One of the funniest films of all time, Blazing Saddles, is awarded an excellent 30th anniversary DVD release by Warner Bros., a company that has often shown great care to the important titles in its vault. The film itself is presented in a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio. The English soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, which makes it seem like one is hearing the infamous farting scene for the very first time. There is a healthy amount of quality extra materials, including a commentary by director Mel Brooks. Although it seems as if he was simply recorded while talking about the film (he never once refers to what is happening onscreen, and the commentary ends only an hour into the film), he recollections are amusing and enlightening. He discusses in detail how the various behind-the-scenes people as well as the cast came together. The other five-star nugget included on this disc is the pilot for the television spin-off Black Bart. Starring Louis Gossett Jr., the show is as amazingly unfunny as the movie is uproarious, but one may be struck by the crudity of the comedy that would have been telecast in the mid-'70s. A making-of documentary and a section from a special on the late great Madeline Kahn help make this DVD a must-own for comedy enthusiasts.

The DVD of this Alice in Wonderland-like children's film comes with four bios/filmographies, each two screens in length, a behind-the-scenes featurette of fuzzy audio and visual quality, and three theatrical trailers. Although presented as widescreen anamorphic (2:35:1 ratio) with dual-layered, English, two-channel Dolby Surround, the picture looks slightly grainy in places and a faint hiss persists in the audio background throughout the film. The puppet animations look and sound impressively lifelike and highly detailed. Also included are English and Spanish subtitles and a small three-fold booklet containing creation and production notes.