Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1

Reviewed By Jason Lockard

During the Golden Era of Hollywood, a genius emerged and brought us some of the most iconic and legendary cartoons of all time. That man was Tex Avery. For generations that would follow, children would be raised on the antics of Tex Avery's characters.

Sadly somewhere along the way these cartoons were considered too violent or too risqué for children. I guess parents thought if kids saw these cartoons they would turn into juvenile delinquents. Well, many children were brought upon them and the majority of children turned out to be good citizens. But I'm not getting on a soapbox here.

Warner Archive has been rescuing classic movies and TV, restoring them and giving them the home video release they so richly deserve. The next Blu-ray release we are covering here is the Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1. Let's take a look at what is included in this Blu-ray.

Our Rating System:
****=Don’t Miss it!
***=Worth a look.
**=An Ok way to spend some time.
*=You haven’t missed anything.

TEX AVERY CLASSICS

• Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) The characters of the traditional fairy tale demand a new approach to the story as a sexy urban comedy with Red as a nightclub singer. ****
• Who Killed Who? (1943) A man is murdered, and the detective tries to find out whodunit. But the house is haunted. ***
• What’s Buzzin’ Buzzard? (1943) Two buzzards decide instead of dying of starvation it's better to eat the other. ***
• Batty Baseball (1944) Members of the Yankee Doodlers and the Draft Dodgers baseball teams face off at W.C. Field in off the wall baseball antics. ***
• The Hick Chick (1946) A country chicken chooses between a two suitors a country rooster and a city rooster. ***
• Bad Luck Blackie (1949) A black cat with the ability to bestow bad luck protects a small kitten from a mean-spirited bulldog. ***
• Garden Gopher (1950) When Spike tries to bury a bone he finds a belligerent gopher. ***
• The Peachy Cobbler (1950) A poor cobbler who gave his last piece of bread to hungry snowbirds gets some much-needed assistance from shoemaking elves. ***
• Symphony in Slang (1951) At the gates of Heaven, the admitting officials have a hard time understanding a newcomer's life story with all his contemporary slang. ***

SCREWY SQUIRREL

• Screwball Squirrel (1944) A screwy squirrel provokes a pedigreed birddog to chase him. ***
• The Screwy Truant (1945) Screwy Squirrel decides to go fishing instead of school and the truant officer tries to find out why. ***
• Big Heel-Watha (1944) A Native American hunter tries to win the hand of the chief's daughter by capturing an animal for his hungry tribe, but Screwy Squirrel proves to be a formidable opponent. ***
• Lonesome Lenny (1946) Screwy Squirrel tries to escape from the clutches of a dim-witted, muscle-bound mutt whose incredible strength led to the demise of an earlier playmate. ***

GEORGE & JUNIOR

• Hound Hunters (1947) George and Junior get a job as dog catchers and spend the picture trying to catch one measly little dog. ***
• Red Hot Rangers (1947) Forest rangers George and Junior try to put out a small fire with a mind of its own. ***

DROOPY

• Dumb-Hounded (1943) A wolf on the run from authorities cannot seem to elude the lethargic police hound on his trail in this first cartoon appearance of Droopy. ****
• Wags to Riches (1949) A millionaire leaves his fortune to Droopy, but there's a stipulation stating that if Droopy dies, Spike gets everything. ****
• The Chump Champ (1950) Droopy takes part in an athletic competition where his main competitor, Spike, cheats in every event. ***
• Daredevil Droopy (1951) Droopy and Spike compete in juggling, weightlifting, sharpshooting, acrobatics and other feats of derring-do when a circus puts out the call for new performers. ***

Now first off these cartoons are uncensored and uncut. They are from a different era as we all know. And Warner Archive realizes this as well. So when you put the blu-ray in we get this disclaimer:

“Some of the cartoons you are about to see are a product of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros.’ view of today’s society, some of these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.”

The stereotypes are very bad. But I always feel that, "those would don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I am glad we have these uncensored cartoons. It can open conversations as to why certain stereotypes are bad. It is a good learning tool. 

I have to say that this is an amazing collection of cartoons! I truly love that Warner Archive gave us a sampling of different characters here as well. I love the addition of Droopy cartoons, one of my favorites. But there is so much fun in every one of these cartoons.

As for the Blu-ray release each of these cartoons, were scanned from archival film elements in 4K and carefully restored. The picture is in 1080p HD in their original full screen 1.37:1 theatrical aspect ratio. There is no stretching of the picture here to make it wide screen, thankfully. There is the original English soundtracks are available in 2.0 DTS-HA Master Audio.

I have watched these cartoons on TV numerous times and as I examined these restorations, I was brought to the conclusion that I have never seen these cartoons looked better. The quality is sharp and colors are bright and make your eyes pop out. And the audio is crystal clear. This is a stellar restoration. A cool bonus feature is English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. 

The Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1 Blu-ray is one amazing release. I am so impressed with the restoration. I think any classic cartoon fan or any cartoon fan for that matter will be thrilled with this Blu-ray! I just hope and pray as this is Volume 1 that a Volume 2 Blu-ray release is not too far behind. I can not wait for more.

If you would like to get your hands on this Blu-ray you can head over to WBShop.com or Amazon.com and get your copy before they are all gone.



Offensive Material: Racial stereotypes, violence, sexual innuendos
Audiences: Families
Genre: Comedy, Cartoon
Length: 138 Minutes
Blu-Ray Value Rating: A+