Our Gang DVD set: Cabin Fever vs Genius Entertainment: what are the differences?

There is some dispute about the superiority of Cabin Fever set (which is out of print and astronomically priced) over the currently-available Genius Entertainment set. Is anybody here knowledgeable about the ongoing debate regarding the differences?

 

AFAIK, Cabin Fever collapsed before getting the entire series out on DVD, so their set would be incomplete.

Later on, the "complete" box (from Genius Entertainment) used 16mm Blackhawk Films prints for many episodes, which meant the loss of the original Roach/MGM opening title cards (in addition to diminished picture quality).

I think the discs were later remastered with 35mm elements, but to avoid any problems, I ended up ordering the seven DVDs separately (as the single disc series definitely has the episodes from 35mm, with the original opening music/title cards.

What's more, the price for the seven single discs were cheaper than the complete series set when I bought them.

This link goes to the first single disc, but the others can be found there as well:
Amazon.com: The Little Rascals Vol 1: George, Spanky, McFarland, Carl, Alfalfa, Switzer, Jackie Cooper, Billie, Buckwheat, Thomas, -: Movies & TV

 

The Cabin Fever set ran to 21 volumes of four shorts each, on VHS and maybe laserdisc. Among them, they included all 80 talkie shorts from the Hal Roach era, plus four silent shorts. Only the first twelve volumes made it to DVD. Leonard Maltin did introductions for them.

The original Genius DVD set included all 80 talkie shorts, plus three silents -- the silent shorts are different from those on the Cabin Fever releases. No Leonard Maltin involvement, but there are some intros by his co-author Richard W. Bann, and some of the then-surviving Rascals.

There was a mix-up with the source material and on the Genius set, the following shorts were sourced from Blackhawk Films home movie prints -- now, in the day, Blackhawk was known for the finest prints in the home movie business, often made from the original negatives or as close as possible -- but these prints can not stand up to the original negatives as source material for a DVD. Also, like nearly all available copies of the shorts prior to the Cabin Fever releases, the Blackhawk prints have (in most cases) completely refilmed, generic looking title cards. A few of them (*) had, for all intents and purposes, original titles, but with the M-G-M name removed, and two of these made it to video including the Cabin Fever, Genius and Vivendi releases. (According to a recent Amazon review, current copies of the box set include the remastered discs, so all original titles should be present for the talkie shorts.)

Blackhawk Films home-movie prints used on original Genius set:

*Small Talk (for all intents and purposes, this has as close to original titles as we're going to get)
Boxing Gloves
*Bouncing Babies
Moan And Groan, Inc. (title shown as "Moan And Groan")
Shivering Shakespeare
A Tough Winter
The Kid From Borneo
Anniversary Trouble (this was not a great print, kind of splicy/scratchy as I recall)
Little Papa
Little Sinner
The Pinch Singer
Three Smart Boys
Roamin' Holiday
Bear Facts
Came The Brawn (Blackhawk Films titles with their name removed)
Feed 'Em And Weep
The Awful Tooth
Hide And Shriek

All except * were corrected for the individual single-volume DVDs released by Vivendi.

The shorts "Bear Shooters" and "Washee Ironee" are slightly edited on the Cabin Fever, Genius and Vivendi sets. "Bear Shooters" is unedited (but has the wrong M-G-M lion audio) on a compilation DVD called Laurel And Hardy And Friends:
Amazon.com: Laurel & Hardy and Friends: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, Norman 'Chubby' Chaney, Jackie Cooper, Allen 'Farina' Hoskins, Bobby 'Wheezer' Hutchins, Mary Ann Jackson, Pete the Dog, Leon Janney, Charlie Hall, Gordon Douglas, James Parrott, James W. Horne, Robert F. McGowan, Hal Roach, H.M. Walker, Jack Jevne: Movies & TV
An uncut "Washee Ironee" is on an earlier Hallmark DVD called The Little Rascals Collector's Edition III (which has a cover photo from the M-G-M era featuring Robert Blake):
Amazon.com: The Little Rascals Collector's Edition III: Wally Albright, Sherwood Bailey, Bobbie 'Cotton' Beard, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Scotty Beckett, Tommy Bond, Norman 'Chubby' Chaney, Joe Cobb, John 'Uh huh' Collum, Jackie Condon, Jackie Cooper, Jean Darling, Fred C. Newmeyer, Gordon Douglas, Gus Meins, James Parrott, James W. Horne, Nate Watt, Ray McCarey, Robert A. McGowan: Movies & TV

"Mail And Female" has a replaced end title of unknown origin (on all Cabin Fever, Hallmark, Genius and Vivendi releases).

The Cabin Fever volumes includes four silent shorts:
Derby Day
Dogs Of War
Baby Brother
Cat, Dog And Company (including original Victor score)

The Genius box set includes these three silent shorts on the eighth (bonus) disc, which is not available separately:
Dog Heaven (Cabin Fever had preiously released this on a dog-themed tape after the 21 volumes had been released)
Spook Spoofing
Barnum & Ringling, Inc. (Blackhawk Films titles and includes their score, replacing the original Victor score)

What's not included:

General Spanky (Feature film, available separately through Warner Archive)
Our Gang (52 M-G-M era shorts, also available through Warner Archive)
The rest of the 88 silent shorts

Hope this info helps.

 

yes thats a great help!

So there are still 52 other shorts through MGM not included in either set?

 

That's right -- they have their own release:

Amazon.com: The Our Gang Collection: George 'Spanky'McFarland, Darla Hood', Carl 'Alfalfa'Switzer, Henry 'Spike'Lee, Eugene 'Porky'Lee, Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas, Gordon Douglas, George Sidney, Edward L. Cahn, Herbert Glazer, Cyril Endfield: Movies & TV

 

There are some excellent colorized versions on this youtube channel:
I'm not sure of the source though

 

The one problem here is that, for some reason, volume 6 of this series went out of print and is virtually impossible to find.

 

That is really weird. I wonder what the deal is with that. Are they all out of print and remaining stock of that one just sold out before the rest?

That volume has what may be my favorite short on it, "Pay As You Exit."

The complete series set is currently listed at $40.87. I am told current copies have the corrected discs.

 

I’d love to have confirmation on this. I currently watch episodes converted from YouTube but there are digital artifacts and the end credits are definitely from the modern era

 

And while we're at it, for the silents, don't forget about this German (Region 2, PAL) DVD set, containing most of the existing MGM "non-talkies"...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002880H7S?tag=mfconvert-20

 

Wow, that's some deceptive packaging there

 

You're telling me! You think you're getting a set with Farina, Joe, Jackie, Harry, Jean, Wheezer, Maryann, and Jay R. Instead, you get those losers on the cover. What a sham!