A Fleischer DVD

[Joe Tully]

I discovered this interesting DVD at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005BJY1/

It is called The Amazing American Animation Archive, Vol. 1

It will be released Jan. 29.

Here is the review:


"Amazing American Animation Archive" is comprised of Fleischer Studios color cartoons from 1934-1940. The DVD runs 90 minutes and is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. (A boon for those who dislike Winstar's "feel the sound" process.)

This is a decent showing of their "second tier" cartoons, with more funny animals and less celebrities like Popeye, Betty Boop and Superman. It runs into the same difficulties as many DVDs of this kind. Most of the cartoons have been featured elsewhere on different DVDs, and a person can only own so many "smorgasbord" collections. If you have no other Fleischer DVD's, this would be a fine starting point. I am still waiting for a "definitive" Fleischer collection that gives them the attention they deserve.

The cartoons on this collection:

1. The Song Of The Birds (1934) 2. Greedy Humpty Dumpty (1936) 3. Hawaiian Birds (1936) 4. Play Safe (1936) 5. Somewhere in Dreamland (1936) 6. Christmas Comes But Once A Year (1936) - 8:35 7. All's Fair At The Fair (1938) - (Popeye) 8. Hunky And Spunky (1938) 9. Small Fry (1939) 10. Ants In The Pants (1940) 11. Snubbed By A Snob (1940)



I thought that it was odd that someone reviewed this DVD last July when it was coming out in January, so I e-mailed the guy about his review. He said that he had done some research and managed to figure out the content and sound quality but hasn't actually seen the DVD. But he reviewed it to give us some info on the DVD, which was nice, since without the review, we would have no clue about which cartoons are on the DVD. Anyways, I will probably put off getting this for a while since I have more faith in the Fleischer DVD that Nelson mentioned, but thought that this might be worth bringing up. I have a feeling that this is just another PD collection...but one thing that does intrigue me is that this is called Vol. 1, which means that we could see more interesting stuff come out on future volumes, if there are any.

It'll be interesting to see what reviews pop up once the DVD actually goes on sale...

[Jerry Beck]

Nelson spilled the beans (and the Buddy & the Porky) about my Fleischer DVD project. And since you've mentioned another Fleischer DVD - I thought I'd better give you the scoop on the project I'm doing, so you can make the proper choices.

The DVD I'm doing is titled: "SOMEWHERE IN DREAMLAND: The Definitive Max Fleischer Color Classics". It's a DVD and VHS tape from a company called VCI Entertainment. THE GOOD NEWS: It collects all the Color Classics cartoons (except one, TEARS OF AN ONION, which is still protected by copyright). There is a still frame gallery of model sheets, and Leslie Cabarga created the box cover art. And all the cartoons have restored Paramount titles (ala THE POPEYE SHOW). No NTA or UM&M here!

Here's the rub: This disc was not done with master print or neg materials. Those are owned by Republic who has no plans to restore or release them. So this collection will be the best you are gonna get for a long time. Some cartoons are from rare 35mm prints - some are from 16mm. The VHS will contain 31 cartoons. The DVD will feature 35 cartoons (the four bonus cartoons are in a special section - they were the poorest prints we had, but we decided to add them to the DVD as a bonus).

I don't know when this set will come out - but most likely in the spring. I'll post more details on my website when I know them.

[Thad Komorowski]

Wow! Perhaps I'll buy them, but I'm saving up for different things.



-Thad

[Do-Do]

Originally posted by Jerry Beck
Nelson spilled the beans (and the Buddy & the Porky) about my Fleischer DVD project.
Waitwaitwaitwaitwait.....a Buddy DVD :eek: ?

[Paul Penna]

Originally posted by Jerry Beck
Here's the rub: This disc was not done with master print or neg materials. Those are owned by Republic who has no plans to restore or release them. So this collection will be the best you are gonna get for a long time. Some cartoons are from rare 35mm prints - some are from 16mm. The VHS will contain 31 cartoons. The DVD will feature 35 cartoons (the four bonus cartoons are in a special section - they were the poorest prints we had, but we decided to add them to the DVD as a bonus).

How would you say the prints on your DVD (which I'm gonna buy anyway) compare to those on the various "Fabulous Fleischer Folio" sets which came out on laser? Most of those were... well, pretty funky. American Movie Classics used to throw in a Color Classic every so often, in prints that were absolutely eye-popping. I imagine those video transfers came from the Republic-held material, no?

[Jerry Beck]

Yes, American Movie Classics was able to tap Republic's prints. Some of these are the same as the FABULOUS FLEISCHER FOLIO - some are upgrades - all have better sound and restored (to some extent) opening & closing titles. Kit Parker (who did the Fabulous Fleischer Folio provided most of the prints.

It's worth it just to have all these great cartoons (and Sammy Timburg songs) in one set. And its presented in release date order of course.

[BobChief]

Originally posted by Do-Do

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait.....a Buddy DVD :eek: ?

[In Foghorn Leghorn voice:]
It's a gag, son...a joke, a very funny joke!

[Do-Do]

Originally posted by BobChief


[In Foghorn Leghorn voice:]
It's a gag, son...a joke, a very funny joke!
Ooohhhh.....I thought he said there was a Buddy DVD, not that he spilled the Buddy. Whoops :o . I suppose I'd better start reading a bit sloooower.