Just a heads-up for anyone who might be interested. There is a new 2 DVD set of early Mickey Mouse cartoons that was just released by Disney : “Mickey Mouse : The Black and White Years, Volume 1.” This set contains (finally!) the complete, unexpurgated version of the first MM short released, “Steamboat Willie.” As far as I am aware, this is the first time the unedited version has been seen anywhere in the last 50 years or so.
Is this the version where Minnie gets nekkid?
Since it sounds like you would know - wasn’t there some collection of B/W MM/Other Disney shorts released on LaserDisc 7-8 years ago? Or am I misremembering the Looney Tunes collections?
Yes. It was a 5 disc set which contained virtually the same shorts as the new DVD set does with the exception of “The Karnival Kid.” Also, that set contained the edited version of SW.
Hey Euty:
#1) Is the Goofy set out yet?
#2) Any word on the Wartime set? (I want that wartime set, dammit!!!)
Thanks!
Fenris
And as long as I’ve got your attention (or will have your attention): Do you know if Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land and the Uncle $crooge one about economics that came out at the same time have been released on DVD?
Euty - Thanks. Thought I remembered that. I was running a video store at the time & one of the regulars collected older animation.
Jog my memory more - wasn’t that the first time it had been available for home viewing in any form, chopped or not?
Fenris, the Goofy set is indeed out. In fact, I saw my mom buying it for me for Christmas when she thought I was in a different part of the store. (This is especially interesting considering I don’t own a DVD player, but I’ve been asking for one for months. Wee!)
1) Is the Goofy set out yet?
Yep … came out the same day as the new MM set.
#2) Any word on the Wartime set? (I want that wartime set, dammit!!!)
So far it’s still on the schedule for next winter, along with the second “Mickey Mouse in Living Color” set and a complete Donald Duck colection.
Do you know if Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land and the Uncle $crooge one about economics that came out at the same time have been released on DVD?
Right now the only way “Donald Duck in Mathmagicland” is available is as a $100 teachers set from the Walt Disney Educational nedia Company. As far as I know, “Scrooge McDuck and Money” isn’t available in any form.
Now maybe Disney will allow an unedited version of The Three Little Pigs (1933). Originally the wolf disguised himself as a travelling peddler with a Yiddish accent. This was thought too stereotypical in later years, and his voice was redubbed without the accent – the only version seen these days.
That’s funny. Disney must be worried about possibly being on the losing side of the Supreme Court challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act which added 20 years to the copyright duration thus insuring Disney’s early images do not go into the Public Domain.
I don’t think the Supreme’s will overturn the law (despite the “limited” language used in the Constitution) better safe then sorry though.
A complete Donald Duck collection? SWEET! I have two severely old tapes of Donald and Daisy cartoons; I’m told they don’t suffer from any censorship. Do you know if the DD cartoons are going to be unedited? How many are in the set, and do we get Daisy in there too?
(sorry, the duck was always my favorite)
I was thinking the same thing, elf6c.
You’ll be able to get this stuff cheaper if the Supreme Court overturns the extension of Disney’s copyright protection. Disney’s trying to make some bucks off of old Willie while it still can.
No, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. The re-dubbing was done decades ago, I believe. And re-dubbing that bit of dialogue would not change the copyright status of the original work. Charles Chaplin re-edited, scored, and narrated his feature The Gold Rush (1925) in 1941, then neglected to renew the copyright on the 1925 version when renewal came due in 1953, which led to the 1925 version now being in the public domain.
Yeah. Then Mickey has her commited, ‘cause she’s fuckin’ Goofy.
I actually believe the replacement was a newly animated scene with the wolf as a Fuller Brush man. Leonard Maltin points out the change on the Silly Symphonies collection from the first Disney Treasure wave, I believe.
(Also, a useless one: I believe it was Walt himself that had the pigcordion scene excised from SW.)
The way I heard it, Mickey was suing for divorce. The judge, after looking over the papers, looks at him and says, “So you want a divorce because she’s crazy?”
“No, your honor, I didn’t say she was crazy. I said she was fuckin’ Goofy”
We’re not talking about the dubbing, Walloon.
We’re talking about the fact that Disney may soon lose its copyright on early Mickey Mouse cartoons, depending on how the Supreme Court rules on a pending case.
In other words, depending on how the Court rules, any Tom, Dick or Harry may soon have the right to distribute those early cartoons. I see Disney’s packaging of the Steamboat Willie cartoons referenced in the OP as an attempt by Disney to cash in while they still can.