Our Gang Collection, 80 shorts, Oct. 28 (1 Viewer)

[gunthertoody]

Full Specs at ClassicFlix.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Thanks for making my day!!! It was quickly spiraling down the toilet, but this makes everything OK again!!

My pre-order is already placed and like Cartman, I wish I could freeze myself for 3 months.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Without pulling out all my VHS Cabin Fever tapes that remain....

I take it everything that was on those VHS collections including
the shorts that were considered racial are included here?

 

[Brent S]

With the exception of the '94 Maltin introductions, and respective bonus silent film selections... Yes.

 

[PaulP]

Would be nice if there we supplemental sets of restored shorts from the other eras.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Am I missing something or am I supposed to recognize who Richard Bann, Tom Hatten, Richard Lewis Ward, & Annie Ross are? Are they historians, background gang members, or what?

It's a shame that they waited as long as they did. Porky passed away just 2 years ago!! I met him at an autograph show along with Dorothy "Echo" Deborba who seems to still be with us (I wonder why she wasn't involved?).

Does anybody else have the soundtrack CDs recorded by The Beau Hunks? I have volume 2 and love it, but volume 1 is OOP and goes for about $50 on Ebay.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Any thoughts on why they included 3 different silents than on the VHS sets? There were 4 silents on the VHS set and none are included on the new set. I hate the idea of keeping some of those old tapes around, but it looks like I don't have much of a choice.

 

[DanMel]

Someone over at the Little rascals forum posted this on the dvd set:

"I talked to a couple people from Genius at Comic Con on Friday. They confirmed that the shorts would be in chronological order, packed in a fold-out case, and completely remastered. The only potential bad news being that the discs are all DVD-5s which means they are NOT dual layer or double-sided. That would increase the compression quite a bit, not to mention they told me only the first 7 discs would contain the shorts, while disc 8 would contain the bonus features. It will be nice to have a complete, chronological collection of these shorts all in one place but the compression factor concerns me a bit.

I must say that the people I spoke to at Genius were very friendly, professional, and knowledgeable about their product. If any Genius employees have found their way to this site and have contradictory information to what I have just presented, please feel free to correct me!"

The compression for only using DVD-5's bothers me a bit as well with 80 shorts on 7 dvd's. Anyone else concerned about this? I don't have any of these shorts on anything so, I am pre-ordered on this set as well as all the upcoming Three Stooges shorts

Anyone know what the best dvds out for the MGM shorts 1938 - 1944 not covered in this box set?

 

[Michael Elliott]

DISC 7 (Introduction by Annie Ross):
Hearts are Thumps (1937)
Three Smart Boys (1937)
Rushin' Ballet (1937)
Roamin' Holiday (1937)
Night 'n' Gales (1937)
Fishy Tales (1937)
Framing Youth (1937)
The Pigskin Palooka (1937)
Mail and Female (1937)
Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937)
Canned Fishing (1938)
Bear Facts (1938)
Three Men in a Tub (1938)
Came the Brawn (1938)
Feed 'em and Weep (1938)
The Awful Tooth (1938)
Hide and Shriek (1938)


All of that on one disc might be too much but we're lucky to be getting them at all.

 

[Brent S]

Effective with the '36-'37 season, the "Our Gang" comedies became one-reelers, avg. 10 min. in length; FOLLIES OF 1938 the exception, being the final two-reeler. Disc 7's running time is consistent with discs 1 - 6 (disc 6 is a mix of two-&-one-reelers).

 

[DanMel]

Actually from disc 6 Bored of Education on they went from two reels to one reel shorts, which went from around 18 min down to 10 min.

It looks like if these are DVD-5 we will have about 3 hours on each DVD. Under normal compression you can fit 2 hours on a single layer and 4 hours on a dual layer disc. These single layer discs will have 3 hours on each one which very well could lead to bad compression problems if not dual layered.

Can anyone in good with the Genius representives want to verify if all 8 discs will be single layer DVD-5s?

I just did a check on which shorts were one, two or three reel one's and came up with an estimation of how much video will be on each dvd. I do hope that all of these discs will be double layered:

Disc 1 (3 hours 30 min)

Small Talk (3 reels)
Railroadin' (2 reels)
Boxing Gloves (2 reels)
Lazy Days (2 reels)
Bouncing Babies (2 reels)
Moan & Groan, Inc. (2 reels)
Shivering Shakespeare (2 reels)
The First Seven Years (2 reels)
When The Wind Blows (2 reels)
Bear Shooters (2 reels)

Disc 2 (3 hours 20 min)

A Tough Winter (2 reels)
Pups Is Pups (2 reels)
Teacher's Pet (2 reels)
School's Out (2 reels)
Helping Grandma (2 reels)
Love Business (2 reels)
Little Daddy (2 reels)
Bargain Day (2 reels)
Fly My Kite (2 reels)
Big Ears (2 reels)

Disc 3 (3 hours 20 min)

Shiver My Timbers (2 reels)
Dogs Is Dogs (2 reels)
Readin' And Writin' (2 reels)
Free Eats (2 reels)
Spanky (2 reels)
Choo-Choo! (2 reels)
The Pooch (2 reels)
Hook And Ladder (2 reels)
Free Wheeling (2 reels)
Birthday Blues (2 reels)

Disc 4 (3 hours 20 min)

A Lad An' A Lamp (2 reels)
Fish Hookey (2 reels)
Forgotten Babies (2 reels)
The Kid From Borneo (2 reels)
Mush And Milk (2 reels)
Betime Worries (2 reels)
Wild Poses (2 reels)
Hi' Neighbor! (2 reels)
For Pete's Sake (2 reels)
The First Round-Up (2 reels)

Disc 5 (3 hours 20 min)

Honky Donkey (2 reels)
Mike Fright (2 reels)
Washee Ironee (2 reels)
Mama's Little Pirate (2 reels)
Shrimps For A Day (2 reels)
Anniversary Trouble (2 reels)
Beginner's Luck (2 reels)
Teacher's Beau (2 reels)
Sprucin' Up (2 reels)
Little Papa (2 reels)

Disc 6 (3 hours 20 min)

Little Sinner (2 reels)
Our Gang Follies Of 1936 (2 reels)
The Lucky Corner (2 reels)
Divot Diggers (2 reels)
The Pinch Singer (2 reels)
Second Childhood (2 reels)
Arbor Day (2 reels)
Bored Of Education (1 reel)
Two Too Young (1 reel)
Pay As You Exit (1 reel)
Spooky Hooky (1 reel)
Reunion In Rhythm (1 reel)
Glove Taps (1 reel)

Disc 7 (3 hours)

Hearts Are Thumps (1 reel)
Three Smart Boys (1 reel)
Rushin' Ballet (1 reel)
Roamin' Holiday (1 reel)
Night 'N' Gales (1 reel)
Fishy Tales (1 reel)
Framing Youth (1 reel)
The Pigskin Palooka (1 reel)
Mail And Female (1 reel)
Our Gang Follies Of 1938 (2 Reels)
Canned Fishing (1 reel)
Bear Facts (1 reel)
Three Men In A Tub (1 reel)
Came The Brawn (1 reel)
Feed 'Em And Weep (1 reel)
The Awful Tooth (1 reel)
Hide And Shriek (1 reel)

3 reelers 30 minutes
2 reelers 20 minutes
1 reelers 10 minutes

 

[PTJF]

DOG HEAVEN was on a special VHS tape called "For Pete's Sake," dedicated to Pete, which also included previously-released shorts. In some packages it came with a stuffed Pete.

 

[Steve...O]

If these aren't dual layered we could be in for trouble.

It is unthinkable that a a major or semi-major label could be cramming 3+hours on a single layer disc in 2008. I echo Dan's request for confirmation or refutation of this ASAP. If it's a cost issue I'd gladly pay a few $ more for dual layered discs to get maximum quality.

Putting that aside for the moment, this is shaping up to be a great set content wise. Jackie Cooper is conspicuously absent but if memory serves he considers himself retired and doesn't make appearances anymore. At age 86 he's earned the right.

 

[PaulP]

If these are single layered I will be cancelling my preorder.

 

[WadeM]

Richard Bann co-authored the Leonard Maltin book on the Little Rascals. Richard Lewis Ward has written on the history of the Hal Roach Studios.
Annie Ross appeared in the Our Gang Follies of 1938. I don't know who Tom Hatten is..

I think the biggest name missing in this set for a current commentary or interview or whatever is Jackie Cooper, but I guess if he's retired, then he's retired...


It's too bad that they couldn't also include the silents already released in the Cabin Fever tapes, but I'm still grateful to get what they're willing to give.

 

[DanMel]

Yeah you are probably right. I'll just cancel my pre-order and wait to see what the reviewers say about the picture quality and compression after it is released. I already know what to expect from Sony with Three Stooges but have no idea what to expect from this company and it is not worth the risk in my opinion.

 

[Steve...O]

I've got an e-mail into Genius' press contact to see if they'll comment on this layering issue (as well as prospects for a L&H release). I'm not going to cancel my pre-order on incomplete information and I want to lock in the $54 price if this single layer scare proves false.

 

[Jay Pennington]

I share the compression concerns, but don't forget that B&W takes up a lot less bandwidth than color, so one can afford to cram on more material than one normally would with color.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

See? I KNEW I should have waited!!

 

[Eric Peterson]

I have concerns about the compression too, but I have a hard time believing that anybody is releasing anything on DVD-5 this late in the game (aside from PD releases). My gut is that somebody confused dual-layer with dual-sided. At least, that's what I'm hoping, because 4 hours on a single layer would be atrocious looking.

Does anybody know what the production cost difference is between a single and dual layer dvd? My guess is that it would be extremely minimal at this point. Even if it was $.50/disc, that's $4 for the set and I for one would gladly pay that.