All Bugs Review and Duck Amuck

Sure, the great Warner "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons are the product of pen and ink, or actually the whimsical brainwork of directors Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Robert McKimson, voice master Mel Blanc, and -- at their very best -- music director Carl Stalling. But I prefer to think of them as another example of the ensemble comedies that Hollywood made during its Golden Age. Or at least the equivalent of the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Road pictures. Think of Bugs as the cool-tempered Bing and Daffy, his wise-quacking co-star, as Bob and it starts to make sense. Maybe. And though the jokes seem a little Borscht Belt at times, there's a charm to the characters and twisted tales that is always winning.

So for a couple of hours of uncomplicated pleasure, a sweet rush of Saturday-morning cartoon nostalgia, it's hard to beat these two compilations of classic Warner's ensemble mini-flicks. The first, for diehard fans of the Bunny, is the All Bugs Revue, in which the carrot eater with the Brooklyn brogue takes front-and-center for a dozen titles, including a clever parody of The Barber of Seville ("Rabbit of Seville"), the Middle Eastern hoot "Ali Baba Bunny," and the classic Bugs 'n' Daffy romp "Duck Rabbit Duck."

But to enjoy the wealth of characters who came from the Warners' critter compound, catch Duck Amuck. On Valentine's Day, the Brattle adds the typical Pepé LePew romance "For Scent-imental Reasons" as an opener. Otherwise Porky Pig's 1930s black-and-white "Porky in Wackyland" kicks off, and it's the kind of mix of music and sprawling Dr. Seuss-like fantasy that spellbound audiences in the first decade of the talkies. In particular, Stalling's score is a marvel, rolling through jazz, pop, and classicism as Porky tumbles frame-to-frame in search of the last of the dodo birds. And though TV's cartoon-rich Nickelodeon network may seem like trailblazers, a beastie who's a dead ringer for the Nick's recent unveiling, Cat-Dog, makes its first appearance here.

Then there's "Beanstalk Bunny," with the ensemble -- Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer Fudd as the Giant -- in top form, parodying a fairy tale that's been fodder for every inky franchise from Disney to Ren & Stimpy. Another character from the modern TV screen, the WB Network frog, sings, dances, and -- of course -- croaks his way through "One Froggy Evening," a perversely dark-hearted feature that's more like a Twilight Zone episode than just about anything else in the studio's cartoon canon.

Sylvester has a supporting role in "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," joining Porky as the masked Daffy's foil. And the Tasmanian Devil breaks loose with a mighty hunger for a rabbit sandwich in "Bill of Hare." There's also Marvin Martian, thwarted in destroying Earth by Bugs in "Hareway to the Stars" and exchanging ray-gun fire with Daffy in "Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2th Century." Toss in the hairy Valentine-heart-shaped monster Gossamer and a Karloff-like mad scientist (in "Water Water Every Hare") and the program adds up to one of the greatest assemblages of American comedic talent -- and nobody has to figure their residuals.

-- Ted Drozdowski