This was the first feature length "Looney Tunes" movie made. The fourth one was actually titled "Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie", but this is still technically the original. It features various Looney Tunes cartoons which were done in the other movies. I generally don't watch documentaries, but I'll make an exception for this, because it focused on narrative in the Looney Tunes series. Unlike the other films, this one was done with live-action bits between the cartoons. Judging from the title, it's mostly about Bugs Bunny, but does talk about the franchise in general and features about 23 minutes of new material.The best part might have been hearing how Mel Blanc had to spit out carrots after every take. It is false that he was allergic to them. He just hated them! There's no cartoons after 1949, presumably because that's the year Leon Schlesinger died. Apart from Mel Blanc, he worked on more Looney Tunes cartoons than anyone else in history, even more than Chuck Jones or Friz Freleng. He was the producer and not the director, which is probably why he's not remembered as much. ****

. . . (labeled as BUGS BUNNY SUPERSTAR: PART ONE on disc one of Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4, with NO clue from Warner Bros. as to where to find PART TWO) is given over to four Merrie Melodies cartoons, and Bugs does NOT appear at all in the last half of the third animated short, while the cotton-tailed "Superstar" is entirely AWOL for the final offering. The initial example used here--WHAT'S COOKIN,' DOC?--is a spoof of the 1944 Oscars, including a cartoon-within-a-cartoon (LITTLE HIAWATHA). That makes THE WILD HARE the only typical Bugs Bunny fare included among this quartet of shorts, as Bugs only participates in the opening act ("Tales of the Vienna Woods") during A CORNY CONCERTO. The Sylvester and Tweety I TAW A PUTTY TAT Capper seems haphazardly tacked on. Orson Welles appears to be narrating SUPERSTAR from a state halfway between comatose and Rigor Mortis, so this is definitely NOT Bugs Bunny's Finest Hour. However, viewers do learn that America's favorite hare's ubiquitous carrot comes thanks to Clark Gable's vegetable munching in the 1934 Best Picture, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.

This historical look back on Bugs Bunny and the early Warners animators is a mix between an interesting look back and a mind-numbingly bore. After a rough start, the documentary (with very old school cartoons mixed in) becomes really interesting as it contrasts the work of animation in the 1930s and "today" (the 1970s, when this was made). There is plenty of historic footage and old pictures. I think I might have been more fascinated if I were a hard-core Looney Tunes fan. Some of the cartoons mixed in were kinda...boring. All in all, it is very worth-while as a historic look back at the Warners Brothers cartoons and the journey that cartooning has taken between then and now.

This compilation features priceless archival footage from the WB animation artists' working and living conditions, and nine entertaining, timeless cartoon shorts. Although it eventually wears you out a little (I think those cartoons look better if taken in smaller doses), it is a much better choice for family viewing than many, many other films that claim to serve the same purpose. Long live Bugs! (***)