8mm Forum: Carrotblanca (Warner Bros.)

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 10, 2008, 02:53 PM:

Over the years, (the last 30 or so) Warner Bros. has occasionally released new short subjects.

At first, (in the late 70's) they went back to the classic directors, with Chuck Jones releasing new Roadrunner cartoons and such, Friz Freleng doing the same ...

Starting in the 1980's, they started to release new cartoons, (in limited release) by new upcoming directors, such as "Box Office Bunny" (which I believe was also released on Super 8mm at one time) and such ...

... but most of these were okay, but subpar when compared to the quality of thier original output from 1930 on thru 1964, (the later 60's stuff largely being crap ... personal opinion). In the case of the two new Daffy duck cartoons, ("Night of the living Duck", "The Duxorcist"), they actually used pieced together original scores from the 1950's by Carl Stalling, with limited success.

... but in 1995, Warners released a new cartoon in salute of thier live action classic, "Casablanca", entitled, "Carrotblanca" starring nearly the whole cast of Warners cartoons stars, (and many one shot cartoons stars which are fun to pick out in the background!). In most cases (even in the original cartoons) these emsemble casts don't really work well, but this cartoon is a wonderful exception.

The Story ...

Tweety has secret Documents that he wants "Bugs" to protect. Bug's replies with "Eh, I don't stick my cotton tail out for no one!"

But there is a "wovewy wady" involved; the cat from the Pepe cartoons, who comes to the bar with Sylvester on hand.
Bug's sees her and falls apart, (turning into a large "Sucker")

Bug's finds out that Sylvester has been taken by Yosemete Sam, (playing the German general role), and Bug's must free him, putting Sam in a prison sell with an "amorous" cell mate, (funny) in the process.

Bug's gets the two of them to a plane with the special document, (a design for even funnier funny nose "Groucho" glasses), but Kitty leaves Sylvester behind and returns to Bug's, fade out!

Although the whole cast is excellent in this cartoon, Tweety is my favorite, doing an excellent "Peter Lorre"

" You despise me, don't you? Eh Heh! "

... and in fact, he reappears during the "That's All Folks" end credit!

Not only that, the whole cast is used quite well, (Porky only does a cameo, same old story for Porky!). Daffy plays "Dooley" the piano player, and "Kitty" for the first time ever, speaks in a cartoon. Pepe plays, you guessed it, "Renault" the french chief of Police!, with much panuach,

" She is shy, No? ... Coffee, tea, Moi? "

Not only is the cartoon very well written, the animation is better than I have ever seen in these new Warner Bros. cartoons, exactly up there with the originals and in fact, in most cases, passing the old cartoons. Warners definitely spared no expense on this cartoon! Top notch in every department!

Now, onto the print!

I don't know who manufactured this print, (I'm thinking Classic Home Cinema, but I could be wrong, somebody correct me?)
But it is top notch in every way. Curiously, it says "Amazing Panda Adventure" on both the beginning and end leaders, as this was the film that it was released with, but it's my guess that this cartoon will be long remembered, far beyond the already nearly forgotten "Panda". Gee, you'd think that they would release this with a restored print of "Casablanca"?!

Sharpness

The image on this print is as good as you could ask for, with an incredible focus, certianly rivaling the 16MM prints out there.

COLOR

The color is amazing, very saturated in everyway. I compared this short with the print that's on the "Casablanca, special edition" DVD, (which would be a great source for re-recording the soundtrack if you wish), and I personally felt that the color was richeron the film print.

Contrast

Right up there with the best, no wash-out, no "oversaturated" blacks, (is that how I would say it?), everything is well defined, and certianly not "dupey".

SOUND

I must admit, since I'm used to listening to Warner Bros. cartoons in mono, I didn't turn it on in stereo, to see if it was recorded as such, but the sound I heard was very good. If it isn't in stereo, it's easy enough to re-record it as such.

Film Stock

This is on AGFA 2S color stock, so your print is going to maintain it's color for the longest time, and it's just to die for

I don't know how many prints were manufactured of this specific title. This was only the second one I saw, (found it on BARRY'S INDEPENDENT 8 film site, Major plug for my friend Barry ... one of the best!!), so I scooped it up as soon as I could. A more expensive short, to be sure, but well worth the collecting.

Could someone perhaps identify how many prints were made of this specific title?

I thank you for your time and, of course ...

LONG LIVE SUPER 8MM!!!

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on April 19, 2008, 02:43 AM:

It's strange Osi that no one has remarked on your excellent review, perhaps this is rarer than I thought (I should have charged more, bugger it!), and there can't be many copies floating about, still at least you have one now.

Posted by peter booth (Member # 242) on April 19, 2008, 06:23 AM:

Hello Osi,yes you are spot on,Classic Home Cinema did release this cartoon.Keith Wilton gave a very highly recommended review of this film in Film For The Collector magazine issue no 40,Summer 1998,the cost then £23.Hope this helps,regards,Peter.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 19, 2008, 10:23 AM:

Yes, thanks to the magnificent BARRY ATWOOD, PROPRIETOR OF INDEPENDENT 8, I have a very nice copy of Carrotblanca, which I would not have if not for the VERY RELIABLE BARRY ATTWOOD, AT THE EQUALLY EXCELLENT INDEPENDENT 8.

... and thank you, Peter Booth for commenting on Carrotblanca that I got from THE HIGHLY REASONABLE BARRY ATWOOD AT THE OPEN FOR YOUR BUSINESS INDEPENDENT 8!

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on April 19, 2008, 10:54 AM:

So just where did you get your copy from Osi? [Smile]

Carrotblanca is a great spoof; didn't comment on your review because I have only the dvd version that came with the 2 disc Casablanca.
Mal

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 19, 2008, 05:45 PM:

Why Mal ...

I bought my copy from always reliable BARRY ATTWOOD at the equally reliable INDEPENDENT 8!!

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 28, 2015, 04:38 PM:

we watched our copy tonight, it is superb in every way, great colour sound and pin sharp. [Wink]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on July 28, 2015, 04:53 PM:

Great review there Osi! One to watch out for, I hadn't heard of it on Super 8 until your review and quite rare by the sounds of things. [Smile]

Posted by Rob Young. (Member # 131) on July 29, 2015, 02:21 AM:

This was a Classic Home Cinema release, but in the early days when a certain Dudley based company produced the prints for them!

Hence, unlike later releases from Andec, it's on polyester with a familiar post-stripe track.

Quality print though as everyone has said, although mine had to go back to be re-recorded, which is how I found out where it was produced!!

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on July 29, 2015, 03:14 PM:

An absolutely beautiful print that I bought at the first CineSea, however I had to re-record the audio since it was low and tinny.

Doug

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on July 29, 2015, 03:29 PM:

Lovely print Doug! I had the exact same complaints with my Roger Rabbit cartoon when first received. It recorded well though, unusually well it has to be said for pasted stripe.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on July 29, 2015, 05:02 PM:

I have this print as well....and it could use a re-record. The sound is low and muffled. I got it for next to nothing because of the bad sound. Visually the stripe looks ok so I'm hoping to re do it sometime. I have never tried any sound recording with super 8 so a cartoon would be the place to start.

Bill [Smile]

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 29, 2015, 07:05 PM:

Actually Bill, I have found cartoons harder to sync up than live action films, for whatever reason.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on July 29, 2015, 07:53 PM:

Well that's not good! I guess dealing with something 8 minutes long is better than 20....

Bill [Smile]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on July 29, 2015, 08:07 PM:

I think the reason cartoons can be more difficult to sync is because the lip movements never perfectly match the dialog. That's because it's a cartoon!

Doug

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on August 03, 2015, 06:30 AM:

I even have trouble syncing my own lips to my words.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on August 03, 2015, 12:36 PM:

Sure you do

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