Customer Reviews

Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies (1929-1938)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

NEW INFORMATION: A recent reviewer asked about whether or not to return the discs from this DVD set to the Disney Company for the corrected discs.

I personally decided to return my original discs for the corrected ones for several reasons. ONE - the title cards (which list the title of the cartoons) had been recreated for this DVD release but "someone" in the production process didn't do their job and didn't attach these recreations to the cartoons. For me, this is a relatively minor reason to get replacement discs. TWO - The 1934 cartoon "The Goddess Of Spring" in this DVD release is a poorer quality copy. This cartoon was digitally restored and was included as an extra on the last Snow White DVD release. I have this cartoon in the nicer quality on that Snow White DVD so this is still a relativey minor reason to get the replacement discs. THREE - The 1933 cartoon "The Night Before Christmas" is included incomplete on this release. A short scene of black stereotyped toys in a parade are left out of the cartoon. I want the full uncensored cartoon so this is the MAJOR reason I returned my discs for the corrected discs. These newer discs are supposed to have all the above problems corrected.

Those reasons should give you, the customer, the information on whether you want to exchange your original discs for the replacement discs. As the other reviewer stated - you can call 1-800-723-4763 in the U.S. or 1-888-877-2843 in Canada. Tell the Disney customer service representative that you are interested in exchanging your More Silly Symphonies discs for the corrected discs.

By the way, I got the set when it was first released in December 2006 and I love the quality of the cartoons. Except for the relatively minor oops listed above, this is a fantastic quality collection - one I will treasure (along with all the other Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets) the rest of my life!!! There are hours and hours of fun cartoons and nice animation on this set!!

OLD INFORMATION:

One reviewer expressed concern that all the remaining Silly Symphony cartoons would be in this DVD release. Leonard Maltin, who was involved in producing these Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets, has stated that all the remaining Silly Symphony cartoons will be in this set. Here's the list of the 38 cartoons not included in the first Silly Symphony Treasures set that should be in this set.

1. Arctic Antics (1930)
2. Autumn (1930)
3. The Bears And The Bees (1932)
4. The Bird Store (1932)
5. Birds In The Spring (1933)
6. Broken Toys (1935)
7. Bugs In Love (1932)
8. Cannibal Capers (1930)
9. The Cat's Out (Also known as The Cat's Nightmare) (1931)
10. The China Shop (1934)
11. The Clock Store (1931)
12. Cock O' The Walk (1935)
13. El Terrible Toreador (1929)
14. The Fox Hunt (1931)
15. Frolicking Fish (1930)
16. The Goddess Of Spring (1934)
17. Hell's Bells (1929)
18. King Neptune (1932)
19. Little Hiawatha (1937)
20. Merbabies (1938)
21. The Merry Dwarfs (1929)
22. Midnight In A Toy Shop (1930)
23. Monkey Melodies (1930)
24. More Kittens (1936)
25. The Moth And The Flame (1938)
26. Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
27. Night (1930)
28. The Night Before Christmas (1933)
29. Old King Cole (1933)
30. The Pied Piper (1933)
31. Playful Pan (1930)
32. Santa's Workshop (1932)
33. The Spider And The Fly ((1931)
34. Springtime (1929)
35. Summer (1930)
36. Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936)
37. Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
38. Winter (1930)

As happened in the first Treasures set of the Silly Symphony cartoons, some of the more controversial cartoons might be found only in an Easter Egg. "Who Killed Cock Robin?" is an example from the first set.

These last Silly Symphonies are among Disney's rarest, most interesting, and most entertaining cartoons. Some of them contain some fascinating experimental animation.

I very much look forward to watching these at DVD quality.

Hi, I just found this information on the Walt Disney Treasures website.

WALT DISNEY TREASURES: MORE SILLY SYMPHONIES

In an effort to present the classic cartoons contained on MORE SILLY SYMPHONIES as originally intended, Walt Disney Studio recently recreated the original title cards that were to appear at the start of each film. Due to a production error, these restored cards were inadvertently not included on this new DVD collection. We sincerely apologize for this mistake, and are currently working to rectify the issue. Please check back for an update as to when the replacement discs will be ready. We anticipate them sometime in early March.

If you have purchased MORE SILLY SYMPHONIES and would like to have them replaced with the corrected DVDs, call 1-800-723-4763 (U.S.)/1-888-877-2843 (Canada). Please note, you will receive replacement discs, not replacement packaging. Please hold on to your current packaging.

I just bought this DVD because I really like classic cartoons, but I'm not a collector so I don't really understand what was the mistake and if I should exchange them.

Thanks!

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DISNEY DVD RELEASE THIS YEAR! Many of these cartoons are appearing on home video for the first time ever in any format & language!

First let me say that this is a FIVE STAR ***** collection of cartoons that have been talked about by other reviewers here, so let me talk about the DVD presentation & film transfers.

DISC 1 only:
Again Disney has decided to save money and not digitally restore the nitrate deterioration on the original negatives. The picture flicker & blotches can be tolerated as these are around 86 years old or more.

Strangely, some cartoons have hairs & dirt on the sides of the picture frame & sometimes stuck in the center of the picture through out the entire cartoon. These could have been digitally removed.

Most of the B&W cartoons are window-boxed with different aspect ratios, some are taller than they are wider. I am confused by this, I have only run across this on silent films that have had soundtracks added on re-releases.

Most of the B&W cartoons have the re-issue title cards with Mickey Mouse's face introducing the cartoon. Leonard Maltin explains how the original title cards were lost on most of these when they were re-released, but then he talks about restoring the original look of the title cards. Maybe nobody told him they weren't going to do it.

One other strange problem is with the menu. The "Play All" feature plays the shorts in a different order that the "Chronological Order" and the "Alphabetical Order". The "Play All" plays the shorts in the order listed in the insert, which gives different release years for some shorts than on the "Chrolonogical Order" listing.
Both play out sequences differ from the published chronological orders in Disney books by Leonard Maltin & Dave Smith. The published chronological orders seem to be the correct ones.

DISC 2 ONLY:
Most of the color cartoons have gotten the digital picture & audio restoration treatment. THEY LOOK & SOUND GREAT! The exceptions to this are in the "From The Vault" secition. I guess these cartoons with racial stereotypes have little use for Disney so they were not cleaned up as much. The colors are still vibrant, but there is nitrate deterioration on the sides.

Disc 2 also "Plays All" in the chronological order, unlike Disc 1.

Well, those are all trivial complaints. The bottom line is that Disney is offering these RARELY SEEN cartoons mastered from their best existing negative material. THIS IS A REAL TREAT.

To be honest I haven't yet watched this DVD, but I am very excited to recieve it because some of my favorite shorts are here. The problem is, I had to go to Amazon.ca to see an actual list of the actual contents of the DVDs. If you're interested, here they are:

Hell's Bells (1929)
Springtime (1929)
Arctic Antics (1930)
Autumn (1930)
Playfull Pan (1930)
Summer (1930)
The Cat's Out (1931)
The Clock Store (1931)
The Fox Hunt (1931)
The Spider and the Fly (1931)
The Bears and Bees (1930)
The Bird Store (1932)
Bugs In Love (1932)
Frolicking Fish (1932)
Monkey Melodies (1932)
Night (1932)
Winter (1932)
Cannibal Capers (1930)
Cannibal Capers (with. Origianl Ending)
El Terrible Toreador (1929)
The Merry Dwarfs (1929)
Midnight In a Toy Shop (1930)
Birds In the Spring (1933)
The Night Before Christmas (1933)
Old King Cole (1933)
The Pied Piper (1933)
The Goddess of Spring (1934)
Cock O' the Walk (1935)
Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936)
Little Hiawatha (1937)
Merbabies (1938)
Moth and the Flame (1938)
King Neptune (1932)
Santa's Workshop (1932)
The China Shop (1934)
Broken Toys (1935)
Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
More Kittens (1936)
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)

Disney can be so coniving in the way they withold their greatest treasures to increase the demand-- to the point where some children grow up never having seen Pinocchio. When they do finally release something, they ought to let you know what is it that's being released.

I was very much looking forward to this release but a number of things have irritated me about it.

First of all on disc 2 there are a number of issues. During the short 'More Kittens' at 2:06 black and white blocks appear on the screen. Since a number of various online forums and sites have mentioned this, it obviously means it is not just my copy that is affected. Also the cartoon 'The Moth and the Flame' changes aspect ratio in the middle of a shot!

Further to this the short 'The Night Before Christmas' had been edited, a small scene featuring black dolls has been removed.

Also the issue of restoration has annoyed me. If you watch the featurette in the bonus features, you see clips of shorts like 'The Goddess of Spring' which have restored picture. Yet for some stupid reason even though a restored print obviously exists when you actually watch the short of 'The Goddess of Spring' it is not the restored version and is an older version. The print is not terrible, but why provide a dull grainy version when a restored one is available?

Another annoyance is that during his introduction Leonard Maltin says that since the original title cards have been lost, new ones have been created especially for this release that recreate the way they originally looked. But obviously due to some goof, these newly created title cards are completely absent.

Also the shorts on disc one have had seemingly nothing done to them. Now I know that black and white shorts from the 1920s are never going to look like they were made yesterday, but I'm sure Disney could have done better than this! When independent studios manage to produce DVDs overflowing with excellent restoration and bonus features for relatively unknown titles. I'm sure a corporate giant like Disney could do much better than this but it looks like they'd rather be miserly penny pinchers and get this stuff on the market as cheaply as they can. If only Disney cared about their past as much as we do!

After a long wait, Disney has issued the remaining "Silly Symphony" cartoons in this excellent two-disc set. There are lesser-known gems such as "The Fox Hunt" (1931), "The China Shop" (1934), "Broken Toys" (1935) and the Oscar-nominated "Mother Goose Goes Hollywood" (1938) - along with 1929 efforts from legendary animator Ub Iwerks and composer Carl Stalling ("Hell's Bells" and "Springtime"). Like its DVD predecessor, "More Silly Symphonies" is essential animation history and a fascinating chronicle of the Disney Studio's artistic evolution.

This is one of the best of the Disney Treasures so far! Not only does it have quite a few of the less familiar works (most of the more familiar are on the first Silly Symphonies set), but they really did a fine job of the extras this time around. Lots of commentaries, including several with specific focus on the music in the short. Very glad to see that they included some of the less politically correct shorts, though they have to use lots of disclaimers, both in the intros and in the commentaries, and they have 'buried' these in the specials on the discs ("From the Vaults"). No matter, it's just great that these are finally available!

Now if they'd just do the same for Song of the South!

All and all, this is a wonderful and welcome collection!!

Those who know about the "Silly Symphonies", know what the fuss is all about, and will not hesitate to buy this collection! These cartoons should be arranged chronologically, both for artistic and historical reasons, and the current set allows us to view them so. The "next time" the Disney people put out the "Sillies" on video, they should publish them all, and in chronological order.

Re the title of my review. I so wish the Disney organization would do more to publicize these cartoon gems and to make more people aware of them. As it stands, if you know about these cartoons, you are one in 10,000 people! Also, this "once in 10 years limited edition" business is certainly not helping either. Video software is not likely to become a collectible in the long run, as new formats are invented.

I so appreciate Leonard Maltin's role in this. He is a true old film buff, and has done a wonderful job with popularizing 1930's films!

All early animation is a vital part of anyone's cinema collection...that is, if you're either an animation fan or a film historian. This package, as great as it is, is DEFINITELY not for everyone, as some people may find the early toons too tedious. I find that even the most hardcore fan has trouble sitting thru the early toons in chronological order, as you can only put up with dancing animals, dancing plants and other non-human dancing things for only so long (I suggest everyone watch these in alphabetical order, NOT chronological).

That aside, the gems are definitely the color toons; it's about time we saw "Little Hiawatha" again! It's great! And as lame as "Goddess Of Spring" is (it's pretty awful!) it's important as it paved the way for Walt's "Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs." The color on my collection was excellent and Jerry Beck & Leonard Maltin (among others) provide some informative commentaries.

You'll see the original ending of "Cannibal Capers" and scratch your head wondering why it was cut off when it aired on "The Mickey Mouse Club"...the censored scene is only a few seconds long and contains nothing racial, sexist or offensive...I DON'T GET IT!

Casual toon fans and those who didn't grow up with Black & White TV may not enjoy this set, but the rest of us know how important it is to own these historical films.

This is a great collection of classic Disney cartoons aimed to some extent at fans and collectors. Great animation and great music, although some of these cartoons are not the funniest ones from the period. May seem a little dated to today's older kids, but the younger ones should like it. Disney has to be congratulated on this set.