A Few Words About A few words about…™ Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 2 – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[RolandL]

It falls in the half of the cartoons that are pretty much perfectly presented, and I guarantee you'll want this for just those.

The other site has its review up that corroborates my opinion: "Recommended, but with reservations."

The other site says "Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1, 2.35:1 ". Is that a typo or are some 2.35?

 

[ThadK]

Must be an error. These are all Academy ratio.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Now that I have the disc in my hands and had a chance to watch some cartoons, I overwhelmingly find them to look excellent. I can see some of the errant cleanup moments, but nothing distracting in motion. Whether this needs a redo or not I don't know now. I guess just add it to the stack of "covid crack-ups" like Laurel & Hardy and To Catch a Thief, though this is probably the least of those three.

Please, please, please stop with the photoshopped bleeds on the titles, though.

 

[ThadK]

Please, please, please stop with the photoshopped bleeds on the titles, though.

It seems to be the norm, as at least 8 cartoons on the Bugs Bunny set have them too, and the dozens of newly restored cartoons on HBO Max have ones that are even more appalling than what's made it to disc so far (but otherwise repeatedly look quite stunning). I don't know who made this order to make this the standard and it has not been sufficiently addressed. I'm starting to think it's a miscommunication from outsourcing to production houses overseas, but I could be wrong.

 

[BobO'Link]

Could someone post an example of these Photoshopped titles? I have no idea what you're talking about (I know what photoshop is, just not how it's applied to these titles).

 

[ThadK]

Could someone post an example of these Photoshopped titles? I have no idea what you're talking about (I know what photoshop is, just not how it's applied to these titles).

It's WB's new M.O. that has not been substantively addressed in any manner. Basically they've clonestamped/bleeded the image to make it "widescreen/tablet/iphone safe", and redid the fades and dissolves.

What it's supposed to look like (from one cartoon on this disc):


What it looks like after the "reformatting":

 

[BobO'Link]

Well that's just plain dumb. If they weren't formatted that way to start then they shouldn't be "adjusted" now. How have people doing "remastering" not learned from negative feedback on projects/adjustments like these?

 

[B-ROLL]

Well that's just plain dumb. If they weren't formatted that way to start then they shouldn't be "adjusted" now. How have people doing "remastering" not learned from negative feedback on projects/adjustments like these?

 

[David Weicker]

It's WB's new M.O. that has not been substantively addressed in any manner. Basically they've clonestamped/bleeded the image to make it "widescreen/tablet/iphone safe", and redid the fades and dissolves.

What it's supposed to look like (from one cartoon on this disc):


What it looks like after the "reformatting":

I asked you on the other forum.

How do we know these aren't just less cropped than what you say is the 'original'?

Isn't it possible that the elements they were working with just had more information on all sides than you were used to?

 

[ThadK]

There is clearly photoshop bleeding and clone stamping in that title card, and in motion, they are clearly digital fades and crossfades. If you can't see it, I can't help you.

 

[BobO'Link]

You can see the clone stamping in the still as sections of repeating patterns in the background on the two outer edges. Looks like there are 3 repeating strips on the left and 4 on the right. It also appears to have had edge softening on and in those segments to make them less obvious. That's not seen on the original graphic posted. Once you see it you can't *not* see it.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

There is clearly photoshop bleeding and clone stamping in that title card, and in motion, they are clearly digital fades and crossfades. If you can't see it, I can't help you.

I haven't worked with Photoshop enough to fully understand what you're saying; what I do see is that it looks artificially "good".

 

[David Weicker]

There is clearly photoshop bleeding and clone stamping in that title card, and in motion, they are clearly digital fades and crossfades. If you can't see it, I can't help you.

you're right.

Once I enlarged the frozen still to 400% I could see what you were complaining about.


The blurred, dark, faded frame is so much better.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

I haven't worked with Photoshop enough to fully understand what you're saying; what I do see is that it looks artificially "good".

This is the first time the "Photoshopped" titles have been explained to me. If you look to the right of the "N" in "CARTOON" you can see the same background pattern repeated. I'm not sure I would have noticed this otherwise.

I've only watched a few of the cartoons. "Field And Scream" had obvious artifacts in the opening titles, but I've been satisfied with everything else I've seen.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

This is the first time the "Photoshopped" titles have been explained to me. If you look to the right of the "N" in "CARTOON" you can see the same background pattern repeated. I'm not sure I would have noticed this otherwise.

I've only watched a few of the cartoons. "Field And Scream" had obvious artifacts in the opening titles, but I've been satisfied with everything else I've seen.

Not just there, but you can see what look like clone stamping lines to the right of the film scroll around Leo's head.

 

[ThadK]

Seems several people here saw the clonestamping/bleeding immediately without enlarging it 400%.

It still hasn't been addressed why they've been doing this. And since the same Leo card exists untouched on other cartoons, it's obviously not because of being unable to locate useable elements.

 

[buckmichaels]

I'm happy with the disc and the transfers. I was aware that the S.E. negs were no longer available for MGM cartoons, so I knew I was not going to quite get the stunning "Popeye" Paramount look, but the new disc is a nice improvement over the previous DVD I've had for years. Plus with this release, more people will get exposed to Tex Avery all over again!

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Apologies for the bump, but I don't enough visual aids were created to adequately explain the problem. Most of the transfers look WORSE than the previous unrestored transfers done for laserdisc and TV broadcast. THAT's the big issue people have grilled the set for. To pretend otherwise is dancing around it.

The Blu-Ray

Old transfers done for analog media.

Surviving elements aren't the issue when old transfers from the same elements have more detail and better color.

Imagine if the Warner Archive had put out a Technicolor musical or a Hammer Horror in this condition. Would it still get top marks?

 

[Chewbabka]

Ummm in what universe is there more detail in the old transfers? Look at the sock puppet’s eyes for one.

 

[darkrock17]

Ummm in what universe is there more detail in the old transfers? Look at the sock puppet’s eyes for one.

Each transfer gets gradually darker, in this screen grab you can clearly see that cat puppet, but with the blu-ray grab the puppet almost blends in with the sky.