Larry Jackson gathered nine shorts from Looney Tunes 1940’s heyday. Between the shorts, he included interviews with the creators of the Looney Tunes. Legendary director Bob Clampett, responsible for the seminal “Porky in Wackyland” (1938), handles hosting duties as he and his fellow animators—including Tex Avery and Friz Freleng—discusses the shorts and how they were created. Unfortunately, the great Chuck Jones isn’t interviewed, which leaves a real hole in Termite Terrace history.
Long since destroyed, Clampett shares footage of “Termite Terrace,” the nickname for the rickety building where Warner Bros. animation of the 1940’s was created. There’s some fun footage of the animators “pre-visualizing” their characters actions before drawing them. Clampett describes how they came up with the idea for the carrot Bugs is always chewing on (it was inspired by scene Clark Gable did in It Happened One Night) A word of warning: while Clampett does impart a lot of interesting and useful information, Clampett addresses the audience as though he’s talking to five-year-olds. I suppose this isn’t much of a surprise since he spent his life around cartoons, but some adults could find it annoying.
Though Clampett suffers a bit as an onscreen personality, the real stars of Bugs Bunny Superstar are the shorts. All from prior to 1948, they are shown in their entirety. All of these shorts have appeared on various DVD collections through the years, but it’s wonderful to have them here. Show between the interviews with animators, they give you an immediate example of what each man is talking about.
The cartoons presented in this film are:
What’s Cookin’ Doc? (1944)
A Wild Hare (1940)
A Corny Concerto (1943)
I Taw a Putty Tat (1948)
Rhapsody Rabbit (1946)
Walky Talky Hawky (1946)
My Favorite Duck (1942)
Hair-Raising Hare (1946)
The Old Grey Hare (1944)
Originally released on DVD in the Looney Tunes Gold Collection Volume Four, Warner has now made Bugs Bunny Superstar available as a standalone release through the Warner Archive Collection. Oddly, on the Looney Tunes Gold Collection Volume Four, this film is split over two discs, which always struck me as strange. It’s nice to have it on one piece of media.
The Dolby 1.0 Mono track is adequate, though there is some occasional choppiness in the dialogue.
The full frame image hasn’t been restored, but it looks pretty good. The colors, especially during the shorts, look remarkably vivid. There are specs of dirt here and there, but nothing distracting.
This release includes an Audio Commentary with Director Larry Jackson that is worth a listen. Jackson discusses how the idea for the film came to be, and how Bob Clampett demanded he be given the hosting duties, in exchange for the use of his vast memorabilia collection, etc.
