Its only the 30-40 year old people that are complaining about not having these. You won't hear some kid asking for them.

Yes Warner might not own every copy but they are the ones that would create the DVDs. Who cares if Joe Smoe has the cartoon on video, but if Warner doesn't own a copy, they can't put it out.

I think the difference with films where gays are ostracized is that in these films they are rarely shown in a negative light. Gay people are show as otracized in "Philadelphia" and "Bent," but no one would say that it was intended to portray homosexuals in a negative way. Not to hijack this thread, but are there any movies that portray homosexuals in a negative way?

You won't hear a kid asking for them because a kid doesn't know about them. LT and MM were not made for kids. Many of the "complainers" are baby boomers (mostly 50+) and grew up on a steady diet of Looney Tunes. The war propaganda toons used to be shown regularly on TV.
Some of us are completists. Some just love anything from Termite Terrace. We complain because it's something we can't have (at least for now). No one that I know, whines about it.

IIRC, Coal Black is without a doubt, Clampett's masterpiece of animation. Yes it politically incorrect and offensive by today's mores. But unlike Amos and Andy, black actors voiced the characters. I don't know if that makes a difference to caricatures but it does lend credence to the notion that the intent was not malicious or exploitive.

I happen to own these cartoons on VHS. They are really grainy, nth generation copies. I would love to have a digital copy of them. But that will probably not happen soon.

Once these cartoons pass into the public domain, that is the copyrights expire, anyone is free to sell it. Copyrights don't last forever.

And if you want to read some whining, take a look at any Star Wars thread.

I'm sure Warners will do something so they don't loose the copywrites.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I'm not a lawyer but I play one on TV.

Film copyrights expire after 90 years after the initial release. They could expire sooner if not renewed regularly. Music copyrights are generally kept in sync with the film and story but I believe 70 years is the limit on music. So around 2034, most of the WB WWII propaganda and race cartoons will be available for use and sale by PD distributors. But DVD and maybe even HD-DVD will have gone the way of the kinescope by then.

And I don't mean to get too pedantic but copywrite(r) is someone who writes advertising or publicity releases. A copyright is the right or entitlement to reproduce or sell a musical, written or otherwise artistic piece of work.

Perhaps they should release them all as a set also containing documentaries explaining why they feel they are offensive now and why they felt they were not offensive before.

It's the 40-year-olds who want to see these cartoons!

It's the pinheads who want supress anything that is slightly offensive that are the problem. (Of course, we can't have Coal Black, but it's OK to have someone shot to bits or use the F-word 287 times)

I would hardly classify a piece of work called Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs as "slightly" offensive. Lets be realistic, folks, WB would never actively call attention to an embarrasing era of their history.

It'd be like Volkswagon releasing a special, limited edition "built with slave labor" New Beetle.

It's more raunchy than offensive, anyways.

How is it part of an embarassing era in their history? Coal Black was produced in the 1940's... Warner Bros. was releasing some of their best stuff in the first half of that decade.

If we encourage WB in releasing these objectionable shorts, we'll see them. If we keep applying our modern viewpoints, we won't.