Woody Woodpecker & Friends
Golden Age Collection
Universal Pictures (1939-1966)
154 min. / Color / 1.33:1 / SDH
Universal Blu-ray $21.98
Available from Movie Zyng
Not to be confused with the previously-released Blu-ray Woody Woodpecker Screwball Collection, and if you like more of Woody, you’ll find it on that set, as this one contains more Walter Lantz non-Woody cartoons, which to me makes it superior.
As I tend to do whenever I review a release of classic theatrical cartoons, let me preface my comments by reminding you that I am not the “adult collector” that the packaging usually advises that these are intended for. I tend to enjoy the cartoons, show them to kids as part of our family get-together movie nights, and don’t worry about minor flaws in the presentations. There are a multitude of reviewers on the Internet who will complain or point out what they see as shortcomings, but while I treat these cartoons and their creators with respect, I simply don’t expect them, due to the volume and expense of restoration involved, to adhere to the same high standards that I expect from other short subjects or feature films. When there are obvious problems, I will tell you.
As with most collections of the sound era, we find the earlier cartoons (1930s-1940s) superior and more fun, and that is the case here, and they’re more colorful, too.
The set begins with eight Woody cartoons, the earliest from 1952 but most from the 1960s, and they’re uniformly the weakest in the set. Hang in there (although we don’t ever recommend binging these things) because with the ninth cartoon, Andy Panda Goes Fishing (1940), things really take off. Andy is a “cute” character as opposed to a funny one (Lantz’s answer to Warner’s Sniffles the Mouse, maybe) and his early cartoons tend to be quite colorful, maybe in contract to Andy by nature - he IS a panda bear - being a B&W character. This one features a delightful turtle called Mr. Whippletree but voiced in imitation of Eddie “Rochester” Anderson (there are celebrity imitations throughout these things; I wonder if Zsa Zsa Gabor was aware). After another Andy cartoon there’s, um, Pepito, a Mexican rooster that doesn’t want to be a fighting Mexican rooster, and we can’t really blame him. Pretty good cartoon, though.
We’ve got a pair of Chilly Willy cartoons next, although sadly neither of them are The Legend of Rockabye Point, which may be the funniest cartoon Lantz ever made. They’re both pretty good cartoons featuring a dog named Smedly.
The nadir of the disc comes next, cartoons feature “Maw and Paw,” inspired (to be kind) by the Universal Ma & Pa Kettle series with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride that was so popular in the 1950s. We’ve never liked these cartoons, and we’re reminded why. There are a pair of them here.
Next up are cartoons featuring minor characters who starred in a cartoon or two and then disappeared, including Homer Pigeon, Doc the Cat, and Sam & Maggie, and they’re not bad but based on these samples, it’s not difficult to see why they didn’t have long lifespans in the movies
With that, it’s on to our favorite section of the disc and the best cartoons since the Andy Pandas referenced above, a selection of one-shots and fairy tales that are delightful, at least one of which (The Sleeping Princess) we noticed is a 10-minute extended special. The Flying Turtle, Tom Thumb Jr, and The Mouse and the Lion are highlights of this section, which consists of 7 cartoons and brings our total to 25 in this sunny collection.
Ah, but there’s more! The Woody Woodpecker Show – a favorite of mine as a kid – gave us segments with Mr. Lantz explaining how cartoons are made, including art and sound, and several of those are included, and they’re as interesting as I remembered. The other two bonuses are a 1964 special Halloween cartoon created for Woody’s TV show, a catchy musical number entitled Spook-a-Nanny, and then there’s arguably the highlight of the entire set: Cartoonland Mysteries, a 1936 one-reeler (part of Universal’s Going Places series of live-action short subjects) that shows the Lantz team creating an Oswald the Rabbit baseball cartoon, which sadly isn’t among the inclusions here (in fact, no B&W cartoons are, darn it).
The cartoons are an eclectic lot with great sound and color and we found them fun to watch. If you enjoy classic theatrical cartoons, and since you’re here we know you do, add it to your collection. You won’t be sorry.
