Made during the last throes of Hollywood theatrical shorts production, The Inspector and Ant and the Aardvark series have much to recommend, including smartly made animation on a budget that often exceeds current American TV standards, minimalist yet striking production design, and some surprising elements, like jazz scores on the Ant and the Aardvark series performed by top West coast jazz musicians. (Unfortunately, Crazylegs Crane, a post-theatrical TV series, has much less to offer in terms of quality.)
DePatie-Freleng, most famous for its Pink Panther series, never achieved true greatness in any of its productions, but these Kino-Lorber sets offer a welcome opportunity for contemporary viewers to reassess their output. Lots of talented people worked on these cartoons and there’s creative inspiration waiting to be discovered in certain aspects of the studio’s output.
The best news is that the sets are quite affordable, and all of them will include the following documentaries by Greg Ford: Goodbye Warner Bros., Hello DePatie-Freleng and Of Aardvarks, Ants, Inspectors, and Cranes, featuring Jerry Beck, Barbara Donatelli, Will Friedwald, Doug Goodwin, Art Leonardi, Joe Siracusa, and archival audio of Friz Freleng.
The Inspector collection includes all 34 theatrical shorts created between 1965-1969, the Ant and the Aardvark collection contains all seventeen theatrical shorts created between 1969-1971, and the Crazylegs Crane disc includes all 16 made-for-TV shorts that appeared in 1978 on the The All New Pink Panther Show.
