Original MGM titles

[Vdubdavid]

We know that Warner's is just sitting on all their Technicolor cartoon negatives that have original titles. But do they have all the MGM cartoon negatives? And do they have the original titles or were they replaced with new ones when the cartoons were rereleased?

[Thad Komorowski]

Most of the original negatives of the MGM cartoons between 1941-1953 have been lost or have dissintegrated (know I spelt it wrong). Jerry Beck talks about them on his original titles site (http://www.cartoonresearch.com/mgm.html)





-Thad

[Patrick McCart]

WB or even Turner may not be reason why those original titles are rare.

MGM didn't really put a lot into restoration before Turner bought their library.

[Thad Komorowski]

Yeah, just look at all of thost Tom & Jerry, Droopy tapes from the 1980s, and how they used such bad, washed out prints that were used on local network programs...




-Thad

[Vdubdavid]

I thought that technicolor negatives didn't fade! I mean, isn't that how Warner's can say they have the cartoons and could restore them (if only they wanted to!)?

[Jack]

Originally posted by Vdubdavid
I thought that technicolor negatives didn't fade! I mean, isn't that how Warner's can say they have the cartoons and could restore them (if only they wanted to!)?
Technicolor doesn't fade (at least, they have never been known to fade), but the negatives will decay if not cared for.

It's possible that the prints used for TV were not Technicolor prints, they were probably copies made on inferior film stock. Patrick would know a lot more than I, though.


Jack :D

[J Lee]

After the MGM studio closed, cartoons were still re-released, but the studio started re-releasing the prints in their own Metrocolor process both for theaters and for TV. That is why many of the prints sent out with the original 1960 syndication package of the non-T&J pre-1948 cartoons and the 1977 syndication package of the remaining MGM shorts have the word "Technicolor" scratched out (very childishly, like a 4-year-old with an exacto knife) along the bottom of the opening title card. Those are the faded prints you probably remember seeing.

[Thad Komorowski]

Oh, I remember those prints, with the huge black bar on the bottom of the MGM lion logo. I also recall some Tom & Jerry cartoons with the new 1960s MGM lion logo, including "The Invisible Mouse", "The Little Orphan", and "Saturday Evening Puss".






-Thad

[Patrick McCart]

Technicolor is easy to spot..

If the reel change "O" at the end of a cartoon is GREEN, it's a Technicolor print. If it's any other color, you're seeing Eastman or other color processes (sometimes Afgacolor, but it's usually only on 16mm prints.)

I think MOST of the cartoons on CN are 35mm originated cartoons (16mm for all redrawn colorizations, which are in EASTMAN), so a good many are Technicolor.

Technicolor prints have a tell-tale way of looking great...notice how on the AAP prints on CN, as soon as the logo ends, you see blank red briefly, then it pops into a black color. That's Technicolor.

All Technicolor prints have a wonderful shade of black...if the black colors in a cartoon are inky and don't look like grey-black, it's not Eastman. The only problem, though, is that whites can turn yellowish due to the film decaying. When safety film (what most of AAP's prints are on) decays, the film becomes brittle and also yellow. A good example of this is Tortoise Wins By A Hare and many of the Clampett 1940's color cartoons.

I Haven't Got A Hat is the best looking Technicolor print I've seen on CN...depsite it being two-strip Technicolor. Somehow, it was very well taken care of.