Behind the Tunes: Blanc Expressions

Mel Blanc's kid, Noel, starts off this feature with a funny line. "He used to wake me up every morning with that famous Bugs Bunny voice of his and say, 'Uh, What's up, Noel?"

Noel explains why his dad got into the "voice business" and how his career started for Warner Brothers in 1941. He and others tell us more about this great voice man of the Looney Tunes characters, from Tweety to Yosemite Sam to Daffy Duck, on and on. It was interesting to hear that some of Mel's impersonations were sped up from 18 to 20 percent to give them a little bit higher temper or faster rate of speech (i.e. Speedy Gonzales, Porky Pig).

Maybe it's just because I've always thought that Mel Blanc's voices really made the cartoons - not to mention that he was from my home town of Portland - that I liked "Behind the Tunes: Blanc Expressions" more than most of the short documentaries in this series. I think that I had heard about how Mel Blanc couldn't eat carrots.

One thing that I think that they should have said was that other people who have tried to provide the characters' voices just can't do it like Mel Blanc did (no offense to them). I deliberately avoid any of these modern cartoons involving the classic characters. But the classic ones are always great, and this short did an acceptable job explaining Blanc's style.

PS: today would have been Mel Blanc's 99th birthday.

This short 4 and a half minute featurette, which can be found as an extra on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1, is different than most of the 'Behind The Tunes' in as much that it doesn't focus on one character or a team-up, but rather on Mel Blanc's voice-over work which was excellent throughout his career. This Behind the Tunes was a lot better because it didn't feel so dry, and actually was a bit interesting. Still not as good as the feturettes on Volume 2, but it was good in it's own right and I enjoyed it, even if it didn't really go into much detail.

My Grade: B