Buttmunker

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Bug...d-Eleven/14541

The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour - Report from NY ComicCon: 'Censored 11' to WB Archive in 2011 ***UPDATE: Warner Responds to the NY Post About This***
ToonZone.net informed that 'Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs' & 10 others will come to MOD DVD next yearPosted by David Lambert
10/12/2010

"The Censored Eleven": in case you're not familiar with the term, this is a group of 11 shorts in the Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies lineups which have been withheld from circulation since the late '60s, due to racial depictions that are considered offensive by modern standards. Despite the nature of the material, home video collectors during the DVD era have been interested in owning these "taboo" cartoons on disc, mostly because of the artistry of the animation these shorts were produced with, and the quality of the directors behind them. Here's the list of titles in the "Censored Eleven", including the year and director name (all are Merry Melodies, except as noted):
1931's Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (Rudolf Ising)
1936's Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (Friz Freleng)
1937's Clean Pastures (Friz Freleng)
1937's Uncle Tom's Bungalow (Tex Avery)
1938's Jungle Jitters (Friz Freleng)
1938's The Isle of Pingo Pongo (Tex Avery)
1941's All This and Rabbit Stew (Tex Avery)
1943's Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (Bob Clampett)
1943's Tin Pan Alley Cats (Bob Clampett)
1944's Angel Puss (Chuck Jones; Looney Tunes)
1944's Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (Friz Freleng)
Earlier this year, animation historian Jerry Beck posted at the Cartoon Brew blog (which he runs along with Amid Amidi) that restored prints of these cartoons would be screened in Hollywood at an April event which included a showcase called "Removed from Circulation: A Cartoon Collection". This led to speculation that the shorts would finally see life on DVD in the not-too-distant future. Could the time for collectors to obtain these at last be at hand during 2011?

Yesterday our friends at ToonZone.net reported from the 2010 New York Comic Con, an event which took place over the weekend (Friday through Sunday). In his write-up, Michael Lachman recounts how he "paid a visit to the Warner Archive booth", and was told by the man working there - a piece of information he double-checked to ensure he heard the gentleman correctly! - that The Censored Eleven would be made available on DVD, in "completely uncensored" form, in 2011 via the WBshop online store's manufacture-on-demand (MOD) program. The man commented to Lachman that this has been their most-requested title (no surprise there, really). No specific release date, or even a timeframe, was given: just "sometime in 2011".

Stay tuned, of course, and we'll keep you posted with updates on this, as further developments occur!


UPDATE (10/13): The New York Post reports that they have also seen the ToonZone.net information we described above. And when they asked Warner Home Video for comment about it, the studio replied that there are "no firm plans" at this time. It wasn't an out-and-out denial either, however. Extrapolating a bit on the Post's write-up, the indication was that neither a timeframe (not even a release year, for example) nor method of delivery have been decided upon yet. As an example, if such a release comes out it might arrive in 2012 rather than 2011; and it might come out through traditional retail channels rather than via Warner's MOD program.

Nor would we think, potentially, is the theoretical content of such an (unannounced) release necessarily limited to the above-named 11 shorts, as other shorts also became restricted later on (such as 1944's Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips by Friz Freleng, for example), and Warner might like to include those on such a title as well. The bottom line is that things might be a bit more serious about such a release than they have been in the past, but it's still not "just around the corner" quite yet. Stay tuned and we'll keep you informed!


Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Bug...#ixzz12LhOh4C5

Giles

I was actually kind of shocked by 'Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'

manicsounds

ugh... Warner archive, huh?

The Valeyard

Coal Black is a classic and one of the greatest Warner cartoons ever made.

mdnitoil

Yeah, ain't that something? But you know how it is, this stuff will never sell so they can't press any discs.

Since there is no definitive announcement yet, here's to hoping for something a little better than a burnt disc.

Pizza

Agreed. Unless it was made in the last year, we're at the point now that just about everything seems to be non-worthy for DVD release. It's starting to get ridiculous.

FWIW I would buy this immediately if it was released on DVD or Blu-ray. I've seen some of these a few years back at a local theater. I was surprised at how many I actually saw before on TV when I was a kid. The prints at the theater were pretty beat up so it would be sweet to see them in pristine condition.

Spottedfeather

Nothing wrong with the archives. I've said this before. It's just people complaining for the sake of complaining.

kstublen

Looney Tunes deserves better than burnt discs.

Spottedfeather

How do you think they make commercial dvds ?

kstublen

Seriously? You're actually going to pretend like you don't know what I meant? Give me a break.

mdnitoil

Well, for starters they don't burn them.

Now I understand why you don't see any problem with the Archives. On the other hand those of us who actually do understand technology realize why burnt discs are inferior to pressed discs. I can point you to any number of threads on a cross-section of boards lamenting how the Archive discs purchased months ago suddenly stop playing, but you have to actually get the fact that there is a difference in the manufacturing process to be moved by these accounts. Oh, and those now dead discs? Yeah, they're outside the 30 day return window. Give Warner another 20 bucks and they'll gladly burn a new one for you.

The Valeyard

Spottedfeather

I do understand technology, you smug ass. If you're so smart, then explain....loser.

Mod note: One would think after being here for 5 years you'd know that this type of post is not tolerated here. You can criticize what people say when you think they are wrong, but keep the post focused on the subject and not the poster. If you can't make a point w/o resorting to calling names, it probably means you don't have much of an argument.

The Valeyard

mdnitoil

Wow, loser...that hurt. Maybe next time you can say something bad about my mother.

I've already responded to you in another thread so it seems silly to derail two of them. I will, however, point out that if your understanding is as good as you claim, then there's no need to explain.

Edit:

After stumbling across this quote from yesterday in another thread, I'm guessing that the claims of understanding technology come with a caveat emptor.
Mod note: Again you've been here long enough to know responding "in kind" never usually ends up well. We don't tolerate flame wars here, if you want to post in that manner there are plenty of other places on the net that don't care, please take your conversations there. If you are having a problem w/ a poster please report and just ignore it. Thanks

whotony

^Nice.

anyway shouldn't there be 12 shorts that where censored, one is missing from this list isn't it?

Regulus

Yeah, where is Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips?

rw2516

Isn't China Jones also censored/banned or whatever? Something about a Chinese Porky Pig with stereotypes.

The Valeyard

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips isn't officially on the "Censored Eleven" list tho Warner treats it as such. The cartoons on the "Censored Eleven" list generally deal with African-American stereotypes.

Other races are up for grabs apparently.

Living Dead

Par for the course these days.

JP5683

Would buy this in a heartbeat if remastered. Got 'em all, but in terrible condition.

Here's a great page on the Censored 11.

http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/ltcuts/censored11/

and the main page that lists other cartoons that have been cut, but not withdrawn.

http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/ltcuts/

There are lots of cartoons that have been withdrawn... I have about 6 hours of stuff.

Ash Ketchum

Plenty of other studios had cartoons that'll never see the light of day, e.g. Walter Lantz's "Voodoo in Harlem" (1938, in b&w) which is really worth seeing.

I remember MGM did some Bosko cartoons in color, after Harman & Ising had left Leon Schlesinger for MGM in either 1933 or 1934. Bosko wasn't particularly stereotyped in them. One of them, "Happy Days," was actually respectful. Another one, "Swing Wedding," had frog caricatures of a bunch of top black jazz performers of the day (Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Bojangles, etc.). I remember it being quite beautiful and not particularly stereotyped.

Pizza

It's in my laserdisc collection!

I really hope they think this through and release this title on DVD.