Will we ever see nice boxsets of Betty Boop (1 Viewer)

[Chris Stainton]

or Popeye cartoons? I really want all the Fleischer shorts as well as the Famous Studio Popeye shorts from the 40's and 50's. Anyone know if these are planned?

 

[ChristopherDAC]

I rather doubt it. Disney bought up whatever original elements and/or rights they were able to get, because they have [at least the current management believes] a vested interest in making sure nobody has access to the wonderful work other American animation houses were doing before the 1950s. The likelihood of them releasing much of anything is fairly slim, at least for the forseeable future; I don't believe that the material which was put out on LaserDisc has seen a re-issue, much less anything else.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Disney has absolutely no stake in either the Betty Boop cartoons, nor the Popeye cartoons. The Boops were sold by Paramount to NTA, which later became part of Republic. Republic is owned by Paramount. The Popeye cartoons were sold by Paramount to Associated Artists Productions (AAP also purchased the entire pre-1948 Warner Bros. catalog, save for the B&W cartoons produced after Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising left from late 1933-1943), which later became part of United Artists. The entire AAP catalog, as well as the pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films were purchased by Turner, which later became part of Warner Bros.

Republic also owns the rest of the Fleischer Studios cartoons (except for Popeye, obviously).

On Boop:

UCLA has restored/preserved pretty much all of the original Fleischer Betty Boop cartoons. The problem is that they're owned by Republic Pictures. Artisan must have forgotten that they had DVD rights for the last 7 years. However, Paramount gets back the Republic/Spelling/Worldvision library for DVD this year. All Paramount has to do is make new HD transfers and create new bonus features. Jerry Beck (www.cartoonresearch.com) aided Republic in the layout of the previous "complete" sets released on VHS and laserdisc, so it would be a good idea to get his help again.

Once Paramount regains the Republic catalog rights, it'll be a good idea to let them know of the demand. Besides the great Fleischer cartoons, the package also includes It's a Wonderful Life, High Noon, The Quiet Man, the countless Republic serials, Invasion of the Body Snatchers '56, Twin Peaks, and Johnny Guitar.

On Popeye:

Warner Bros. is restoring the original Fleischer and Famous Studios cartoons from the original negatives. King Features Syndicate has battled with MGM/UA, Turner, and now Warner Bros. in releasing the originals. Rights problems seem to be in the process of being resolved.

At least when the DVD sets finally happen, the cartoons should look stunning. From what I've read, the restoration of the two-reel Technicolor special "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" has color that pops off the screen.

 

[ArthurMy]

I have quite a lovely French region two complete Betty set - it's wonderful in every way. The quality, which I've heard some carp about, is actually very pleasing and I wouldn't be without it.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Does it have original Paramount logos, as well as being free of DVNR? That was a major problem with the American laserdisc set.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

So, are the Superman cartoons in the Republic library as well? From all the releases floating about, they would seem to be in the public domain...at least there's a pretty good DVD from Bosko Video, distributed through Image. But with a new restoration...mmmmmm, they'd look spectacular.

 

[Patrick McCart]

No, Warner Bros. owns the Superman cartoons.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Not the Fleischer ones. The Fleischer Superman cartoons are indeed in the public domain. They're no longer "owned" by anyone.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Isn't the R2 French collection just a port of the old dvnr'd laserdisc set?


I don't understand why Republic doesn't do anything with these films? Betty Boop is ironically one of the largest marketed characters in America with her face and name appearing on every imaginable form of merchandise from food to household kitchen and bathroom products, children's toys and accessories, posters, bedsheets... even some adult oriented products. Yet her films are largely unavailable to the public outside of public domain sales which are making a killing off the franchise! It just doesn't make any sense to me...

 

[Eric Peterson]

Count me in for any and all Popeye & Boop collections (Fleischer Years that is).



This is something that I've never understood either. I've used this same argument for Columbia's clumsy '3 Stooges' releases. Some of these characters are absolutely ominpresent in our world, yet the majority of their output is completely unavailable or available only in shoddy quality.

 

[BarryR]

A classic Boop collection should be mandatory in the world of DVD!!!!

 

[LaurenceGarvey]

There is a wonderful, terrific, marvelous Betty Boop DVD collection, with more than 100 cartoons and more than 12 hours worth of cartoons, available from France. I agree with the poster above -- it's a terrific, must-have set, and the people who are carping don't know what they're missing.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I just want to know where the transfers are sourced from cause if it's the old laserdisc prints, than I'm going to have to pass.

 

[Ruz-El]

I'm holding onto a VHS set of Betty that came out at the time of the LD set. I don't know if it's complete, but it's good enough until a proper DVD release happens.

I'd kill for a Popeye set. I've never seen a decent collection of these.