The Compleat Tex Avery [ML102681]

1993 / MGM/UA Home Video CLV (Extended Play) Laser Disc / Color / 540 minutes (Approximately 9 Hours) / Digital Sound

A box set of Tex Avery’s complete output of theatrical cartoon shorts for the MGM studios, from 1942 to 1956. (Millionaire Droopy and Cat’s Meow are actually CinemaScope remakes of Wags to Riches and The Ventriloquist Cat, made after Avery departed MGM studios.) Presented in the academy ration of 1.33:1 (except Millionaire Droopy and Cat’s Meow, which are letterboxed), and spread out over 5 discs, these are some of the funniest cartoons in history. My personal favorites are Bad Luck Blackie, The Cat That Hated People, King Size Canary, Little Rural Riding Hood, Lucky Ducky, Magical Maestro, Red Hot Riding Hood, and Wags to Riches. The weaker entries are the "spot-gag" type cartoons such as The (House, Car, Farm) of Tomorrow, Batty Baseball, Field and Scream, etc. They feel like "cheaters", but thankfully are few and far between. The cartoons are presented in chronological order, and one can see Avery’s timing get sharper, and the animation more exaggerated, as the years roll on. In his first few cartoons the timing is a bit pokey -- it still has that residual plodding feel when Hugh Harmon and Rudy Ising ran the studio. The cartoons also have lush visuals, thanks to MGMs larger budgets. By the ‘50s, the designs get more stylized and the lushness fades.

After Avery left Warner Bros. (where he set up the raucous type of humor Looney Tunes became famous for; helped make Porky Pig a star; created Daffy Duck; and defined the personality of Bugs Bunny) he moved to MGM where he made cartoons that were less character driven and more gag oriented, often featuring surrealistic and self referential jokes. Avery did try creating new characters for MGM, Droopy being his most successful attempt, but many of them were dropped after only a handful of cartoons -- Screwy Squirrel (crazier than Daffy, but not as likable), and George and Junior (one of the many times Avery referenced Of Mice and Men), for instance. Two of my favorite characters from these cartoons are Spike, a bulldog that was Droopy’s adversary in many cartoons, and a nameless laconic southern wolf voiced by Daws Butler. It’s obvious that Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera based Huckleberry Hound on the latter character.

However, the set isn’t really “compleat”! Two cartoons are edited -- “black face” gags are missing form Garden Gopher and Droopy’s Good Deed. Since other racial and politically incorrect jokes are included in other cartoons I’d say this was an oversight, rather than deliberate censorship, on the part of Turner or MGM/UA. Most likely edited TV prints were used.

Image Quality: The prints used are in decent shape (only Uncle Tom’s Cabana looked somewhat faded and dull). Noticeable print damage, such as scratches, occur mostly near the very beginning or end of the reel; colors look fine; and it appeared to me as though the cartoons were free of meddlesome DVNR. There have been a handful of Avery’s MGM cartoons on DVD, and in comparison the DVDs look better -- tighter detail, more balanced color, etc. However, Tex Avery’s Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection DVD set had several cartoons ruined by heavy use of DVNR, while some of the non Droopy cartoons are scattered about on various DVDs. (Blitz Wolf appears in Warner Bros. Academy Award Animation DVD: Disc Two, Who Killed Who is an extra on Presenting Lily Mars, for instance.)

You can see some frame grabs of the LD box set at this site: http://atlas.kennesaw.edu/~dhirschl/texavery/

Sound Quality: The cartoons are presented digitally over stereo speakers, but it’s really a mono track. Dialog, music and effects sound fine. Nothing really outstanding, but nothing bad either. Simply an honest representation of the source material.

Final Thoughts: Is this set worth purchasing? I’d say it's a bargain (despite the two edited cartoons)! Very little of Tex Avery’s work has trickled onto DVD. (How many MGM classical movies would you have to buy in order to get a handful of Avery's cartoons as extras?) Who knows how long it will be before a complete set ever appears on DVD or Blu-ray? (And since the original negatives were lost in a fire decades ago how will they remaster them?) You also get some nice cover art on the box (better than what Warner home video is releasing these days on DVD and Blu-ray). There are no extras present, but for the price you sure do get a lot of great cartoons!

I forgot to mention: some of the cartoons that were made in the early 1940s are presented here instead with reissue prints from the post war years, when MGM had certain wartime references and gags removed by re-animating them with new footage. Thus, cartoons like The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945) is missing the gag where the wolf offers Red Hot Riding Hood some rare cartons of cigarettes (instead it's been replace by a diamond necklace). They also replaced original title cards with newer ones. Since the original negatives were destroyed in a fire decades ago, only the reissue prints were available for these VHS, LD and DVD releases .

Scroll down this website to see the changes made to The Shooting of Dan McGoo: http://www.cartoonresearch.com/mgm.html

I was so glad to find this box set for a reasonable price a year ago. Been trying to get this one for years!

The Droopy shorts were finally put to DVD a few years back: Tex Avery's Droopy - The Complete Theatrical Collection

But that's only a fraction of the titles on this box!

Four cartoons from that DVD set are affected by DVNR: "From Wags to Riches," "Daredevil Droopy," "Droopy's Good Deed," and "The Three Little Pups".

The complete set has been released on a 5 DVD box set recently (same series as the Tom & Jerry),
can not comment on the DVD quality (I own the LD box, but see no reason why I should buy the DVD set)

I've only known that the Compleat Tex Avery to be released on DVD in France, even so I've read that that still does not have all the shorts featured on the LD box.

It includes 63 short movies, but no certainty if they are the same cut

Yes, there is a DVD box set in France of Tex Avery's MGM cartoons. Obviously, living in the USA, I have a region 1 bias so I forgot about that set. If those in region 1 areas have region free players then there is no problem.

From what I've heard about the French DVD: the cartoon Blitz Wolf is censored! The cartoon removes any mention of the Japanese, including 12 seconds of animation at the end of Japan getting bombed. You can see images at this forum: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/155818/tex-avery-box-set/60#post_2954679 Other cartoons that have been edited: Daredevil Droopy, Droopy's Good Dead, Happy-Go-Nutty, Henpecked Hobos, Garden Gopher, and Lucky Ducky.

A few cartoons are missing: Uncle Tom's Cabana, Half Pint Pygmy, and Cat's Meow.

The prints are unrestored but look good according to a few reviews I've read. They probably used available TV prints, hence the edited content.

It's been announced that "a selection of Tex Avery's best cartoons from MGM" will be included on the future Looney Tunes Platinum Collection 2 Blu-ray set, as bonus cartoons on disc 3. I don't know if they'll be restored versions or not, but seeing at they're "bonus cartoons" I doubt WB will put the effort into restoring these cartoons (which would be hard since the negatives are gone).

http://www.amazon.com/Looney-Tunes-Platinum-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B008VPCL6M