Search - Bizarre Cartoons Of The Past on DVD

Animation from Fleischer, Vitaphone, Powers and (mostly) Van

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 04/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"ALPHA's BIZARRE CARTOONS OF THE PAST showcases cartoon "stars" long-forgotten by all but vintage animation fans. Featured here are VITAPHONE's "Beans" character, the original "Tom and Jerry" (a pair of height mismatched humans) from VAN BEUREN STUDIOS, also VB's "Cubby Bear" (a Mickey Mouse clone) and "Molly Moo-Cow."


MACKINAC's CULTOONS! ADS AND ODDITIES is a nicely-mixed bag of quite rare shorts, animated theater ads, promos aimed at retailers, propaganda, and footage once used as backdrop for a World's Fair exhibit.


PROGRAM LIST for "Bizarre Cartoons of the Past" (including synopses)--
Studios: FLEISCHER [fl], POWERS [po], VAN BEUREN [vb], WARNER BROS. [wb]

OPENING NIGHT (1933) [vb] - At the opera house, Cubby Bear conducts an energetic version of "Faust."

THE COBWEB HOTEL (1936) [fl] - Newlywed flies are trapped in their honeymoon suite by Mr. Spider.

PIANO TOONERS (1932) [vb] - Tom and Jerry's musical adventures at an opera house include meeting a fat diva and a flapper.

IT'S A GREEK LIFE (1936) [vb] - A centaur blacksmith repairs Mercury's winged shoes, takes them on a test flight and ruins them.

MERRY KITTENS (1935) [vb] - Three kittens tease a terrier until all four end up in a jam.

HOLLYWOOD CAPERS (1935) [wb] - Early Warner's "Beans" short features caricatures of Oliver Hardy, WC Fields, Charlie Chaplin and Frankenstein's monster.

ROCKETEERS (1932) [vb] - Tom and Jerry blast off for the moon but end up elsewhere.

GAY GAUCHO (1933) [vb] - Cubby Bear is chased from a cantina and pursued by a mob.

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME (1934) [vb] - A team of avian fotogs and reporters (including "Walter Finchell") do an exposé on the boy with his hands in the jam jar.

THE PINCUSHIONMAN ("Balloon Land") (1935) [po] - Ub Iwerks short about a community of balloons terrorized by a pin-hurling baddie.

IN THE BAG (1932) [vb] - Tom and Jerry fly an egg-shaped airplane out West, where they meet up with an outlaw.

MOLLY MOO-COW AND THE BUTTERFLIES (1935) [vb] - The pasture Molly happily shares with colorful butterflies is invaded by a butterfly collector.

THE RAVEN (1942) [fl] - One of the last FLEISCHER releases. Technicolor two-reeler based on the famous Poe work. Music includes Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody.

POTS AND PANS (1932) [vb] - At Tom and Jerry's diner, all the appliances sing and dance.

CUPID GETS HIS MAN (1936) [vb] - WC Fields and Edna Mae Oliver resist Dan Cupid's attempts to make them a couple."

Nothing to see here

Timothy Ramzyk | Milwaukee, WI United States | 12/31/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Once again Alpha Video has resorted to using masterings that range from so-so to terrible for these public-domain cartoons. Some of the color cartoons show horrendous digital artifacting and are all really soft. If you care about picture quality at all, this disk is just wasted space on your shelf."

BIZARRE , YES..... BUT.....

Mike S. | Milford, MA | 12/19/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This set of cartoons is billed as "Bizarre" , and while they probably can be thought of as bizarre, that doesn't make them "Good". I was not impressed. I like cartoons of all kinds, old, new, feature films and short cartoons, you name it..., but this was barely average. I enjoyed one ( The Pincushion Man) out of the fifteen cartoons on this DVD. This set may be entertaining for young kids , but if you are looking for something creative and quirky from the past, there are better offerings than this.

- Mike S."

At $7.98 it's $7.00 overpriced

Bernie | MN United States | 06/09/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The cartoons are interesting for their historical and cultural value, but the poor quality of the images cannot be excused. If there was any attempt at restoration it is not in evidence."