Cartoons That Time Forgot: The UB Iwerks Collection, Vol. 1 [DVD]

This cartoon compendium showcases the works of two-time Oscar Winning animator and multiplane animation camera innovator Ub Iwerks. The cartoons contained on both Collections 1&2 represent his output from his own studio work after leaving Disney's studio (having been his collaborator / animator on the first Mickey Mouse cartoons and many more) and before short stays at Columbia, Warner Bros., and finally returning to work at Walt Disney Productions. Sadly his stint as a solo cartoon maker would end after only six years due to losing MGM's major studio backing in 1934 for refusal to make cartoons more mainstream and with happy endings like Disney and other studios at the time. He continued on for two more years into 1936 before shutting down. The cartoons here are from Iwerks' magical solo period from 1931 to 1936. Iwerks DVD Collection 1 contains the 32 cartoons previously released as three separate videos by the same company: All Singing! All Dancing! vol. 1, Willie Whopper's Fantastic Adventures and Other Tall Tales vol. 2, and Free-Form Fairy Tales vol. 3. The All Singing! All Dancing! cartoons feature Iwerks' first star Flip the Frog, a send up of vaudeville singer/dancers. Willie Whopper is essentially a boy version of Fatty Arbuckle crossed with Baron Von Munchausen. Many of the cartoons contain scores from legendary Warner Bros. and Disney composer Carl Stalling, who was a pioneer in composing/adapting music that could be well synchronized to animation. Later on, Iwerks would do groundbreaking animation for such films as "101 Dalmatians"(1961), Hitchcock's "The Birds"(1963), and "Mary Poppins"(1964). However, this collection is not solely for cartoon historians but a fun treat for viewers of all ages. The titles on the DVD are as follows: All Singing! All Dancing! 1.Fiddlesticks(color), 2.The Soup Song(b&w), 3.The Little Red Hen(color), 4.The Village Smitty(b&w), 5.Mary's Little Lamb(color), 6.The Village Barber(b&w), 7.Old Mother Hubbard(color), 8.Humpty Dumpty(color), 9.The Brementown Musicians(color), 10.Summertime(color), 11.The Music Lesson(b&w), 12.Puddle Pranks(b&w), Willie Whopper's Fantastic Adventures And Other Tall Tales 13.The Good Scout(b&w), 14.Happy Days(color), 15.The Air Race(b&w), 16.Tom Thumb(color), 17.Insultin' the Sultan(b&w), 18.Sinbad the Sailor(color), 19.Rasslin' Round(b&w), 20.Ali Baba(color), 21.Viva Willie(b&w), 22.Don Quixote(color), Free-Form Fairy Tales(All In Color) 23.Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp, 24.Jack and the Beanstalk, 25.The Brave Tin Soldier, 26.Puss in Boots, 27.Little Boy Blue, 28.The Queen of Hearts, 29.Simple Simon, 30.The Valiant Tailor, 31.The Three Bears and 32.Dick Whittington's Cat.

This is a collection of cartoons from the Ub Iwerks studio, created in 1930 soon after Iwerks left Disney, only for it to close in 1936, a couple of years after the loss of his MGM contract.Iwerks's first cartoon creation was Flip the Frog. Flip was basically a Mickey Mouse-type character, a happy, dancing character with little personality. It came as no suprise when Flip was scrapped a few years later, but his cartoons are not really that bad, because all of his cartoons had musical scores written by the great Carl Stalling (who later enjoyed huge success with "Looney Tunes"), which helps to make the Flip cartoons quite enjoyable.Iwerks next venture was Willie Whopper, a boy who would tell tall tales, such as how he can fly a plane, or saving his girlfriend from outlaws. He wasn't very successful either, and the series was perhaps the weakest of Iwerks's cartoons.The last Iwerks cartoon series was the underrated "ComiColor" series. These cartoons were based on nursery rhymes and childern tales, with a lot of musical and dancing numbers, which seems to suggest that Iwerks was creating something a bit different rather than creating a carbon copy of Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies", in which some studios tried to imitate. These were made in two-colour Cinecolor (as Walt Disney had the exclusive rights to use the 3-colour Technicolor process at the time), and were released independently due to MGM refusal to distribute them. The ComiColor series was not very successful too, which resulted in the closure of Iwerks's studio.This DVD contains a whopping 32 cartoons on this DVD, from Iwerk's first cartoon "Fiddlesticks" (Flip the Frog in 2-colour Technicolor)to his last ComiColor cartoon "Happy Days".The quality of these cartoons are generally better than any other Public Domain home video, with the ComiColor cartoons retaining their original titles. Some of the Flip the Frog cartoons have their original titles recreated, and the cartoons themselves are of near-pristine quality. Sadly, the Willie Whopper cartoons have seen better days, with most of his cartoons having a noisy picture and sound quality.However, 32 ultra-rare cartoons in one DVD represents good value for money, and should not be ignored by fans of classic animation.

I love old cartoons because they show a little bit of history. They tell us about things we used, people who were celebrities and what our values were and how we thought at that time in history.

I've always loved this cartoons as a kid, they are so funny and hilarious... Better than those kinds of cartoons that we are seeing today. Tom and Jerry are also one of my favorites.... since I've found this on dvds I have been collecting them. this cartoons are the real thing.Tom And Jerry - Classic Collection - Vol. 3 [DVD]Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection, Vol. 2 [DVD] [US Import]