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Betty Boop

post #1 of 11
4/3/07 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
Are there any Betty Boop DVD sets that have the key features such as "Minnie The Moocher", "Snow White", "Poor Cinderella", etc... I see Minnie The Moocher on an old Platinum disc complete with watermark and on the A&E Biography disc but who has them together with decent transfers?

Eric
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post #2 of 11
4/3/07 at 12:27pm

Re: Betty Boop

What we need is a remastered set containing EVERY SINGLE BETTY BOOP CARTOON KNOWN TO EXIST (are any missing, for that matter?).

Who owns the original material on these again? Must be Hallmark or Lionsgate. :-(
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post #3 of 11
4/3/07 at 12:52pm

Re: Betty Boop

I wish every Golden Age cartoon belonged to Warner Bros.
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post #4 of 11
4/3/07 at 2:35pm

Re: Betty Boop

The Betty Boop cartoons, along with the Fleischer Color Classics, surviving Kokos, Stone Age, Gabby, Gulliver's Travels, Hoppity Goes to Town, and all other Fleischer material except for Popeye are owned by Republic, part of Paramount. The Republic library was licensed to Lionsgate (a second time, after it initially expired).

I'm fairly sure the UCLA Film and Television Archive restored all of the cartoons years ago. So, they're ready to be remastered in HD and released on DVD. Lionsgate did nothing with them from 1997-2005 (when the contract ended), so I'm not hopeful now. They deserve the same attention WB is giving to their theatrical cartoons.

This would be a neat project for Criterion to try since they've never released animation on DVD before. They'd at least be able to meet Warner's standards.

I never thought we'd see Popeye cartoons on DVD before Betty Boop...
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post #5 of 11
4/3/07 at 4:10pm

Re: Betty Boop

The last major BB releases were the 2 Republic "Definitive" Collection numbered laserdisc box sets (also an 8-tape VHS set) , but they are a mixed blessing, because the video quality is dreadful, to put it mildly. Even John K. once wrote of his disapproval on his former Spumco website.
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post #6 of 11
4/3/07 at 5:23pm

Re: Betty Boop

It's amazing. There are over 2 million websites out there when Betty Boop is googled, with thousands of Betty Boop merchandise items, and even an "official Betty Boop website", yet we don't even have all of her cartoons on DVD, and the few that are out there are bad quality.

Lionsgate really needs to release a complete Betty Boop box set with all restored cartoons...
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post #7 of 11
4/9/07 at 6:06am
Thread Starter 

Re: Betty Boop

Someone who deals in cartoons said that Viacom has the rights to Betty Boop and isn't that still a Paramount holding?

Eric
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post #8 of 11
4/9/07 at 8:29am

Re: Betty Boop

I recently tranfered all my VHS copies to DVD, that said, I would a collectors set of these!
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post #9 of 11
4/9/07 at 8:40am

Re: Betty Boop

Someone who deals in cartoons said that Viacom has the rights to Betty Boop and isn't that still a Paramount holding?


This is true, but Paramount has licensed certain items in it's catalog to outside companies. It is believed that these are in the control of Lion's Gate right now. I am not sure if there is concrete proof of this or not.
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post #10 of 11
4/9/07 at 8:50am

Re: Betty Boop

I'm like others here--over the years I've taped Boop off TV and other sources, all of it variable print quality, and have now put them on DVD, but something more complete and archival (with added documentaries etc.) would be wonderful. I'm sure Warners is aware of Boop's appeal, but are probably stymied by legalities. Boop is such an iconic animation figure, and some of the shorts featuring jazz legends as Cab Calloway border on greatness. It's an incredible situation that this can't be remedied properly (much like the prime Laurel & Hardy output from Roach, but that's another story!).
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post #11 of 11
4/9/07 at 11:08am

Re: Betty Boop

Quote:
Originally Posted by BarryR
I'm like others here--over the years I've taped Boop off TV and other sources, all of it variable print quality, and have now put them on DVD, but something more complete and archival (with added documentaries etc.) would be wonderful. I'm sure Warners is aware of Boop's appeal, but are probably stymied by legalities. Boop is such an iconic animation figure, and some of the shorts featuring jazz legends as Cab Calloway border on greatness. It's an incredible situation that this can't be remedied properly (much like the prime Laurel & Hardy output from Roach, but that's another story!).

The Laurel & Hardy films (except for those owned by Turner and Fox, all of which are on DVD now) are owned by RHI, apparently split from Hallmark. However, they're licensed to Lionsgate just like the Republic library (including Betty Boop). There's a tenetative huge box set coming out later this year with all the silents (plus tons of silent Charley Chase, Our Gang, and solo L&H shorts - plus tons of extras) - all remastered from prime materials with new transfers. It's silly to think that the Hallmark/RHI (licensed to Lionsgate) L&H films have received the worst treatment, despite being largely the most popular.

(Also, WB doesn't have legal issues with Betty Boop because they don't own them - unfortunately)
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