Can anyone recommend some good cartoon collections on dvd? I'm interested in classics like Fleischer Bros. studios ("Small Fry", "Fresh Vegetable Mystery" etc), early Warner Bros., especially ones not shown anymore for political or cultural reasons (WWII, Inky etc), and any other classics from the 20's to the 40's. I know there's a "Johnny Legend" collection of weird cartoons with some of these, but I hear the transfers are funky and the beginnings and ends are cut off. Thanks!
Image Entertainment has a two volume 'Ub Iwerks Collection' under their 'Cartoons That Time Forgot' banner -- 58 vintage 'toons from early 1930's by the co-inventor of Mickey Mouse(!) gone solo...
Jerry meet Jerry. go here: http://www.cartoonresearch.com/ the same link that Steve features on the home page for this site (under "site seeing"). browse the forum and store. take note of the "Somewhere in Dreamland" (all Fleischer) set from VCI on the store page. the forum has few enough pages that browsing forward from the beginning is fairly easy and worthwhile. also seconding the 801's recommendation. the 2 separate Image dvds are a good bargain. the same Iwerks set on 4 Kino vhs tapes costs twice as much.
Don't get the ultracheap two-volume Cartoon Marathon from Vintage Home Entertainment. It contains WB, Iwerks, Popeye and even a Disney or two, but the quality is horrid and a third of the cartoons on Vol. 2 are repeated from Vol. 1. The only good point is the quantity of cartoons. BTW, many of the WBs and Popeyes were probably recorded off broadcasts from the 1970s, when the old Warners and Popeyes were controlled by AAP (Associated Artists Productions). You see the AAP credit before the WB and Popeye credits start, which I remember from watching these cartoons on NYC's WNEW in the '70s.
Thanks guys! I think I'll start with "Somewhere in Dreamland" and "Johnny Legend Presents-The Complete Weird Cartoons". Maybe the Beany & Cecil one too, since it's so cheap. I'd love to find more classic Fleischer's, including Popeye & Ali Baba. Then the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection", although I'd rather have more early WB stuff, as well as the Horton stuff and WWII cartoons. And those Ub Iwerks look good too. I have hundreds of WB cartoons on VHS that I taped over the years, but it's time to upgrade where I can. I also have a very cool book that lists EVERY WB cartoon ever made, with dates, plot synopsis, director and music info. If anyone ever has a question...
Popeye: 75th Anniversary - 2dvd set from VCI same outfit that did "Somewhere...." recently released with Ali Baba & Sinbad. Fleischer stuff. Another bargain and well received by fans. There is another 75th Ann. set from KOCH that features too many later non-Fleischer toons. More expensive too. Lot's of discussion on Jerry Beck's forum p.s. If you want the Fleischer Supermans get the version from Image with the "BOSKO video" imprint. Another good deal as cheap as the inferior versions.
You'll never be the same again after you watch The Devil's Ball or the one about the "metal eating bird" - where it lays an egg and thanks to stop action animation, grows into a car (years before Stephen King's Christine)
Lotta toonheads here - perhaps you noticed my snazzy Avery-tar! Check out the archives - we've chatted about banned 'toons here several times...
