Frederick "Tex" Avery directed some of the funniest cartoons ever made, but he relied primarily on situations and moving graphics, rather than on the personalities of familiar characters. Droopy, the phlegmatic basset hound, was one of the few characters Avery used regularly:  His low-key presence was the perfect counter to the extreme takes, fast cuts, frenetic action, and general mayhem going on around him. Avery is also noted for "self-reflexive gags:" the characters know they're in a cartoon and often comment on the fact. In "Dumb-Hounded,"a sprinting wolf cuts a corner too sharply, skids past the sprocket holes at the edge of the film, and onto the blank screen. Droopy frequently turns to the camera and comments, "You now what? I'm happy." Some of the later films in the collection, made by animators Dick Lundy and Michael Lah, lack Avery's manic panache. The last cartoons in the collection were designed for the CinemaScope format: Droopy's pudgy form looks lost in those vast frames, and the flattened graphics pioneered by the UPA studio distort his rounded shape. But those are minor caveats. Fans have waited impatiently for Tex Avery's seminal cartoons to be released on DVD in the US, and this collection is a must-have for anyone interested in animation.(Unrated, suitable for ages 6 and older:  cartoon violence, alcohol and tobacco use, risqué humor)--Charles Solomon