At long last, TEX AVERY'S DROOPY THE COMPLETE THEATRICAL COLLECTION (Warner Home Video, $26.99) arrives on DVD May 15, 2007. The two-disc set features 24 re-mastered and unedited animated shorts highlighted by the Academy Award nominated animated short ONE DROOPY KNIGHT.
Avery created Droopy Dog (voiced by Bill Thompson), a low-key animated movie character at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This mournful deadpan witty basset hound detective, who spoke in a jowly monotone voice, was shrewd enough to outwit his enemies: the conniving Butch the Irish bulldog and the thieving, Nasty Wolf and English Fox.
Droopy lulls the bad guys into a false sense of security by acting slow and dumb when in actual fact he is a genius. The shrewd Droopy always outwits his enemies. He first appeared in 1943's DUMB HOUNDED but got his proper name in the second outing, THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGOO.
Also included in the set are:
* DUMB-HOUNDED* THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGOO* WILD AND WOOLFY* NORTHWEST HOUNDED POLICE* SENOR DROOPY* WAGS TO RICHES* OUT-FOXED* THE CHUMP CHAMP* DAREDEVIL DROOPY* DROOPY'S GOOD DEED* DROOPY'S DOUBLE TROUBLE* CABALLERO DROOPY* THE THREE LITTLE PUPS* DRAG-A-LONG DROOPY* HOMESTEADER DROOPY* DIXIELAND DROOPY* DEPUTY DROOPY
In addition, there are the following seven animated CinemaScope shorts that are 16x9 enhanced:
* MILLIONAIRE DROOPY * GRIN AND SHARE IT * BLACKBOARD JUMBLE * ONE DROOPY KNIGHT * SHEEP WRECKED * MUTTS ABOUT RACING * DROOPY LEPRECHAUN
Special features include:
* "Droopy and Friends: A Laugh Back" -- a documentary retrospective featuring the highlights of Avery's iconic character and band of regular misfits. Peppered through the featurettes will be moments reflecting Avery's early days, from inspiration, to his passions as an artist, entertainer and eventual auteur.
* "Doggone Gags" -- a montage of great moments from the DROOPY series, culled together in the fashion of a gag reel.
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Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
