Betty Boop DVDs at Best Buy

[PlopKat]

Last time I was at Best Buy, I was surprised to find a two-disc set of Betty Boop cartoons in their orginal Black & white for $5.99. It was made by Platinum Disc Corporation. This is the same company that also put out a two-disc set of the first ten "Blondie" movies starring Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake. I liked the Blondie set so I took a chance with the Boop set.

Here are the contents:

Volume One (Disc One):

- Betty Boop's Rise To Fame
- I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You
- Snow White
- Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle
- Morning, Noon & Night
- Chess Nuts
- The Old Man Of The Mountain
- Betty In Blunderland
- Be Human
- Betty Boop's Big Boss
- Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
- Not Now

Volume Two (Disc Two):

- She Wronged Him Right
- Betty Boop & Grampy
- Minnie The Moocher
- Musical Mountaineers
- Stop That Noise
- Swat That Fly
- Betty Boop & The Little King
- Happy You & Merry Me
- House Cleaning Blues
- The Impractical Joker
- Betty Boop & Little Jimmy

There is a disclaimer at the start of each disc that says, " This DVD was made from film prints created half a century aga. We hope you will enjoy this classic material and forgive any imperfections that may result from the age of the masters." Perhaps this is their way of saying that DVNR (digital video noise reduction?) was not used.

I've only watched a few cartoons so far but none feature the Paramount logo and the "end" title cards look generic. Some are introduced by U.M.& M. TV Corp cards and some of the Graampy cartoons and "Not Now" don't credit any director or animators. Particularly annoying is a "Platinum Video Corporation" bug that pops up in at least "I'll Be Glad..." for about a minute. It may turn up in others. If anyone is interested, I'll edit this post.

The cartoons look and sound okay. At least they don't have those added sound effects like the Cartoon Crazy DVDs and some Goodtimes releases. This set has some of my favorite Boops on it (like the ones wtih Cab Calloway) and some that seem to turn up on every public domain set (like some of the ones with Pudgy and "Betty In Blunderland"). This will suffice for me until Republic transfers that great VHS set to DVD.

-PlopKat

[Jon Cooke]

That's very interesting. Sounds like a pretty good collection with many of the best Betty cartoons ("Snow White", "I'll Be Glad...", "Minnie the Moocher", "Bamboo Island" --- are those even PD??) mixed with the usual assortment of PD Boops ("Little Jimmy", "Impractical Joker"). It sounds like its worth the 5.99 just for the fact that the cartoons don't have DVNR or "enhanced" soundtracks. I'll try to check it out.

Did any other cartoons have the bug?

-Jon

[Davesnothere]

Sometime soon, I'll be transferring Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection to DVD. :cool:

When that's done I can put away my old Betty DVD's I made from .mpg and .avi files. If anybody is in need of a set, I'm happy to trade.

[Bobby B]

Volume Two looks like a standard PD compilation, but Volume One looks like it was copied from Volume One of the Republic "Special Collector's Edition" 2-tape set, though I'd have to dig out an old Whole Toon Catalog to make sure.

[absolutpaul]

I picked up a cheap DVD at Wal mart in Canada last week. Put out by "Brentwood Home Video" it is called "Classic Cartoons vol 2". It's a double sided DVD feaurting PD prints of Casper, Little Audrey and Betty Boop cartoons. The Audrey Cartoons are OK - standard PD fare. The Casper cartoons are a total write-off, with remixed audio that tries to make it sound stereo or something. They are total garbage. BUT the best surprise was the Betty Boops. The 8 Boop cartoons appear to have been taken from the same masters that were made for the Definitive Collection. They do not look like they were taken from a VHS - they look absolutely pristine (except for some DVNR that was added to the masters Republic made). Poor Cinderella is included too, looking mint in color with Paramount titles. I don't know if these are "legit" copies, but they are PD titles.

So my verdict is - for $4.88, you get at least a handful of Betty cartoons that would look just as good if Republic had put out a set on DVD themselves.... worth the five bucks!!

[Thad Komorowski]

Wow! It's too bad about the logo, but for $5.99, you can't go wrong! This does Betty Boop some justice since casual fans have only been able to see the garbage ones with Pudgy, etc. on the millions of PD tapes and CN airings.


-Thad

[PlopKat]

All the cartoons on the Betty Boop set from Platinum Disc Corporation have the bug. About two minutes into each caartoon it appears and it stays for two minutes. The Platinum logo bug is smaller and more transparent than Cartoon Network's bug, but it is a bug regardless.

-PlopKat