartoons on this disc were nominated for Academy Awards, but did not win
Special Features
Audio Bonuses
- Music-only tracks
- Little Johnny Jet
- Touché, Pussy Cat!
- Tabasco Road
- One Droopy Knight
- Vocal Chorus section isolated audio track presented by Greg Ford
- Audio Commentaries
- Amid Amidi on From A to Z-Z-Z-Z and Now Hear This
Bonus Cartoon
References
Documentary
- Drawn for Glory: Animation's Triumph at the Oscars