Here’s another wonderful and weird Fleischer Color Classics cartoon.
You can get all but one of the Color Classics on this great DVD set called Somewhere in Dreamland:
THE CARTOON CRYPT: The Little Dutch Mill (1934)
Reply
Category Archives: THE CARTOON CRYPT
THE CARTOON CRYPT: The Cobweb Hotel (1936)
Another great cartoon from the Max Fleischer Color Classics series.
You can get all but one of the Color Classics on this great DVD set called Somewhere in Dreamland:
I’ve noticed a couple additional things worth noting going through the DVD set. First of all, the color on some of the cartoons, although still seemingly faded, is hugely improved over the other versions of them that I’ve seen… this is particularly obvious comparing versions of Hawaiian Birds. Also, in the version of Peeping Penguins included, the song “Curiosity Killed the Cat” is curiously missing from the soundtrack, which is a damn shame. I haven’t checked it against my other version of it, but it seemed like this version may have been shorter as well. In spite of these relatively minor flaws, this is still an incredible set of cartoons. You can click the above image to order it.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: Bunny Mooning (1937)
I was thrilled the other day to run across the DVD set Max Fleischer’s Color Classics: Somewhere in Dreamland
The center image on the cover of the DVD is from the cartoon Bunny Mooning. This one is so saccharine-sweet, it is surprising it came out of the Fleischer studios… I’m guessing it is one of the worst cartoons on the set. It is still a lot of fun, though! It’s definitely no Dancing on the Moon (my favorite so far)!
Read more about this cartoon on The Big Cartoon Database.
Here are the contents of the DVD Set:
DISK ONE
1. Poor Cinderella (starring Betty Boop) **
2. Little Dutch Mill **
3. An Elephant Never Forgets **
4. Song of the Birds
5. Dancing On the Moon 1935 **
6. Somewhere in Dreamland **
7. The Little Stranger
8. The Cobweb Hotel
9. Greedy Humpty Dumpty
10. Hawaiian Birds
11. Play Safe
12. Christmas Comes But Once a Year **
13. Bunny Mooning
14. Chicken A La King
15. A Car-Tune Portrait
16. Peeping Penguins
DISK TWO
1. Educated Fish” (1937)
2. Little Lamby
3. Hold It! **
4. Hunky and Spunky (1938)
5. All’s Fair At the Fair **
6. Playful Polar Bears
7. Always Kickin’ (starring Hunky and Spunky)
8. Small Fry
9. Barnyard Brat (starring Hunky and Spunky)
10. The Fresh Vegetable Mystery **
11. Little Lambkins
12. Ants In the Plants **
13. A Kick In Time (starring Hunky and Spunky)
14. Snubbed By A Snob (starring Hunky and Spunky)
15. You Can’t Shoe A Horsefly (starring Hunky and Spunky)
**optional audio commentary by Jerry Beck**THE LOST EPISODES
A documentary about the making of this collection of the complete `Color Classics’ cartoons. It includes four uncut ultra-rare cartoons:
1*The Kids In the Shoe
2*Time For Love (the only known copy in existence is this black & white version)
3*Musical Memories
4*Vitamin Hay (starring Hunky and Spunky)
I’ll probably post more about these cartoons as I make my way through the set with my 2 and a half year old daughter, Esther (Dancing on the Moon is her favorite too).
THE CARTOON CRYPT: Felix the Cat in Skulls and Sculls
Here’s a fun Otto Messmer Felix the Cat cartoon.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: Betty Boop in Betty in Blunderland (1934)
Another excellent, surreal Betty Boop cartoon… I love the Jabberwocky in this. The featured song in it, “How Do You Do,” is an altered version of the song “Everyone Says I Love You.” Below is Groucho Marx’s wonderful version of that song from Horse Feathers (1932) (starts at 36 seconds in or so). There are other great versions of that song in Horse Feathers as well… note that you can see the entire movie on YouTube starting here. I’ve exported the music from both movies as mp3’s for your listening pleasure… you can grab those here.
Read more about this cartoon on the Big Cartoon Database here.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: A Day at the Zoo (1939)
A gag-overflowing Tex Avery directed Warner Brothers cartoon I’m fond of, that was on heavy rotation locally when I was a kid. Bread and butter.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: The Calico Dragon (1935)
A MGM Harman-Ising Happy Harmony. The inspiration for Ghidra, no doubt.
Read more about this cartoon on The Big Cartoon Database here.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: Betty Boop and Pudgy in Happy You and Merry Me (1936)
Another good Betty Boop and Pudgy cartoon for you… this one is probably my daughter’s favorite.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: Betty Boop and Pudgy in My Friend the Monkey (1939)
I must confess, I used to really dislike Pudgy and Grampy… the characters that invaded Betty Boop’s cartoons after her pre-Hays code prime. I blamed them for the decline of quality in Betty Boop cartoons, not to mention the unfortunate disappearance of Bimbo and Koko. I’ve been watching them a lot lately, however, because my daughter LOVES Pudgy… and they really are fun cartoons. Betty is nowhere near as interesting as in her earlier cartoons… but I guess it ain’t Pudgy and Grampy’s fault. This is the 6th from last Fleischer Betty Boop cartoon, and 2nd from last Pudgy cartoon. This may be my favorite of the Pudgy cartoons I’ve seen.
PLEASE NOTE: This cartoon contains ethnic depictions that some people would certainly find offensive, and you may not want to watch it if this sort of thing bugs you.
THE CARTOON CRYPT: Silvery Moon aka Candy Town (1933 Van Beuren Cartoon)
A fun 1933 Van Beuren cartoon, with Mae Questel doing a voice for a studio other than Fleischer.
Read more about this cartoon on the Big Cartoon Database here.