The Golden Age of Cartoons: Attack of the 30's Characters [DVD]

No, animation was not ALL from Disney. There were scores of other great animators, most particularly the Fleischer brothers, who over several decades created a body of work which can still amaze and delight the viewer. Even the Harman-Ising animal musicals are brilliant, even wild. There is here a Tom and Jerry that are human -- and not cat and mouse -- and they don't chase each other. Then there are Bosko, Oswald Rabbit, Krazy Kat, Foxy, Flip the Frog, the Little king and a host of other characters that are largely forgotten today. It does not matter than many of these cartoons are in black and white: The inventiveness is still there, and perhaps,in even greater profusion.

Loved it

Only about 4 or 5 of the cartoons played. Then the dvd rapidly skipped over the rest of them, showing only the titles. Obviously, a third rate bootleg copy. Also, why does Amazon prevent customers from seeing other negative reviews?

Awesome!.

If you're never seen a Thunderbean Animation DVD, you're really missing out on something wonderful. Fans of classic animation are compelled to seek out these little almost-forgotten gems produced with great affection and reverance for their subject matter. Attack of the 30's Characters, as the liner notes indicate, is something of a "sampler" collection. No less than 8 separate studios are represented by the 16 shorts included here. In addition to the heavyweights like Warners and Disney, equal time (and equal admiration) is given to lesser-known studios like Van Beuren and Terrytoons. Supplemental materials include a few still photo galleries of promotional material, plus a well-written and very informative booklet. If there's a flaw to this collection, it's not exactly the fault of Thunderbean. In the 6 years (as of this writing) since this disc was released, several of the cartoons that were in the public domain at the time have seen "official" releases. Which means that, as good as most of the prints used here are, even cleaner ones have been offered by WB, Disney, Image and even Thunderbean itself. But this collection does appear to be the only place to find good copies of MGM's rarely-seen (and perfectly delightful) "To Spring," the Betty Boop vehicle "Is My Palm Red?" and the classic early Looney Tunes offering "Lady Play Your Mandolin." It's also worth mentioning that because the cartoons are culled from so many different studios and sources, the print quality does vary a bit. The color cartoons tend to suffer some minor saturation problems, although they are still quite acceptable. Having seen most of the company's other DVD's, I do believe they did they best they could with the material. Like The Complete Animated Adventures of Van Beuren's Tom & Jerry and The Golden Age of Cartoons: The Complete Adventures of Cubby Bear , Attack of the 30's Characters should receive a warm reception in the home of any fan of early animated cartoons.

When I watch Attack of the 30's characters, I immediately think of the King of Cartoons character in the old Pee Wee Herman show, a fellow who would show up near the end and show something really ancient - I bet they were all from this collection! The films are great, and there's so much variety: Trailer for Max Fleischer’s “Gulliver’s Travels”, his first feature animation film, great motion!! Bosco in “Congo Jazz” (1930) – for 6:15, with freaky voodoo music. Freaky weird lion and mouse chase scenes, baby monkey play, mama monkey, genius animal dancing goofiness. Oddball shlongs going on – a loony toon! Krazy Kat in “Bars and Stripes” (1931) – for 6:25. Krazy Kat kombats krazed musical instruments! Violins, saxophones, tubas, everything! All dramatic music all the time, and everything’s anthropomorphic. Farmer Al Falfa in “Noah’s Outing” (1933) – for 5:42. Musical number, farmer with Krazy Kat, Ignatz the mouse, and millions of barnyard animals boogying and playing tunes, repeats, riotous chorus lines. But good times are over here comes the rain, the drunken duck attackers. Total insanity!! Utter anthropomorphic looniness, the ducks of the deluge hatch, bringing out more beasts, but at least the giraffe is a friend. Spooky skeletal horse charge into lightning, and on it goes. With repeats!! At least they saved the schnauzers, and the monkey family!! The tortoise is having a hard time, he takes off his shell, sheds eight layers, and then makes it!! Only one giraffe on the ark! Mickey Mouse in “The Mad Doctor” (1933) – for 6:40. During a dark storm, Dr XXX tries to steal Pluto! Nutty dungeon adventure to rescue Pluto, skeleton spider, all sorts of skeleton dances, unending madness! Oh… but it was all a dream!! “Jack Frost” (1934) – for 8:30. Beautiful colour animation, anthropomorphoronic forest stuff! Little bear goes out into the winter world to see what’s going on, not heeding the frost warnings. Oops! Jack paints pumpkins, how hnnice! Nutty autumn activity, including with a scat-singing scarecrow, accompanied by a singing forest! Oswald Rabbit in “The Beachcombers” (1936) – for 8:17. Nutty beachside story, ducklings try to steal from Oswald’s lunchbox, with doggy guarding! Nutty goings-ons. Black and white. The Nazi octopus attacks the kids, Oswald to the rescue! Underwater dog and octopus battle!! Porky Pig in “Porky’s Railroad” (1937) – for 7:11. Porky’s lloo-ookki-inngg a bit chubbier here. Great train animation. Super stuttering. “It’s cows like that that give cows a bad name. I bet she doesn’t give sweet milk, a sour puss like that!” “I’ll show you, you four-legged piece of hamburger!” Competitor threats! Oswald Rabbit in “In Wonderland” (1931) – for 6:50. Singing and sadistic button sewing. Mickey Mouse with longer ears and a shirt. Freaky farm life, saving the mortgage. Freaky witches forest, hallucinogenic cow orchestras. To tell the Jack and the Beanstalk story. The saxophone even plays the flute. It’s a crazy war!! Foxy in “Lady, Play Your Mandolin” (1931) – for 7:15. Pub-serving nuttiness, songs, bawdiness, music… Wow!! Wacky beer drinking even!! Foxy is like Mickey Mouse, but with pointy ears. “I’m a sinner too!” Mamie reference. Nutty drunkenness when a white horse enters and drinks tequila worm and begins hallucinating!! Tom and Jerry in “In The Bag” (1932) – for 7:10. Awesome plane nuttiness! Country stuff, no dialogue, general nuttiness. Partying and carrying on, messing around with gangsters, playing music. Gangsters robbing! These guys look like Mickey Mouse and Goofy! Betty Boop in “Is My Palm Red? (1933) – for 6:40. Lots of “poo poo be doop.” Walks through Betty Boop-shaped door. Gets the flashlight skirt detector from a sheikh during a harem interview, a fortune teller looks back to her childhood years and her naked bathing! “The naked truth of your baby days.” Lots of dialogue here. Lots of gratuitous semi-nudity as well, as Betty Boop deals with local animals and spirits! That’s okay, though, Bosco to the rescue! Flip The Frog in “Funny Face” (1933) – for 8:00. Flip’s Betty Boop-like girlfriend bounces him for a lookalike, he goes for cosmetic surgery to become more handsome, but then she’s raped by a ruffian!! Total nuttiness!! The Little King in “Jolly Good Felon” (1934) – for 8:30. Goofy king goofing around, puts fish into bird cage. Nutso castle. King loses his ride, can’t get a new one. No dialogue. Convict plays tic tac toe with himself, loses, cries! Inmate knitting! Visit to prison, nutty! People are shot but don’t die! Bombs, total war after prison riot with king in penn! King rounded up at end!!! “Merry Kittens (1935) – for 6:40. Kittens sleeping, doggy guarding them, also sleeping… ultra anthropomorphism!! Singing color kittens!!! Cats can talk, but doggy can’t! “To Spring” (1936) – for 9:12. In colour!! Old winter gremlins awake in caves… crunching stalactites, why? Miners going nuts! Blasting back cloudy spirit of winter, digging in the mines, running around, swept away in rainbow rivers, overall nuttiness, in full colour, heart arteries going on, flowers swaying!! Somewhat Miyazaki Hayao-esque at the end, when spring recovers in nature, lots of sakura too!! Popeye in ”The Paneless Window Washer” (1937) – for 6:0. Nutty building shenanigans with BLuto and Olive Oyl!! As bonus features, there are 19 images of “Animation art” (sketches), 13 “Original Movie Posters” (including Mickey Mouse, Loonie Toons, and others), 18 “Home Movie Boxes” of 8mm and 16 mm home movie and rental films, and 13“Home Movie/TV Title Cards”.

While there can be no denying that Mickey Mouse and Popeye The Sailor were probably the most prominent cartoon stars of the 1930's, there were many otherinteresting characters that also appeared during this decade. Some we still know well, such as Betty Boop and Porky Pig. Others though, have faded into comparative obscurity. Krazy Kat, Flip the Frog, Bosko the Talk-ink Kid, Farmer Alfalfa, to name but a few, were all prominent characters who regularly appeared on the movie theater circuits during this decade. This wonderful DVD can easily be considered a "sampler" for many of these characters. 16 cartoon films from 8 different studios are included, probably as wide and as varied a presentation of classic animation as has ever been attempted for a single disc DVD release. With this release interested viewers will not only have the chance to see some very rare films featuring these largely forgotten characters, as well as some of their old favorites, they'll also be able to compare the various "styles" and techniques which set apart the production studios from one another. Also, a few of the films included have no "featured" star rather they are "one shot" titles intended to showcase the animators and artists skills most effectively. Highlights include: The very first Merrie Melodie cartoon "Lady Play Your Mandolin" from 1931, and what a wild little film it is! It stars "Foxy" a Mickey look a like with pointed ears and a bushy tail. Only thing is he's more than happy to go on a drinking binge, something Mickey was seldom allowed to do. It all takes place in a south of the border cantina, prohibition necessitating the locale! Wild visual gags and a hot jazz music score provided by Abe Lyman's Brunswick Recording Orchestra make for a first rate inclusion. In "Wonderland" (1931) we meet another almost forgotten character "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit". Oswald was actually a Walt Disney creation, but the character was wrested from him in mid 1928, by Charles Mintz whom had married Margaret Winkler, the owner of the firm who marketed Disney's films. However, the Oswald character itself was actually "owned" by Universal Pictures. In 1930, Universal created its own cartoon studio, headed by Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan, and took over production of the Oswald cartoons, thus leaving Mintz and the Winkler's out in the cold! Oswald is seen here in great form, putting his own spin on the Jack and the Beanstalk tale. With surreal visual gags, and plenty of boisterous mayhem, it's very apparent that this fellow deserves far more exposure than Universal Studios feels inclined to give! If you like classic cartoons from animation's "golden age", then I am confident you will not be disappointed with this beautifully mastered DVD, lots of rare gems are here to be found and they're all pretty sparkly! Once again superb quality, a plethora of extra features, and other fun surprises makes for a typically excellent DVD from Steve Stanchfield and Mackinac Media. Highly Recommended!!!!! Del Walker DVDToons.com

GOOD COLLECTION OF GOLDEN AGE OF CARTUNS! SHOULD BE BETTER DIGITALLY RESTORED, BUT ARE WITH A REASONABLE QUALITY.