‘Porky and Friends: Hilarious Ham’ Announced

Hot on the heels of the 2nd Platinum Collection, we have this 18-cartoon set for fans of Porky Pig, as well as the smaller one-shot characters that come with him on the back of the collection. As always, the question is “If I have the Golden Collections, do I have to buy this?” Let’s find out.

Cartoons in this set will be (I’ll summarize the ones not out yet):

1) Tom Turk And Daffy (1944, Jones) – NEW TO DVD – Featuring a MYSTERY WRITER (and boy, is there a long, confusing story about that), this is a great early Daffy cartoon where he’s being an utter brat.
2) Wagon Heels (1945, Clampett) – GC5
3) Mouse Menace (1946, Davis) – NEW TO DVD – Art Davis’ first cartoon at Warners, this is another one pitting Porky against a mouse, this time utilizing a robot cat. It doesn’t go well.
4) One Meat Brawl (1947, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Porky and the Foghorn Leghorn dog are out hunting for groundhog, and the groundhog is determined to make them pay for it. McKimson’s earliest cartoons are some of his best.
5) Curtain Razor (1949, Freleng) – NEW TO DVD – Porky is a talent agent auditioning acts. A few gags (including the gasoline one) would be reused in Show Big Bugs by Daffy.
6) The Pest That Came To Dinner (1948, Davis) – NEW TO DVD – Can the world handle two Art Davis cartoons on one collection? Porky has termites, and tries various horrible methods to remove them.
7) Riff Raffy Daffy (1948, Davis) – NEW TO DVD – I guess the world can, as here’s a third Davis cartoon! I always liked ‘Daffy is screwy and Porky isn’t’ cartoons, though the question of how sane Porky is comes into question here.
8) Boobs in the Woods (1950, McKimson) – GC1
9) Dog Collared (1950, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Porky gives brief affection to a dog (no, not Charlie Dog), and lives to regret it.
10) Thumb Fun (1952, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – A hitchhiking Daffy makes Porky’s life miserable. Some call this the final screwball Daffy cartoon, which isn’t true, but he *is* a screwball here.
11) Fool Coverage (1952, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – I adored this cartoon as a kid. Daffy sells Porky insurance. “And one baby zebra!”
12) Corn on the Cop (1965, Spector) – NEW TO DVD – The final Porky Pig cartoon of the classic years. Shame it sucks. He and Daffy are police officers.
13) Corn Plastered (1951, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – A wise-cracking crow annoys a farmer, who tries to kill him in various ways. The crow is a lot of fun.
14) Gone Batty (1954, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Stars Bobo the Elephant, in his 2nd and final cartoon, where he ends up at a baseball game.
15) Ant Pasted (1953, Freleng) – NEW TO DVD – Always nice seeing Elmer in a cartoon on his own. He’s taking on ants during a 4th-of-July picnic.
16) Dog Gone People (1960, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Another Elmer cartoon, but Arthur Q. Bryan had died by this time, so his voice sounds horrible. Elmer has to babysit his boss’s dog, who thinks he’s a human.
17) Bunny and Claude – We Rob Carrot Patches (1968, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – The first of two appearances of Bunny and Claude, an obvious parody. Watch for the scene where it’s suggested they have sex on a pile of carrots. No, I’m not making this up.
18) The Great Carrot Train Robbery (1969, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – And here’s the second B&C cartoon. It’s not as good.

So, worth getting? Well, 16 of the 18 cartoons are new to DVD. HELL YES! An absolute must-buy. Can’t wait.