Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 1 (Blu-ray Review)

Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
Review Date: Jun 17, 2025
Format: Blu-ray Disc

Director

Various

Release Date(s)

1934-1963 (June 17, 2025)

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. (Warner Archive Collection)

Film/Program Grade: A
Video Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B
Extras Grade: F

Review

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies need little to no introduction. Mainstays of our collective childhoods (and adulthoods) for decades since they first premiered theatrically, and in regular rotation on television ever since, these well-crafted slices of animated comedy goodness continue to reign supreme as some of the greatest cartoon slapstick ever produced. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, Sylvester and Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, and many others have fully embedded themselves in our popular culture, and more cartoons, films, and merchandise continue to be made starring these characters.

We need not delve into the history of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies as we’ve already covered them in great detail in the past, especially in the review for the Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice – Vol. 1-4 Blu-ray release, which collected together all four volumes of the line up to that point. Since the folks at the Warner Archive Collection were adamant that those Collector’s Choice releases only ever feature cartoons that had never been released on home video before, it meant that the cartoons that were previously released on DVD were being neglected. The solution was to have the best of both worlds and create a new line of titles, starting with Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 1.

The most important aspect of what these Blu-ray releases represent is a diversity in content. Each draws from every decade, from the most minor of shorts to the most popular, giving viewers a range of entertainment for their money and perhaps highlighting little seen or little known films that might otherwise not have the same kind of spotlight. The Blu-ray’s rear and disc cover art continues to remind us that these shorts are “intended for the Adult Collector and May Not Be Suitable for Children.” This is important because it tells us that we’re getting these films as originally intended when they ran theatrically, preserving them as they should be preserved.

The Warner Archive Collection release of Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 1 offers fifty animated shorts (presented alphabetically) on two Region-Free dual-layered BD-50 Blu-ray discs in 1080p, retaining their original theatrical aspect ratios of 1.37:1. While Disc One represents shorts never before released on home video, Disc Two represents shorts never before released on Blu-ray. The following are included on each disc (take note that for Disc Two, we’ve acknowledged which DVD releases each short was originally included on):

DISC ONE

Bars and Stripes Forever – Merrie Melodies (1939, Ben Hardaway & Cal Dalton – 7:42)
(Original Titles)
Beauty and the Beast – Merrie Melodies (1934, Friz Freleng – 7:37)
(Original Titles)
A Day at the Zoo – Merrie Melodies (1939, Tex Avery – 7:05)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
The Dixie Fryer – Merrie Melodies (1960, Robert McKimson – 6:13)
(Original Titles)
Double or Mutton – Looney Tunes (1955, Chuck Jones – 6:38)
(Original Titles)
Each Dawn I Crow – Merrie Melodies (1949, Friz Freleng – 7:59)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Easy Peckin’s – Merrie Melodies (1953, Robert McKimson – 6:27)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Feather Dusted – Merrie Melodies (1955, Robert McKimson – 6:45)
(Original Titles)
A Fox in a Fix – Merrie Melodies (1951, Robert McKimson – 7:06)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Good Night Elmer – Merrie Melodies (1940, Chuck Jones – 6:32)
(Original Titles)
The Goofy Gophers – Merrie Melodies (1955, Bob Clampett & Arthur Davis – 7:12)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
I’d Love to Take Orders from You – Merrie Melodies (1936, Tex Avery – 7:53)
(Original Titles)
A Kiddies Kitty – Merrie Melodies (1955, Friz Freleng – 7:01)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Let It Be Me – Merrie Melodies (1936, Friz Freleng – 7:51)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Of Fox and Hounds – Merrie Melodies (1940, Tex Avery – 9:20)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Quackodile Tears – Merrie Melodies (1962, Arthur Davis – 6:02)
(Original Titles)
Ready, Woolen and Able – Merrie Melodies (1960, Chuck Jones – 6:07)
(Original Titles)
Robin Hood Makes Good – Merrie Melodies (1939, Chuck Jones – 7:45)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
The Squawkin’ Hawk – Merrie Melodies (1942, Chuck Jones – 6:36)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Terrier-Stricken – Merrie Melodies (1952, Chuck Jones – 6:51)
(Original Titles)
Tweet and Lovely – Merrie Melodies (1959, Friz Freleng – 6:31)
(Original Titles)
Tweety’s Circus – Merrie Melodies (1955, Friz Freleng – 7:05)
(Original Titles)
Two’s a Crowd – Looney Tunes (1950, Chuck Jones – 6:54)
(Original Titles)
Wild About Hurry – Merrie Melodies (1959, Chuck Jones – 6:52)
(Original Titles)
Zip ’n Snort – Merrie Melodies (1961, Chuck Jones – 5:54)
(Original Titles)

DISC TWO

Ain’t She Tweet – Looney Tunes (1952, Friz Freleng – 7:08)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Banty Raids – Merrie Melodies (1963, Robert McKimson – 6:18)
(Original Titles)
Birth of a Notion – Looney Tunes (1947, Bob Clampett & Robert McKimson – 7:02)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Bye, Bye Bluebeard – Merrie Melodies (1949, Arthur Davis – 7:11)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Cat-Tails for Two – Merrie Melodies (1953, Robert McKimson – 6:39)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles with Crew Credits)
Daffy Dilly – Merrie Melodies (1948, Chuck Jones – 7:06)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Daffy Duck & Egghead – Merrie Melodies (1938, Tex Avery – 7:34)
(Original Titles)
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z – Looney Tunes (1956, Chuck Jones – 6:34)
(Original Titles)
Gonzales’ Tamales – Looney Tunes (1957, Friz Freleng – 6:19)
(Original Titles)
Hare Conditioned – Looney Tunes (1945, Chuck Jones – 7:13)
(Original Titles)
Hare Trigger – Merrie Melodies (1945, Friz Freleng – 7:53)
(Original Titles)
Hare Trimmed – Merrie Melodies (1953, Friz Freleng – 6:54)
(Original Titles)
Horton Hatches the Egg – Merrie Melodies (1942, Bob Clampett – 9:48)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Little Boy Boo – Looney Tunes (1954, Robert McKimson – 6:41)
(Original Titles)
Much Ado About Nutting – Merrie Melodies (1953, Chuck Jones – 6:50)
(Original Titles)
Odor-able Kitty – Looney Tunes (1945, Chuck Jones – 7:15)
(“Blue Ribbon” Re-Release Titles)
Past Perfumance – Merrie Melodies (1955, Chuck Jones – 6:59)
(Original Titles)
Porky’s Duck Hunt – Looney Tunes (1937, Tex Avery – 8:48)
(Original Titles)
Rabbit Punch – Merrie Melodies (1948, Chuck Jones – 7:41)
(Original Titles)
Red Riding Hoodwinked – Looney Tunes (1955, Friz Freleng – 6:56)
(Original Titles)
Rhapsody Rabbit – Merrie Melodies (1946, Friz Freleng – 7:36)
(Original Titles)
Snow Business – Looney Tunes (1953, Friz Freleng – 7:04)
(Original Titles)
Tom Turk and Daffy – Looney Tunes (1944, Chuck Jones – 7:16)
(Original Titles)
Two Crows from Tacos – Merrie Melodies (1956, Friz Freleng – 7:10)
(Original Titles)
Zoom and Bored – Merrie Melodies (1957, Chuck Jones – 6:16)
(Original Titles)

The biggest advantage in presenting these films in alphabetical order is the variety, forcing viewers to sit through cartoons that they might not otherwise have chosen if they had been more vigorously curated. However, there are also some disadvantages. If you’re watching these all in a row, Terrier-Stricken comes before Two’s a Crowd, and it really should be the other way around since Claude the Cat and Frisky Dog actually meet for the first time in Two’s a Crowd. If you’re not already familiar with these characters, this can be briefly confusing.

As for the quality, many of the shorts included on Disc One have been newly-scanned in 4K from their original nitrate camera negatives. Otherwise, the rest were restored prior by other Warner Bros. entities in varying periods, though Warner Archive is able to make minor corrections that the teams who restored those prior shorts might have overlooked. Unfortunately, not all of the opening and closing titles missing from their respective shorts could be re-instated, and it’s worth noting that Birth of a Notion and Porky’s Duck Hunt both feature windowboxed closing credits.

Without a doubt, these are more vibrant and detailed than ever before with bitrates primarily running between 25 and 40Mbps. They’re not completely uniform as some were taken from older HD masters, but none of them are in poor shape either. For example, Zip ‘n Snort looks fresh and crisp with refined detail, whereas Terrier-Stricken is soft and lacking the sharpness of a new scan, and is clearly one of the oldest masters included on this release. However, each short’s original color palettes are maintained throughout with crisper linework and greater contrast with deep blacks. Even the Cinecolor shorts pop in a way that they haven’t previously. Minor cel dirt and debris is present, sometimes in older scans more so than new ones, and grain is sometimes a tad absent as mild noise reduction has been applied. Some shorts are cleaner-looking than others, as well, but nothing has been done to truly compromise the integrity of the original artwork. They could somtimes appear more natural than they do, but they certainly don’t appear glossy or inorganic, and they’re a major step up from their standard definition counterparts.

Audio is presented in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. Not all of these tracks are created equal as there are obvious differences from ‘toon to ‘toon, mostly in terms of treble, hiss, and some mild crackle. There’s also an occasional dropout here or there, but everything is given good support otherwise.

Unfortunately, the following bonus materials from DVD volumes of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection haven’t been carried over:

Audio Commentary for Ain’t She Tweet by Filmmaker Greg Ford
Audio Commentary for Birth of a Notion by Animator Mark Kausler
Music & Effects Track and Audio Commentary for Cat-Tails for Two by Actor Stan Freberg and Historian Jerry Beck
Music Only Track for Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z
Music Only Track and Audio Commentary for Gonzales’ Tamales by Historian Jerry Beck and Animator Art Leonardi
Audio Commentary for Hare Trigger by Filmmaker Greg Ford
Audio Commentary for Odor-able Kitty by Historian Michael Barrier
Music Only Track and Audio Commentary for Red Riding Hoodwinked by Filmmaker Greg Ford and Director Friz Freleng
Audio Commentary for Rhapsody Rabbit by Cartoon Music Historian Daniel Goldmark
Music Only Track for Zoom and Bored

That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface in terms of the many featurettes and other extras included on those releases, most of which were generally about the filmmakers behind the cartoons. In other words, if you have any of the Golden Collection, Super Stars, or Essential DVD releases, you may want to hang on to those a little longer. Many will be likely be unhappy about that, but the point of Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 1 is getting the best quality and the most content for your money. The visual upgrades outweigh the lack of bonus materials, and you can still pick up those DVD releases as they’re not that hard to come by. In other words, Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 1 is highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons

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