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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection

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Warner Bros.' library of Oscar-nominated cartoons were showcased in a DVD set released by Warner Home Video on February 12, 2008 that included their own Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, as well as Tom and Jerry, Droopy, and other classic MGM cartoons, together with entries from Max Fleischer's Popeye and Superman series (both originally released by Paramount Pictures). All cartoons selected for this release were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, with the exception of the film So Much for So Little, which won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. A total of 41 cartoons (completely uncut and unedited) were chosen for this set, 15 of them being Oscar winners.

Many of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts featured on this collection have also been released on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets, but this set includes a handful of others. The cartoons A Wild Hare and Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, which were previously reissued as Blue Ribbons, have their full original titles restored, the latter having its original titles first restored on the 1995 Turner print. The cartoon From A to Z-Z-Z-Z, previously released as a Blue Ribbon but retaining its full slate of credits, is shown here in its original format. All the Tom and Jerry shorts have been previously released on the Spotlight Collections, but most of them here are presented restored and remastered, previous copies, as for Mouse Trouble and Quiet Please!, being poor transfers of Turner broadcast TV prints. Three MGM cartoons, Touché, Pussy Cat!, Good Will to Men, and One Droopy Knight, are presented in their original Cinemascope aspect ratios.

To this day, this is Warner's only DVD release of classic animation to feature a variety of different cartoon studios. Warner has also released each of the discs separately.

Disc 1

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All 15 cartoons on this disc won Academy Awards

# Title Studio Star(s) Year Director(s)
1 The Milky Way MGM 1940 Rudolf Ising
2 The Yankee Doodle Mouse MGM Tom and Jerry 1943 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
3 Mouse Trouble MGM Tom and Jerry 1944 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
4 Quiet Please! MGM Tom and Jerry, Spike 1945 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
5 The Cat Concerto MGM Tom and Jerry 1947 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
6 Tweetie Pie Warner Bros. Sylvester, Tweety 1947 Friz Freleng
7 The Little Orphan MGM Tom and Jerry, Tuffy 1949 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
8 For Scent-imental Reasons Warner Bros. Pepé Le Pew, Penelope Pussycat 1949 Chuck Jones
9 So Much for So Little Warner Bros. 1949 Chuck Jones
10 The Two Mouseketeers MGM Tom and Jerry, Tuffy 1952 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
11 Johann Mouse MGM Tom and Jerry 1953 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
12 Speedy Gonzales Warner Bros. Speedy Gonzales
Sylvester
1955 Friz Freleng
13 Birds Anonymous Warner Bros. Sylvester, Tweety, Clarence Cat 1957 Friz Freleng
14 Knighty Knight Bugs Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny
Yosemite Sam
1958 Friz Freleng
15 The Dot and the Line MGM 1965 Chuck Jones
Maurice Noble (co-director)

Special Features

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Audio Bonuses

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  • Music-only tracks
    • Speedy Gonzales
    • The Dot and the Line
  • Audio Commentaries
    • Mark Kausler on Quiet Please!
    • Eric Goldberg on The Cat Concerto and The Dot and the Line
    • Greg Ford on For Scent-imental Reasons
    • Jerry Beck on So Much for So Little

Disc 2

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All 14 cartoons on this disc were nominated for Academy Awards, but did not win

# Title Studio Star(s) Year Director(s)
1 Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor Fleischer
Paramount
Popeye, Olive, Wimpy, Bluto 1936 Dave Fleischer
2 Peace on Earth MGM 1939 Hugh Harman
3 A Wild Hare* Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd 1940 Tex Avery
4 Puss Gets the Boot MGM Jasper, Jinx 1940 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
5 Superman Fleischer
Paramount
Superman, Lois 1941 Dave Fleischer
6 Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny, Hiawatha 1941 Friz Freleng
7 Rhapsody in Rivets Warner Bros. 1941 Friz Freleng
8 The Night Before Christmas MGM Tom and Jerry 1941 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
9 Blitz Wolf MGM 1942 Tex Avery
10 Pigs in a Polka Warner Bros. 1943 Friz Freleng
11 Swooner Crooner Warner Bros. Porky Pig 1944 Frank Tashlin
12 Walky Talky Hawky Warner Bros. Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Barnyard Dawg 1946 Robert McKimson
13 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse MGM Tom and Jerry 1947 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
14 Mouse Wreckers Warner Bros. Hubie and Bertie, Claude Cat, Hector the Bulldog 1949 Chuck Jones

(*): Original opening title card restored for this release, as the releases in The Golden Age of Looney Tunes and Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 borrowed the opening title card for A Gander at Mother Goose

Special Features

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Audio Bonuses

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  • Audio Commentaries
    • Jerry Beck, Leslie Cabarga, Ray Pointer and Bob Jacques on Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor
    • Greg Ford on Peace on Earth and A Wild Hare
    • Mark Kausler on Puss Gets the Boot
    • Paul Dini on Superman
    • Eric Goldberg on Blitz Wolf
    • Jerry Beck on Walky Talky Hawky

Disc 3

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All 12 cartoons on this disc were nominated for Academy Awards, but did not win

# Title Studio Star(s) Year Director(s)
1 Hatch Up Your Troubles MGM Tom and Jerry 1949 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
2 Jerry's Cousin MGM Tom and Jerry 1951 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
3 Little Johnny Jet MGM 1953 Tex Avery
4 Touché, Pussy Cat! MGM Tom and Jerry, Tuffy 1954 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
5 From A to Z-Z-Z-Z Warner Bros. Ralph Phillips 1954 Chuck Jones
6 Sandy Claws Warner Bros. Sylvester, Tweety, Granny 1955 Friz Freleng
7 Good Will to Men MGM 1955 William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
8 Tabasco Road Warner Bros. Speedy Gonzales 1957 Robert McKimson
9 One Droopy Knight MGM Droopy, Butch Bulldog 1957 Michael Lah
10 High Note Warner Bros. 1960 Chuck Jones
11 Nelly's Folly Warner Bros. 1961 Chuck Jones
Maurice Noble (co-director)
Abe Levitow (co-director)
12 Now Hear This Warner Bros. 1963 Chuck Jones
Maurice Noble (co-director)

Special Features

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Audio Bonuses

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  • Music-only tracks
    • Little Johnny Jet
    • Touché, Pussy Cat!
    • Tabasco Road
    • One Droopy Knight
  • Vocal Chorus section isolated audio track presented by Greg Ford
    • Good Will to Men
  • Audio Commentaries
    • Amid Amidi on From A to Z-Z-Z-Z and Now Hear This

Bonus Cartoon

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References

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Documentary

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  • Drawn for Glory: Animation's Triumph at the Oscars