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DVD Rembrandt Films' Greatest Hits
Rembrandt Films was a small studio that produced more than 50 cartoons between 1959 and 1970. Its main director was Gene Deitch, a veteran of UPA and Terrytoons, where he worked on the minimal Tom Terrific. Those influences can clearly be seen in Deitch's short films. In The Frozen Logger, he attempts to re-create Rooty-Toot-Toot, John Hubley's brilliant retelling of the story of Frankie and Johnnie (UPA, 1952). But the animation is too limited and the timing too slow to give the film much appeal. The Oscar-winning Munro, based on Jules Feiffer's cartoon story about a 4-year-old boy inadvertently drafted into the U.S. Army, also shows the influences of Hubley and UPA. But Feiffer's send-up of the military and government bureaucracies retains its sting. The four "Self Help" cartoons are modeled after Disney's How To series for Goofy and the Mr. Know-It-All segments on Rocky and His Friends. Arthur Treacher supplies a properly snooty narration, but the visuals lack the punch needed to provide an effective foil for such useful lessons as How to Avoid Friendship. The remainder of the films are more interesting as examples of '60s-style humor and design than as entertainment. Suitable for all ages. --Charles Solomon
Ub Iwerks was one of the greatest animators of the silent and early sound eras: he animated "Steamboat Willie" and other early Disney shorts virtually by himself. But the films he produced at his own studio after breaking with Walt Disney in 1930 lack the vitality of his earlier work. During the '30s, the animators with Disney, the Fleischers, Warner Bros., and MGM developed a new style of cartoon humor that centered on characters with strong, recognizable personalities. Iwerks's first recurring character, Flip the Frog, who appears in more than half the cartoons in this collection, never developed into a wholesome good guy or a sarcastic antihero. He remained an observer, rather than someone who initiated the action, as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny did. The rambling plots further... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ub Iwerks DVD Release Date: Released the 13 July 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I was a little disappointed with this dvd. If you are an aficionado of any types of animation it is a nice little snipet of cartoons from the 30s and 40s, albeit the image quality is horrific as it looks like it is from the 30s and 40s. It would have been nice if these cartoons would have been digitized (cleaned up) then it would have been an amazing little gem and little catologue of animation history, but unfortunately that is not the case. Otherwise what is the point of having it on DVD?
The cartoons themselves are not as 'racy' as I would have had to believe. Obviously they were for this era; "black faced" characters, animal cruelty, sexual overtones, etc. All played down for our time. Of course today's society would have a field day and riot if any of these incidents... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cartoon Crazys DVD Release Date: Released the 09 January 2001 Special Order
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Despite its talented staff, the Van Beuren Studio, which existed from 1928 to 1936, never rose above the level of a "B" cartoon house. Their talking version of Felix the Cat, who appears in "Bold King Cole" (1936) and "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg" (1936), has none of zest of the silent character animated by Otto Messmer. Their original characters, Molly Moo-Cow and Cubby Bear, are awkward-looking nonentities. The "Rainbow Parade" series was clearly designed to compete with Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies," but the films lack the polished animation, innovative designs, and focused storytelling of the Disney shorts. Some of the Van Beuren cartoons are genuinely odd: "Opening Night" (1933) celebrates the opening of the lavish Roxy Theater in New York; "In a Cartoon Studio"... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 09 March 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I have the revised edition of this set and it was money well spent. The Stero-optical Process is always fun but the most overlooked quality of these gems is how they really get inside of you. Some call these cheesy and some are but cartoons like "Somewhere in Dreamland," "Play Safe," and "The Little Dutch Mill" are impossible to watch without tearing up. Now DISNEY cartoons are cheesy! They're just pointless romping and frollicing through daisies. These Fleischer shorts have morals and messages that really get to you. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Dave Fleischer DVD Release Date: Released the 30 July 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's very rare indeed for a single DVD to function as pure entertainment and a valuable archive of animation history, but this award-winning Lumivision disc offers all that and more. Once hailed as "America's Greatest Cartoonist," Winsor McKay (1869-1934) was a master draftsman and illustrator who began his career as a newspaper illustration artist and editorial cartoonist in the late 1890s and later created the milestone comic strips "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" (1904) and "Little Nemo in Slumberland" (1905). McKay then advanced to become one of animation's true pioneers, and this exemplary DVD collects every surviving film that McKay ever made. His best-known short, Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), not only promoted the public's ongoing fascination with dinosaurs, but its title... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Winsor Mccay DVD Release Date: Released the 12 January 1999 THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE. If you would like to purchase this title, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.
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