Customer Reviews

Uncensored Bosko #1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently bought this dvd of Bosko which "claims" to be the best copy of Bosko Cartoons anywhere. This is FALSE. These cartoons are full of film dirt, scratches and are not even in there original state. They are reissues for early 50's television syndication. This can be determined by the fact that the openings show Buddy, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck While the producer credit goes to Leon Schesinger. The problem with this is that these cartoons were made between the years 1929-1933. Buddy wasn't created until 1934, porky wasn't until 1935 and Daffy didn't come out until 1937! Infact, the drawing of Porky Pig on the Title card is circa 1940!The producer's credit should be to Harmon and Ising not Leon, although he was their boss at that time. Beware these cartoons look exactly like the vhs videos of public domain cartoons that you'd find in a supermarket markdown bin.Cartoon Network shows Bosko from time to time and their prints are excelent. They are clear as a bell with no scratches and they're FREE. Don't make a 25 dollar mistake like I did. Shame on any proprietor who tries to pass off this junk to the public!

It's hard to know exactly what to say about these cartoons. As far as the animation goes, it's excellent. The cartoon "Bosko the Doughboy" has some incredible and almost breathtaking scenes in it. All the toons have a look similar to the black and white Betty Boop cartoons. Compared with cartoons today, they're amazingly detailed and the characters are full of life each time they move. A lot of work used to go into the production of cartoons (pre Hanna-Barbera), which is obvious from this DVD.

In addition, these were the first "Looney Toons" made by Warner Brothers. Bosko is the first character to have said "That's all folks!" at the end of a Looney Tune (Porky Pig took his place later). These cartoons plant some seeds for what would become the classic 40's Looney Tunes with Bugs Bunny and Daffy, et al. As the precursor to these classic toons, Bosko is important.

On the other hand, these are definitely cartoons from the 1930s. Musicals were HUGE then, and these cartoons are mostly musical in content. Of course, so were a lot of the early Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop cartoons. That was entertainment then. Nonetheless, the animation carries a lot of the show even today. They are still entertaining in their own way. If you enjoy music from the 20s and 30s (including the usual ubiquitous Jolson hits) then you'll be doubly happy.

Then there's the biggest reason we can tell they're from the 1930s: ethnic caricatures. In the first toon, "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid", Bosko's voice is without doubt a caricature of an African-American boy. Then there's the undeniable fact, while watching "Congo Jazz", that the playful monkeys and apes have a striking resemblance to Bosko. Bosko's girlfriend is also without doubt a caricature (she also shares a lot of the characteristics of Minnie Mouse). The stereotypes of the age are painfully obvious in these toons, as they are in all toons from this era (the Betty Boop toon with Louis Armstrong, "I'll be Glad When you're Dead you Rascal You!", is painful to watch, and nothing on this DVD approaches that; as far as negative portrayal of African-Americans in movies and cartoons goes, it gets a LOT worse than Bosko). It's easy to condemn the makers of these toons today, but it's more productive to learn from rather than censor them. It's art like this that really shows how things have changed in the last 100 years (not that the struggles are complete, mind you).

The quality of the toons on this DVD varies from toon to toon. The audio is typically low and sometimes a little muffled. The images sometimes bleed into the background, but overall the quality is more than viewable. There's nothing completely unwatchable.

The only complaint is probably not attributable to Bosko Video. Since the titles feature Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, who Bosko outdated by years, these obviously are not the original title sequences. It would be great to see the Bosko cartoons restored with their original titles, but this may be easier said than done. It's possible that the original titles are long gone.

The Bosko cartoons on this DVD are important culturally and historically. They reveal the biases of their age and are also entertaining as cartoons or as lessons in the art of animation. If you enjoy black and white animation from this period you'll enjoy this DVD.

This compilation of cartoons isn't going to appeal to everyone. In the early 30's, sound was still a novelty for animation, so most of these pictures could be considered musical novelties. "The Talk-ink Kid" was the pilot film Harman and Ising used to sell the series to Leon Schlesinger, and may be one of the earliest cartoons to synchronize the images to actual speech, which is of historical interest. Harman and Ising then proceeded to make Bosko seem as much like Mickey Mouse as possible (although he tends to look more like a blackface caricature, and even spoke in such a voice in "The Talk-ink Kid and "Sinkin' in the Bathtub"). If you can put them into their proper historical perspective, Bosko's cartoons are entertaining, yet derivative. As for their appeal to today's audiences, I doubt many people would make it to the end of this collection. It should also be noted that since these are public domain prints of these shorts, the picture and sound quality is not very good.

The very first Warner Brothers cartoon star has finally arrived, straight to DVD. This makes this the first "Looney Tunes" DVD, although unofficially. Although we are still waiting for Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to get their own DVDs, at least we can see how it all started.
The DVD starts with a unique find: the pilot film that was made to showcase Bosko as an all-talking cartoon star and to attract distribution from movie studios. It is a short live action/animated film, co-starring Bosko's co-creator Rudolph Ising. The audio quality is VERY primitive (it was made in 1929, 2 years after talking pictures were born!), with Bosko sounding different to his latter Mickey Mouse-type voice!
The first official cartoon, Sinkin' In The Bathtub, is also included. The cartoon has a lack of a story, but is very musical (so it should be, as sound was a novelty back then!) and very Disney-esque! This was to be the trend for the forthcoming Bosko cartoons, although all of the cartoons are enjoyable.
The DVD only ranks four stars in my opinion, as the cartoons are from the public domain, with lots of grain and print damage (although they are still watchable), with the beginning and end titles being replaced to hide the Warner Brothers logo (Warner did sell them off in the 1950's, but regained them in the late 1960's). To be fair, Bosko Video is providing a service to fans of classic american animation, and the chances of Warner Brothers releasing a DVD of pristine Bosko cartoons are virtually non-existant. This is the best we are ever going to get, and it's still an essential purchase for animation addicts everywhere!

Before Bugs and Daffy there was Bosko. Not sure if uncensored is completely accurate. While many of the toons do have their racial caricatures, there certainly not as offensive as many other cartoons from the same period. As noted by another reviewer, many of these are musicals since that kind of went along hand-in-hand with early animation.

Still, there's no denying the quality and depth of detail in the animation. There were no short cuts taken back then to do them on the cheap as they would a couple of decades later. I found the quality to be average. I think little if any restoration was done on them for the DVD release which is hardly surprising considering the content. It's not "Gone with the Wind" you know.

Highlights of the set include:

"Bosko's Fox Hunt" - This is another fox hunt which comes complete with singing horses and aristocrats who are too fat to mount their steeds under their own power. A dachschund tracks down its own rear end. Bosko pulls on a tail that he thinks belongs to a fox, but which turns out to be something a little more intimidating. Let it be said that the fox is pretty safe with this group!

"Dumb Patrol" - In this deft parody of the World War I aviation movies that were the rage in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Bosko is an ace flyer who goes into battle against a menacing foe.

"Hold Anything" - Bosko and Honey are joined by a zooful of animals who are having too much fun to get any work done on a construction site. A goat's transformation into a hot-air balloon is a surreal highlight.

"Bosko the Doughboy" - It is World War I. Rockets, bombs and bullets are everywhere. A bird gets shot, leaving a huge hole -- saluting as it falls into a pool of water. An army band is hit, leaving several soldiers in their underwear. Bosko is a toughened soldier in battle who cannot eat beans without being harassed by the enemy's bombs. Bosko is bored with the war until the enemy shoots his photo of Honey -- and that is the last straw! Bosko vows to get even -- but it is not that easy. He goes into action with violent results.

While this is a strong collection I frankly find it a bit pricey at over $20 for 90 minutes.

I recently bought this dvd of Bosko which contrary to the previous review is indeed in my opinion THE best copy of Bosko Cartoons available anywhere. In fact it is the only copy available and no you will never see Bosko on TV again! Cartoon Network will not show them and I don't believe any other Network ever will,(other than a history documentary) this is because the dated 1930's cartoons to be considered politically incorrect. At the time however any "incorrect" humor was not mean spirited.
The minimal film dirt and scratches along with mono sound add much charachter to these treasured classics. Some, but not all of the openings show Buddy, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck While the producer credit goes to Leon Schesinger. The problem with this is that these cartoons were made between the years 1929-1933. Buddy wasn't created until 1934, porky wasn't until 1935 and Daffy didn't come out until 1937! Infact, the drawing of Porky Pig on the Title card is circa 1940!The producer's credit should be to Harmon and Ising not Leon, although he was their boss at that time. This is due to editing them for syndication in the 1950s, however the entire cartoon is completely intact! I would suggest to anyone interested in good classic humor to buy this one while they can, because unfortunately Bosko is almost unknown today and I am uncertain how long this great buy will be available. I am a theatre organist myself who still plays the great movie palace WurliTzer pipe organs from a bygone era, this DVD will be a fun adventure in time to a simpler place when America was prospering the most ever and then thru the Depression. I think anyone young or old will be greatly entertained by these cartoons..and btw Adults take a look for some of the grown up humor , I don't think you will see that on newer cartoons, you will be surprised! Enjoy

The list of cartoons for the second volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection was recently announced, and it will include two black-and-white cartoons. The first volume did not contain any.

While progress is being made in getting rarer and older cartoons restored and released by Warner Brothers, it will still be a long while before they've got Bosko cartoons ready to release (if Warner Bros. releases them at all).

So in the meantime, the two DVDs in the "Uncensored Bosko" series are good for study of early animation, and are actually entertaining. While full of dust and dirt, the video quality is better than most copies of these cartoons.

Also recommended: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Presenting Felix the Cat, Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White

Warner Bros. has all the Bosko cartoons and won't let anybody show them on telivision! Why? Because they think Bosko is a offensive to black people! He isn't even in the least bit offensive, he looks like a coconut with a body and a face carved on him! Bosko the Talk-ink kid may be offensive, but the other cartoons have him sounding like Mickey Mouse! There isn't one thing half wrong with him and Warner Bros. is just too darn picky! Do they really think this stuff is going to offend people? Bosko is one of the greatest cartoon characters ever made! Some people claim he is a rip-off of Mickey Mouse, in a way, the resemblance is clear, but in another, pretty much any cartoon that you watch made in the early 30s is going to be like a Mickey Mouse sort of premise! Besides, Harman and Ising (Bosko's creators) learned to draw the exact same way Walt Disney did along with everybody in his staff! Bosko is a great character and he should be shown on cartoon network. Period!

My Brother's a cartoon collector of the classic period of cartoons so I bought him this and he really likes it!

This is a must for any LOONEY collectors. It is great to have the old cartoons!