Customer Reviews

Betty Boop: The Vintage Collection (Remastered Two-Disc Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In case you're not a Max Fleisher fan of old cartoons, like myself, let me first start off with the important stuff. Betty Boop was a totally different girl before the Production Code, or Hay's Code, was put into act in 1934. This code was similar to the ratings on tv now, keeping things G or MA, etc. Pretty much everyone, including myself, agrees that the best Boop was before the Code, when she was sexy and the show was a little edgy - I mean come on, it featured up-tempo jazz music! A far cry from today's edgy music, to be sure, but at the time it was certainly a phenomenon.

The reason why this matters is because this dvd ACTUALLY features episodes from before the Hay's Code - the best episodes! And without noise and grain that can be found in other discs I've bought before. Honestly, this really got me enthusiastic about this dvd, so much so that I wanted to write a review! This dvd comes in a sharp cover too, which really stands out next to my other Betty Boop memorabilia. All in all, a great buy.

This "Betty Boop Vintage Collection 2-disc set" has more good than bad. I read the scoop and all the reviews on so many other Betty Boop DVDs, and, after some mild confusion and a little frustration, I settled on this one. Glad I did.

The cons: It's an "All Regions" format, which gave my TV-set DVD player some trouble with disc 2 of the set. But I was still able to watch each episode all the way through after having to go through the damned menu steps too many times. Also, there's nothing more than a list of the episodes on the back of the case - no other information. Basically, these seem like cheap-made discs.

The pros: This set has "I'll be glad when you're dead and gone," featuring a cleanly restored live lead-in with Louis Armstrong and his band, and his voice and music (along with his face appearing later on) throughout the episode! This set also includes the three Cab Calloway episodes, "Minnie the Moocher," Old Man of the Mountain," and the classic "Snow White" !

The video reproduction is clean, and, in most episodes, the audio quality is okay. There are no audio over-dubs, nothing added in, and no extras. There are several episodes from 1933 (before the Hays Code was enacted), and a few from '34. Some are later. "Betty's Rise to Fame" is a cute "interview" featuring Max Fleisher himself. There are some good episodes with Bimbo and with Koko the Clown, two of yesterday's hippest cartoon characters. This 2-disc set seems like the best one available here so far...

The episode list:
Disc 1
1.) Grampy
2.) The Little King
3.) Bamboo Isle
4.) Be Human
5.) Betty in Blunderland
6.) Big Boss
7.) Chess Nuts
8.) Happy You and Merry me
9.) House Cleaning Blues
10.) I'll be glad when you're dead and gone (featuring Luois Armstrong)

Disc 2
1.) Minnie the Moocher (featuring Cab Calloway)
2.) Morning, noon and night
3.) Musical Mountaineers
4.) Not Now
5.) Old Man of The Mountain (featuring Cab Calloway)
6.) Parade of Wooden Soldiers
7.) Betty's Rise to Fame (featuring Max Fleisher himself)
8.) She Wronged Him Right
9.) Snow White (featuring Cab Calloway)
10.) Stop That Noise
11.) Swat That Fly
12.) The Impractical Joker

Got this today in the post. Neither disc won't play correctly in either of my machines. These are DVD-Rs and are not described as such in info, nor is this set "2:30:00" long. There's 22 7 min or less cartoons, that equals about 150 min. Most are 6 min. Anyway, I'm gonna ask for a refund. One disc simply won't play, the other plays to a point then suddenly skips to the next cartoon. The discs are scuffed, shoddy, with a glued-on label. If the thing actually played I wouldn't care so much about the rotten video interlacing and terrible menu authoring. The shame is many of these cartoons are only available here. But if they won't play, what's the point?

I'll be contacting Amazon in a minute.

Be very careful when ordering this DVD. Like many 'all region" DVDs there may be problems in playing it on Amercan systems. it will not play on mine, and that's why I am retirning it.

For any Betty Boop lover, this is a good compilation. It features many episodes of this classic, which is why it has two discs.

I had no problems with anything.

Good product!

This is not an official release. For whatever reasons the 8-volume Betty Boop - The Definitive Collection [VHS] released 11 years ago on VHS & Laserdisc formats, the (so far) ultimate and remastered collection, remains unreleased by the copyright holder, Republic Pictures Home Video. People are reporting problems with these discs, hardly suprising, since they're buying them from pirates, and not the copyright holder.

Do yourself a favor-- buy the video box set, and if you really *must* have them on DVD transfer them to DVD yourself, most new computers with a DVD burner can do this with a minimum of fuss and effort.

Overall, if you are a Betty Boop fan some of the selections here are worth looking at. This particular collection is not of the best quality. The videos have been copied from sources equal to what you can see free on U Tube. The particular collection I paid $25 for when opened had two dvds pop out of the case and landing on the floor. The case cannot hold the dvds. These were obviously used and numerous scratches were on the disc already. Sound quality is low and faint. 1/3 of the selections were unable to play completely. Hopefully there will be a better edition out there somewhere. For now get your Betty on U Tube.

This is a nice DVD, and contains some classic cartoons - Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle and Old Man of the Mountain are particularly of merit. [...]