Sammy Salvage - A New Cartoon of 1943

Steve Stanchfield has unearthed a new old cartoon from 1943; Sammy Salvage, from Ted Eshbaugh! Possibly the most antiquated looking American cartoon from 1943 (not low quality, just out of style; very, very out of style). If it's the future, why not see if Thunderbean has issued the short on DVD and buy it from them?

http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/lost-ted-eshbaugh-film-sammy-salvage-1943/

Blu-Rays of 1943: Puppetoons

There is a limited edition of the Puppetoon Movie coming out on Blu-Ray. Only 3000 copies, $50 plus shipping. As it includes the 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins as a bonus, it's applicable here.
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-puppetoon-movie-on-blu-ray/
It's unclear to me if there will be single disc release as well; I'm in for the bonus materials at any rate.

'43 on Blu-Ray

So, a new Blu-Ray with an incredibly unwieldly title has been announced; the Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles The Chuck Jones Collection. We may never know if it's based on the novel by Sapphire. The UnBearable Bear (I had forgotten this cartoon almost completely in the year and a half since I wrote the post on it) and The Aristo-Cat (which I had not forgotten). One of the early reviews on Amazon says the bonus cartoons have been "reviled"; I think it's more technically true of the disc of Sniffles...

Looney Tunes the Chuck Jones Collection Mouse [Blu-ray]

Wrapping up 1943

So goeth 1943.

Columbia was low man in the quality department this year, but they were moving towards the future in the looks. And they had some interesting, effective cartoons. Next low was probably Famous; the Popeyes that are good seem good in spite of themselves, and there are some terrible cartoons at the end of the year. Then Pal; I'm not entirely convinced my putting them here doesn't have a lot to do with the quality of the transfers I have available to me; at the same time, Famous might rank a bit above the Puppetoons. Then Terry, as they had some bad cartoons, but don't let it fool you; there were plenty of great entries, especially in the Gandy and Sourpuss series. Next Lantz; no bad cartoons, but their highs weren't especially high. Then Disney; funny, easy going, they don't just belabor the point for an entire cartoon like most of the '39s. Then MGM; the Avery cartoons are largely great, the Tom and Jerrys solid but mostly unremarkable, and the rest good enough. And finally, WB; huge output, mostly very solid. The very best cartoons of the year might fall in the Avery camp (tho I would need to mull that a bit for highest individual honors), but the number of very good cartoons out of WB gives the studio the edge.

Now it's back to the future past with the Cartoons of 1935, getting into gear again in about a month. Update your Google reader subscription/RSS feed/Blogger subsubscription accordingly.

Word Cloud of 1943

A Wordle word cloud of this blog, generated on 12/8/11. Oddly cartoon modern... Odd that Clampett is as big as Bugs and Disney. I'm not sure how long back the engine checks stuff; generating one of these for 1939 clearly ignores actual posts on cartoons and is pulled from the last few meta posts.

130 The Marry-Go-Round

Title: The Marry-Go-Round
Studio: Famous
Date: 12/31/43
Credits:
Direction:
Seymour Kneitel
Animation:
Graham Place
Abner Kneitel
Story:
Joe Stultz
Series: Popeye
Running time (of viewed version): 7:58
Commercial DVD Availability: -

Synopsis: Love and murder and a washing machine.

























Comments: Nice looking title card. Opening image; kinda looks like Bette Davis, but while she's ugly, she's not that ugly. I assume a Paramount star. Sig says Dottie. Maybe Dorothy Lamour? Tough looking whistling sailor. Don't ask don't tell: Shorty and Popeye kiss. Cool background iris transition that only transitions the background. Industrial danger music. My grandfather hated the wringers on washing machines for the same reason Popeye must have. French impression (Charles Boyer?). Odd but cool shot choice on eyes are limid pools. Olive hairection (which looks like a black Playboy bunny rotated 120 degrees counterclockwise). Olive apparently went to Drag U. Silhouette. Olive seems to have Deniro's southern accent from Cape Fear. Shorty has his lips on Olive's chest. And he has a tongue like a '39 Lantz heroine. Popeye apparently kills Olive and puts her corpse in the washing machine, and the year ends with Shorty bound and disgusted.

The last Famous, the last Popeye and the last cartoon overall for 1943. And it was sourced from YouTube.

Defense Against Invasion

Title: Defense Against Invasion
Studio: Disney/US Government
Date: 12/XX/43
Credits: -
Series: -
Running time (of viewed version): 12:37
Commercial DVD Availability: OTFLd1

Synopsis: Hey kids, get your shots, kinda for the war effort. We need you fit to fight in Korea!



















Comments: Flasktastic title. Real life shadows. Multi-culti kids. Fat kid, black kid, white yet ethnic kid, little kid. The fat kid's name is Tubby. Odd drawing of anatomical man. Kind of a pre-cursor to Hemo the Magnificent. Disease looks like Chernabog. Or a spider version of the Axis octopus from Victory through Airpower. Also Osmosis Jones. Better than Victory... because the military is more cartoony. Blood makes this more abstract; but better than Fantasia because it's still actually a thing. With guns! Apparently Disney didn't know what a white blood cell was... The doctor is giving the British finger version of V. In the Hall of the Mountain King and the William Tell Overture. The (kidneys and liver?) look like mickey Mouse.

Not really sure if this is the last Disney for the year. The vagaries of propaganda short dating and all. Anyway, the last Disney and the last propaganda for the blog for the year (barring additional content after 2011).