Customer Reviews

Cartoons That Time Forgot - The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 2

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

 

 

26 cartoons fill up this volume for 190 minutes worth of cartoon nostalgia. Some of the humor isn't "politically correct", and some of it is a bit ribald, but the cartoons are for the most part entertaining. All but five of the cartoons star the character of "Flip the Frog", a character best taken in small doses (in watching all the cartoons at once, the humor wears a bit thin.) All the Flip cartoons are in black and white, as is one of the Willie Whopper cartoons. The remaining four cartoons are in color, three of which stand alone. The fourth was apparently released at different times under "Famous Fairytales" (as on this disc) and "Willie Whopper" labels.

Here is a list of the disc's contents:
1) Flip the Frog / The Nurse Maid (1932)
2) Flip the Frog / Room Runners (1932)
3) Flip the Frog / The Office Boy (1932)
4) Flip the Frog / The Milkman (1932)
5) Flip the Frog / The New Car (1931)
6) Flip the Frog / Ragtime Romeo (1931)
7) Flip the Frog / What a LIfe (1932)
8) Flip the Frog / The Bully (1932)
9) Flip the Frog / Funny Face (1932)
10) Flip the Frog / Movie Mad (1931)
11) Flip the Frog / The Cuckoo Murder Case (1930)
12) Willie Whopper / Stratos Fear (1933)
13) Comi Color / Jack Frost (1934)
14) Flip the Frog / Chinaman's Chance (1933)
15) Willie Whopper / Hell's Fire (1934) (aka Famous Fairytales / Masquerade Holiday)
16) Flip the Frog / Techno-Cracked (1933)
17) Flip the Frog / Soda Squirt (1933)
18) Comi Color / The Headless Horseman (1934)
19) Flip the Frog / Spooks (19331)
20) Comi Color / Balloonland (1935)
21) Flip the Frog / Laughing Gas (1931)
22) Flip the Frog / Circus (1932)
23) Flip the Frog / Stormy Seas (1932)
24) Flip the Frog / Coo Coo the Magician (1933)
25) Flip the Frog / School Days (1932)
26) Flip the Frog / The Goal Rush (1932)

If you are someone like myself who thinks that the greatest cartoons are from the 30's and 40's, then this dvd is for you. If you love cartoons from this era, then you'll understand what makes this dvd so special---the great animation, jazzy background music, vintage sound effects, voice characterizations, rich black and white, or color. It's all here. The thing that's great about these old cartoons is the fact that there is movement--constantly. I can't even believe some people my age (i'm 32) condemn these cartoons as being 'old' and would prefer the limited animation techniques of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons we grew up with on Saturday morning television. The Flip the Frog cartoons are the biggest surprise and are reminiscent of early Fleischer Betty Boop or Popeye cartoons in their overall tone. The dvd transfer is generally excellent, although there are some cartoons which use older prints as a source. However, they do not detract from enjoying this disc . Since there is a limited audience for this kind of stuff, grab this dvd before it is out of print.

Many of the other commentators of Volume 1 and Volume 2 have very nicely described the contents of these two collections. I'd like to just say that I found these cartoons to be very essential for anyone interested in the history of animation.

Flip the Frog comes across as another Mickey Mouse, Willie Whopper is somewhat interesting, while the Comicolor series is somewhat similar to Silly Symphonies. I'm not surprised at this since Ub worked at Disney, and is responsible for the early animation of Mickey Mouse and several Silly Symphonies.

I found the liner notes helpful in explaining the social context of these cartoons. Many are poking fun at the Hollywood stars of the day (Disney and Warner also have several of their own similar cartoons), others have relevant commentary about various conditions in our country at the time, and others are just interesting trips into the supernatural. Keep in mind that all these things have been pursued by Disney, Warner Brothers, etc., so there is nothing unusual here. There are plenty of sight gags and the usual exaggerations that early cartoons are especially known for.

Also, I think it would be fair to say that the characters and stories as a whole tend not to progressively develop over the short life of Ub's studio. If you treat all the cartoons simply as individual accomplishments, then it's not a big deal, but as a whole they don't really change much. This isn't necessarily a problem, just an observation.

It's kind of interesting to me that I always felt I was almost watching Disney cartoons, but at the same time there are definitely other edgier influences at work here. The fact that Ub's staff of animators largely came from the Fleischer studio, and included Betty Boop's creator, made the difference. Because of this, innuendo abounds in several of Flip's cartoons, produced from 1930-1933 (pre-Code era). One cartoon, "The Milkman" ends with Flip and the kid singing "Hail, Hail, the gang's all here", and the horse responds by singing "What the hell do we care?". The second time around, as the horse startes to sing the same response, Flip bashes him over the head with a milk bottle to stop him from using the "naughty" word. Holy cow!!! Can you imagine Disney doing this? In "The Office Boy", the sexual innuendos hit a high, especially with the secretary. I was laughing for being taken by surprise. I didn't expect this sort of content. Well, get ready for an interesting time. By the way, unless I'm mistaken, it seemed like Volume 2 was the one for the edgier cartoons. Willie Whopper's cartoons are not too bad, really. They are tall tales told by a kid. Lastly, the Comi-Color cartoons, though fairly delightful, never measure up to the quality of Disney's Silly symphonies. I'd have to say that they are probably the highest quality cartoons Ub produced.

Both DVD cases say that these cartoons are "now viewed for the first time on DVD in unfaded, pristine prints from the orginal negatives". I must protest! Many of these cartoons don't look or sound pristine at all, but are in many cases faded and dirty, with sound to match. It depends on the cartoons. Most of the Flip cartoons aren't so bad, the Willie Whopper ones are the worst of these two collections, and The Comi-Color cartoons all seem to have a softness about them (video and audio). I'd say that perhaps this is the best we can get our hands on, but, really, to say "unfaded, pristine prints" is just flat-out not the case. Overall, most of them are quite watchable, but just keep these observations in mind. I give both collections four stars due to the technical issues.

The perfect companion to Vol. 1, this one contains some different themes -- my favorite being the scary cartoons. Well, they really aren't that scary, but the lightning, shadows, skeletons, etc. really come across well in their black and white.

If you've read my review of Vol. 1, then you know what to expect.

There are 3-4 cartoons which are a little too risque for younger viewers (they are identified in the included text on the box). Nothing explicit, of course, but probably more like PG material (just those 3 cartoons). I would still recommend buying this one for younger viewers, just skip over those couple of cartoons. Older viewers are OK, too!

Buy both volumes, you won't be disappointed!

The two Iwerks collections by Bosko Video/Image were the introduction to Iwerks' post Disney 'toons for many a layman I'm sure, but the sets have not been updated since they first appeared in the 1990s and that's a shame.

Much more fresh, vigorous collating and remastering is currently being accomplished and provided on DVD by Thunderbean Animation in the form of output by the Van Beuren Studios, also previously collected (though sparsely) by Bosko Video's "Cartoons That Time Forgot: Van Beuren Studios".

But for sheer Iwerks visual bliss the DVDs you want are the Amazon France "Flip the Frog" and "ComiColor" sets with two DVDs a peice. The shorts are remastered from 35mm prints acquired by Lobster Films and distributed by Europe's top MK2 brand and they look and sound beautiful.

"Flip" is COMPLETE, "ComiColor" is missing maybe one or two shorts.

Now, the trouble in paradise is that they are of course Region 2 PAL, but I think any serious vintage animation enthusiast should have a region free player by now.

The other difficulty is that they are now out of print - BUT, third party sellers in France have them at good prices, in fact, less than retail.

I can't praise these highly enough. These 15+ year old American collections are okay and I think they might have a couple of "Willie the Whopper" 'toons more, but for a complete "Flip" set the 'frogs' know how best to celebrate Iwerk's Frog.

I bought this specifically to get a copy of Balloon Land to show to my grandchildren. I thought that this cartoon had a lesson for all of us. How could balloon people defend themselves against a Pincushion man? The situation seemed hopeless. So how did they do it? They made a sticky dough which they threw at the Pincushion man until he got so stuck together that he just rolled away in a huge ball of dough. All the balloons piched in, some making dough, some manning the machines that threw the dough. They had a warning system that was sounded when the Pincushion man appeared. I found the other cartoons thoroughly entertaining too. It was very refreshing to have plots that involved more than cat-and-mouse type chases.

After watching a ton of Disney Treasure sets, this second collection of Ub Iwerks early cartoons may not be of the same quality as his efforts with Disney, but they are certainly worth the time of any animation history buff. At a bargain price, this set features 26 cartoons and for the most part they look very good, with most of the wear being at the beginning of each short during titles and the first 30 seconds or so of the shorts. Have they been remastered? .....probably not, but besides a little wear here and there, they are presented uncut and look pretty clear and not washed out. The only exception is to Hell's Fire which has a caption before the cartoon starts that states :these are the last remaining fragments of the cartoon that have survived". This cartoon runs well over 5 minutes, so I can't imagine too much is missing....at least they included what has survived and they don't try to pass it off as a complete short.

Like the first set, this one volume two still has the basic menu with my only gripe, the menu could have used a little work to make it a little more user friendly. You can play all the cartoons or look at the scene selection for individual titles, but once you start the cartoon from any point, it will play all from that point. Meaning you have to stop after each cartoon and go to the menu if you want to skip around and see selected shorts. It's not a huge deal, but it could have been easily fixed with a few adjustments.

Is it worth buying, absolutely! it has 26 rare shorts that may never look any better or be released again. At a tad under $10.00(or cheaper if you look around), you get a nice collection of cartoons from a man who was a pioneer in animation. The shorts are not the best he produced, but I enjoyed these cartoons very much.

It's as good if not better than Volume 1 of Cartoons That Time Forgot. The episodes are a bit more wierd in this volume. Hope there will be a Volume 3 coming out soon.

Fantastic reference material for animation and cartooning inspiration. The quality of these old cartoons is very good for their age.

Both my husband and I are cartoon-heads and enjoy well made toons. These are the best! If you like old toons then buy these because they are a joy to watch.