DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Mickey Mouse In Black And White" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Chris S]

Thanks for the review Ron!
I loved the last set of Disney Treasures and I can't wait to get a hold of these. Just out of curiosity Ron what number is your B&W set? And did anyone less try to hunt down the lowest numbered set they could find? I had a blast with this last year but I'm not sure why. Must be the little collector in me .
Chris S.

 

[David Gerstein]

Hi Ron,

I'm curious to know how the B/W Mickey DVD's presentation of its cartoons compares to the earlier use of the same cartoons on the 1993 laserdisc set. There were a number of errors and a few bits of censorship on the laser set that I'm hoping are not repeated here.
It will hopefully be easy for you to check the details. For example:

In 1993, STEAMBOAT WILLIE was censored on laser. The censored print cuts from the scene of Mickey pulling the tails of nursing piglets to a scene of a parrot dancing on a perch. In the uncut cartoon, MM pulls and kicks the piglets away from the mother sow, turns the sow over and tweaks her teats accordion-style.
Which version is used on DVD?

In 1993, PIONEER DAYS was presented on laser in a truncated rerelease print (which at the time was thought to be complete). The rerelease print ends with Minnie rescuing Mickey from the Indian warrior by dropping a coal down the warrior's trousers. The original version ends after that, back at the pioneer camp, where Mickey and Minnie scare the rest of the Indians away by pretending to be the cavalry, marching with a bunch of branches held as bayonets.
Which version is used on DVD?

In 1993, THE CHAIN GANG, THE GORILLA MYSTERY, and YE OLDEN DAYS had replacement main and end title music on laser. The main title music on the first two originally ended with a ding-dong sound made on a cowbell. The title music on YE OLDEN DAYS was originally the standard Mickey theme song, "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo" (as opposed to "Days Of Olde" played on a Casio keyboard, as used both on laser and on the more recent Robin Hood DVD).
Which versions are used on the B/W Mickey DVD?

In 1993, many title cards on the later cartoons were artificially recreated for the laser set. The most obvious example is MICKEY'S GALA PREMIERE, where in the re-creation, PREMIERE was misspelled PREMIER.
How is it spelled on DVD?

In 1993, the visual element of the black and white ORPHAN'S BENEFIT (1934) was paired with the audio element from the later color remake (1941). The original 1934 audio should really end with Donald saying "aw, nuts!". The 1941 audio ends with Donald saying "aw, phooey!"
Which version is used on DVD?

Best wishes,
David Gerstein

 

[Brian Kidd]

Wow David. You know your Disney! I'm also interested to hear if these shorts are the ORIGINAL films. Disney has been mighty lax lately when using the words "original" and "uncut", even extending to modern films such as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST where the supposed "Original Theatrical Version" has some different sound effects and at least one altered bit of dialogue. Don't get me started on FANTASIA.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

I'm curious to know how the B/W Mickey DVD's presentation of its cartoons compares to the earlier use of the same cartoons on the 1993 laserdisc set. There were a number of errors and a few bits of censorship on the laser set that I'm hoping are not repeated here.

I am waiting to hear this info as well before I order this set.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

David,

You have far better knowledge of these shorts
than I do. I never bought the laserdisc set, and
this is the first time I have actually sat and
watched many of these cartoons.

I wish I could have helped you further.

 

[David Gerstein]

To quote Goofy: "Gawrsh!"

You actually can help me (and fellow reader Jeff Jacobson) further, Ronald, and you don't need the laserdisc to do it. Just take the DVDs you have now...

Watch STEAMBOAT WILLIE's Turkey in the Straw sequence, wait for Mickey pulling the piglets' tails, and then see if Mickey also turns the mama pig over and tweaks her teats to the music.
Watch the ending of PIONEER DAYS and tell us what happens in the final scene as you see it.
Watch the ending of ORPHAN'S BENEFIT and tell us what Donald says right before the iris closes.

Just by telling me (and Jeff) those things, you'll give us the most critical info about this DVD that I think we need.

Thanks!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

David,
More than happy to help you.....
Steamboat Willie
Yes, after Mickey picks up the Mama
pig, he plays with her teats. Here is
a screenshot....

Pioneer Days
The short begins with Maltin talking about
some of the ill-mannered images that were seen
in the early Mickey cartoons (including one of
characters tobacco spitting and beer drinking).
In the short we see a fight between Mickey and
a mean "injun" that includes knife pointing
and Minney sticking a hot fire coal in his
rear pants. There's a scapling, and then an
ending image of top-line yankee marchers
that turns out to be Mickey and Minney having
some fun with a log. Here is a screenshot....

Orphan's Benefit
The last thing we see is Donald getting hit
over the head with bricks. His final words
before the iris closes..."awww nuts!"
Mickey's Gala Premier
This should answer your question (please
disregard the subtitles)....

Looks like all of this will make you guys VERY happy
with the exception of the title card, which if I am
to presume correctly, is the recreated version used
on the laserdisc set

 

[PaulP]

Ron will you still be reviewing the Goofy set? Not that I need a review to buy it (it's already preordered), but just because of these sweet screenshots of yours

 

[Paul Penna]

Thanks, Ron, for answering questions that have been BIG issues for many cartoon fans since the first announcement of this set.

 

[PaulP]

So these appear to be uncut, which is what they should be. This series really is a treasure. Hopefully the subsequent waves will collect all of Disney's shorts.

 

[Jo_C]

Ron,

In looking at the title card to "Mickey's Gala Premiere", this appears to be a reissue print. If you look closely at the opening titles to the cartoon-within-a-cartoon, you'll see what appears to be an original unedited opening title card ("Joseph Schenk present...United Artists Picture"). This leads me to believe the original release version of "Mickey's Gala Premiere" had the United Artists byline.

By the way, for those of you who don't know, United Artists handled distribution for much of Mickey's 1930s output before RKO took over in I believe 1937 (with "Snow White").

If anyone else who has the new Mickey black-and-white DVDs can tell me if any of the other 'toons have original titles and uncut material (other than the uncut "Steamboat Willie" now represented on the new Disney DVD set) please feel free to post them...especially you, Patrick McCart (since you are a frequent visitor to this forum, and you have a web site devoted to Cartoon TV Distributors).

 

[David Gerstein]

Jo_C,

The MICKEY'S GALA PREMIER[E] title card that Ronald showed us (thanks, Ronald!) isn't a regular reissue title card. It's a "faux original" title card, recreated for the laserdisc set in 1993 because the original title card was not available.
You can tell these "faux original" cards, used on all of the Columbia and United Artists cartoons on the laser set, because as you noticed they lack reference to Columbia and UA. This was a decision made by WD Home Video in 1993, perhaps because they could not legally create anything new bearing the name of non-Disney companies.
The original title of MICKEY'S GALA PREMIERE was spelled as such. It was, however, misspelled PREMIER on a 1950s rerelease, and so in 1993 as well.

Hmm... the new DVD continues to use the "faux original" 1993 title cards. I can't say I mind that much anymore, now that I see that STEAMBOAT WILLIE and PIONEER DAYS are uncut. What good news! I've ordered the set for myself now.

I have no idea whether the DVD says so anywhere, BTW, but PIONEER DAYS' original ending was lost for more than sixty years and only recently recovered. It's one of those classic situations. Watching the cartoon in the standard (late 1940s) reissue print, nobody knew that it had anything missing; the end just seemed... terribly abrupt.
Then a 1931 Mickey Mouse picture book was found that illustrated a much longer ending, with what were very clearly frame grabs. The search was on to see if that ending really existed somewhere. It did.
It has very likely not been seen since the 1930s.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Actually, it's Argus Sventon who has the cartoon-TV distributors website @ http://www.geocities.com/argussvento...tributors.html
He doesn't have anything about the Disney cartoons (since they have never changed ownership), but it's worth a look.

 

[Julian]

I got to see a short preview of the Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studio DVD and it just comletely blew me away. Disney's really on the ball this time with what fans are looking for. It's too bad they're producing them this time in such a low edition number.
BTW Does anyone know where to get the lowest price on them? www.deepdiscountdvd.com and www.mainstreetpins.com seem to have the lowest from what I can tell.

 

[Brian Kidd]

DVD File has a review of "Behind the Scenes". Unfortunately, it was written by someone who isn't too familiar with the original material, so it's a bit general. I still can't tell if the entire RELUCTANT DRAGON feature is included. I hope that it is, but I've heard that nobody at Disney is entirely sure about the exact editing of it because it's been chopped up so many times over the years.

 

[Douglas R]

DVD File has a review of "Behind the Scenes".

Wow! This sounds great. Plus the bonus of original color material from these Disneyland black & white TV shows. Can't wait for this and the Mickey and Goofy collections!

 

[Adam_S]

so I take it from Ron's review, and DVDfile's that these are in new thinner tins, and will be in the horrible thin double amaray (or equivalent, such as AI, Beauty and the Beast, and Monsters Inc got), instead of the nice sturdy double alphas disney used to give us. Not that it will stop me for a second from buying all three, it's just a minor annoyance that I'll have to print out more new covers and buy more new cases, something I [was] used to not doing for Disney releases.

that said I can't wait, these are my most anticipated dvds of the year!! So Ron will you be doing a "complete Goofy" review?

Adam

 

[BrettB]

Adam, are you assuming the tin is thinner due to the thinner double Amaray? I don't see anything in this thread or the DVDFile review about the tin being thinner.

Ron (or anyone else), could you confirm that the tins are the same size as last years?

 

[Enrique B Chamorro]

Thin double disc cases, rats!
I have ready to go, three gray thick double disc cases.
I switched out the black for gray double disc cases
for the first set. The gray cases matches the gray / silver
covers and looks great.
Perhaps I am just being obsessive.
I look forward to the custom inserts from;
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=102465
You can get the new sets for a nice price at
Amazon.Ca.

 

[PaulP]

Where is it confirmed that the cases are the slim double cases? I really hate those - that flap is annoying as hell. I very much like the wide double cases. But you rarely see this anymore; even Criterion's latest 2-disc edition of Down by Law came in that ugly case. It should be made illegal.