When Warner Bros. Discovery pulled its catalog of original “Looney Tunes” cartoons from Max on March 16 in a reported effort to make the streaming service more “adult,” cinephiles were understandably upset. By removing all of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts that were produced between 1930 and 1969, Warners made hundreds of the funniest and most influential cartoons in the history of animation — the work of masters like Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Frank Tashlin — vanish from streaming in an instant.
Yet the Looney Tunes classics are still available and hiding in plain sight, thanks to Warner Archive, a boutique physical media label nestled inside Warner Bros. that has been quietly preserving, restoring, and celebrating the studio’s artistic legacy for over 16 years.
A few months ago, Warner Archive released the 4-disc, 642-minute “Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice – Vol. 1-4” collection on Blu-ray, and it’s only the latest example of the label’s ongoing efforts to make treasures from its library available in the most pristine transfers possible.
Though Warner Bros. (deservedly) gets a lot of grief for actions like yanking the Looney Tunes shorts off of their streaming platform, the fact is that thanks to Warner Archive and its overseer, film historian George Feltenstein, the studio is actually one of the best of the majors when it comes to honoring and protecting its heritage. Warner Archive is dedicated to physical media releases aimed at the serious collector that include not only animation, but important live-action features both known (Alfred Hitchcock’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith“) and unjustly forgotten (the blaxploitation classic “Hit Man”), classic television series (“Cheyenne”), and previously hard-to-find TV movies (the sci-fi treasure “Earth II”).
What makes Warner Archive special isn’t just the abundance of titles, but the care taken in their presentation. The “Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice” package and the other animation collections the label has produced are cases in point: Feltenstein and his staff have meticulously restored the cartoons to their original vibrancy to make them look and sound the best they have since their initial theatrical releases. Not only have the archivists taken the restorative steps of manually removing any dirt, specks, or detritus from the source material, they’ve gone to the extra effort of making sure things like the original title sequences vs. reissue title sequences are used — and in the case of television cartoons like those from the Hanna-Barbera library, they’ve restored the original bumpers and sponsor mentions that were in the original broadcasts, unearthing extra pieces that had been out of sight for years.
The “Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice” set not only showcases its nearly 100 cartoons with vivid color and crisp audio, it gives the animation fan the chance to see many shorts that haven’t been seen in pristine shape in decades. Working with other esteemed film historians like animation expert Jerry Beck, Feltenstein has curated new restorations of fan favorites like “Mexican Joyride” (with Daffy Duck), “Beanstalk Bunny” (a Chuck Jones gem with Bugs and giant sized Elmer), and “Along Came Daffy” (the only time Yosemite Sam tangled with Daffy Duck), all of which are funnier and more beautiful than ever, thanks to the rigorous technical work.
The label’s mission when it comes to cartoon expands well beyond Looney Tunes — their recent “Tom and Jerry: The Complete CinemaScope Collection” was a revelation for those of us who grew up watching the included shorts in the wrong aspect ratio on television — but there’s no doubt that the DVDs and Blu-rays devoted to the studio’s own crown jewel are something special. Feltenstein just announced yet another new Looney Tunes release, “Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault,” which will contain 50 more fully restored cartoons — half of which have never been released in any kind of remastered form, and none of which have ever been available on Blu-ray.
The label’s upcoming live-action releases include a collection of rare Monogram Westerns, the Joan Crawford vehicle “Sadie McKee,” and a remastered edition of the silent classic “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Getting these films, many of which have negative damage from years of neglect, into the shape Feltenstein and his colleagues (and the fans) deem acceptable is a time-consuming and costly process, so if we’re going to take Warners to task for actions like the Max Looney Tunes erasure we have to give credit where credit is due and laud them for their heroic efforts in the world of physical media.
It turns out that getting access to hundreds of classic Looney Tunes shorts isn’t a problem after all — all you need is a Blu-ray player.
