8mm Forum: CAT CONCERTO Tom and Jerry Derann/Walton films

This is topic CAT CONCERTO Tom and Jerry Derann/Walton films in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 17, 2017, 12:04 PM:

This will be a different kind of review from me, as it is also a critique of the problems that Walton ghad with thier Tom and Jerry releases.

Now, may I say that I truly love Walton Tom and Jerry release, as in most cases they are excellent, and the reprints of Walton's Tom and Jerry's by Derann films, sometimes, were even better looking than the original Walton release of a cartoon ...

But Walton was hampered by the contractual agreement with MGM, that they had to release dited versions of the Tom and Jerry films. This was so that MGNM would have exclusive right to release the complete and unedited versions of thier cartoons, which kept thier titles still very marketable for when they entered the super 8 realm of Tom and Jerry. Now, if they had only used low fade stock instead of that blasted eastman stock, well, we'd all be a lot happier.

Usually, the editing was pretty good and not too distracting as, with a lot of these Tom and Jerry's being fade in fade out or iris in/out type gags, it was easy to remove a gag (usually lasting aproximately 30 or so seconds) and the ebb and flow of the cartoon would be left intact ...

However, in the case of "Cat Concerto" Walton did a horrible job of it. There are a total of three edits out, consisting of a total of over a MINUTE worth of footage lost!

1. edit right after first playing, where Tom cleans his hands with a towel, readies himself to play again, and the front of his outfit pops open and he puts it back.

2. Shot of Jerry madly playing the same two notes and Tom bonking Jerry on the head and that wonderful "delayed reaction" before Jerry falls over, knocked out ...

3. First of the three last portions of the concerto completely out, leaving the last two where Tom eventually collapses.

Now, the actual print quality is very good. it's on Agfa film stock and ther colors are glorious, and the print is certainly sharper than the original MGM print ...

... but with those, to be quite honest, clumsy edits, for a person who love Tom and Jerry, it is maddening ...

So, the collector is faced with a debacle ...

Stick with the original MGM release which, if it is not faded right now, it WILL be faded either sooner or later, as it was printed on fadey eastman stock ...

or, buy the Derann rerelease or the original Walton release and miss out on more footage than was necessary ...

Quite the difficulty. Honestly, even with not as great of print quality, if MGM had personally released it on low fade stock, Id go with the MGM release any day of the week, but I'm stuck with the Walton low fade print.

I should add that I think the main reason why the editing doesn't work in this case is that this is a "symphonic" cartoon, where there is literally no stoppage to the music, and so, these edits also are more obvious where on the average tom and Jerry cartoon, it pretty much works.

GRRRRR!

and, of course, as always ...

LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!

UPDATE! I just recived a print of "cat Concerto" that is something of a mystery to me. it IS on agfa 2S film stock, but appears to be from the same negative material as the original MGM release of "Cat Concerto", so the question now arises, did MGM super 8 actually release some of thier prints on low fade film stock (agfa), or is this a mystery print that I'll never be able to figure out.

[ March 03, 2017, 12:16 PM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by Larry Arpin (Member # 744) on March 10, 2017, 10:42 PM:

I agree with Osi. I have the reprinted Walton print also and I do notice the jumps and has excellent quality. However, the Film Office is complete, except of course the titles, but the quality is not as good as the Walton reprint being very contrasty and dupey as seen below.I wish I could go back and see how they did their negatives. I suspect they were double dupes from what I can tell.

Walton reprint from Derann:

Film Office print:

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 11, 2017, 11:56 AM:

Larry ...

I'm wondering if a print that I just recieved, that is the full length version, is the same one as yours. It had the color saturation of the original MGM release, but this print is on Agfa 2S and not quick fade eastman, so it might well be the Film Office print! As you stated, it is also slightly contrasty and dupey looking.

The sadness of that Walton/Derann edit! The color is absolutely striking on that print, even better than the laserdisc or even the remastered bluray prints, but that editing! it's really deplorable! Thanks for the screenshots AND the comparison! Could you put a screenshot of the main title card with "Cat Concerto' on it? That title card really shows off the range of color that it not on the overall MGM or Film Office version. Another good shot for comparison is when Jerry is first introduced. In the original MGM and Film Office, there isn't a great range of color in Jerry's "furniture", in the Walton/Derann print, there is a great variety of color!

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on March 22, 2017, 03:34 AM:

Strangely my copy printed by Derann on LPP (white box special with scratch) has Ken Films on the leader so must be the full (MGM?) version. It has a very "dupey" look, the colours aren't too good and for the subject it has a rather poor sound quality.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 24, 2017, 01:13 PM:

Those screenshots by Larry really tell the story. The Derann/Walton edited print has absolutely great color ...

if only, if only ... such terrible editing.

Posted by Robert Tucker (Member # 386) on April 30, 2017, 01:31 PM:

I would track down the Ken release, print quality and colour is much better. Also most prints titles do not suffer from fade from personal experience.

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