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Author
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Topic: All This and Rabbit Stew (Warners/Red Fox) LPP
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted August 17, 2012 12:39 PM
Hello everybody!
As anyone who knows me can tell you, I have a great fondness for the animated cartoon. You get a full story, from beginning to end, in about 8 minutes or less (as a general rule) and if your lucky, you'll laugh your arse off!
My passion as of late is collecting good low fade copies of favorite animated films from Super 8's vintage age. They don't have to have a perfect "Derann quality" image, just that they can be found on low fade stock.
Until just two weeks ago, I had thought this film, "All This And Rabbit Stew" was only on quick fade Eastman from in the day, but I have been happily proven wrong, thanks to Greg Marshall (Muchas Gracias Greg!) and of course the glorious Red Fox Films company!
There are 11 cartoons that are banned from TV, and this was one of them, which was one of the reasons why I wanted this cartoon, apart from it being quite funny. That, and I'll be damned if I'm going to have some "PC as**ole" tell me what I can see and what I can't!
It was banned because it has a black hunter (one of the only cartoons like this, beyond the "Little Black Sambo" cartoons, and one other "balock hunter" cartoon, which also stared Bug's) that has the racial stereotype of the day, (1941). Slow talking and big lipped, all the way, with a penchant for rolling the dice.
It has the standard "Hunter/Bugs" gags. Log gags, magical rabbit holes that move along the ground ect. One of the best gags has Bug's winning everything from the hunter, leaving him with nothing at the iris out but a leaf to cover his "unmentionables", and Bug's, as the the cartoon iris' out, even takes that away, showing it to the audience as a prize!
For me, what makes this cartoon even more memorable, is the history of it.
This cartoon is credited to Tex Avery and his unit at Warners. I would personally differ in that regard in that while it has "Tex" style gags, the visual look of the characters, (especially the black hunter) is much more in line with Bob Clampett's unit and style. Tex only directed one or two more cartoons at Warners before he moved to MGM, and at this time, the Avery unit of writers and gag men were being added into the other existing Warners units, and Clampett had started with Avery's unit before becoming a director, so it makes sense that Clampett would take over much of Avery's unit and in fact, take over this cartoon. For those who don't know, from the time a story is first suggested until the time the film is actually completed and screened for audiences, can be quite a long time, so the fact that this cartoon was near the very end of 1941, (and Tex left in 1941, his last cartoon, already completed, being released in 1942), makes my "Clampett" theory all that much more reliable.
There is no actual director credited for this cartoon in any history, but I would vy for Clampett over Avery.
Now, onto the print.
This print was manufactured by Red Fox. This film was actually printed by Niles films as well as other distributors but apparantly, they used the same "main" negative source, in that this print, while it has focus, is not as sharp as most other Red Fox cartoons, (and all prints of this have the same sharpness, faded or not). This source material was a good ways distanced from the original souce in that it is quite "dupey", meaning that while it does have the full range of color, the backgrounds are a little too bright, but passable. This is probably why Derann didn't reprint this Red Fox title when they recieved much of Red Fox Films negative masters, in that, no matter how good of a printing process you have, you have poor negative material, it'll still look sub-par, and Derann did have a near impeccable standard of quality!
The sound is a decent mono, as expected.
So, if you choose to collect this film, I would HIGHLY suggest that you wait and wait (hell, I waited seven years to find this print!) until you find a ...
1. Red Fox Films print.
2. an "LPP" Red Fox Films print.
... otherwise, you'll never find a decent color print of this rare cartoon on super8!
and ... as always, LONG LIVE SUPER 8!
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted August 18, 2012 01:02 PM
I won a print of "Little Black sambo" super 8 color sound, full length, about three or four months ago. I wonder if it was the same one? It went for the full duration of the auction, if I remember correctly. A rare print. It was released by "Hollywood Films" of L.A. but sadly, was released on eatman (non LPP) film stock and while it has decent color for the moment, it is in cold storage!
Now ... "Coal Black" is a wonderful example of just how amazing Derann's print of Warners classics could be! It is easily 16MM quality on Super 8, exceptionally pin sharp with gorgeous color saturation and not a hint of looking like a dupe after dupe print. magnificent. They're print of "Gruesome Twosome" (another Clampett classic) is equal is quality.
In fact, I compared screenshots from the laserdisc box set of Looney Tunes, (which had "Gruesome") and frames of the super 8 print, and the super 8 print was definitely sharper and much better color!
THanX 4 the post
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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