Max Fleischer's Color Classics: Somewhere in Dreamland

When I was a kid, my sister and I had a bunch of cheapie public domain tapes with old cartoons on them; we used to watch them constantly. When we were older and felt that we outgrew cartoons, we gave the tapes away, but I always regretted doing so. I finally found many of our favorite shorts gathered together on this 2 disk set. The Fleischer studios Color Classics are excellent short animated films. The simple stories are memorable and the animation is unique. The characters are made to be rather cute and the rotoscope backgrounds are an unusual touch. These films do not get the credit they deserve, but here they are to be rediscovered. Somewhere in Dreamland is an obvious standout. Two desperately poor children walk home to find a meager dinner of bread and coffee. They go to bed and dream of a world of undulating sweets and happiness. When they wake, they find that the neighborhood has gathered a collection of goodies for them to enjoy. Play Safe is a sweet little story about a curious little boy and the dog that protects him. When the boy wanders away from the yard, it is up to the dog to save him. Christmas Comes But Once a Year features a group of orphans in the poorhouse who have very little for Christmas. A local man dresses us as Santa Claus and makes all sorts of creative toys from odds and ends for the children. In Little Lamby, a wolf comes to town and sets his sights on a tasty young lamb. He lures it to him by holding a "cutest baby" contest among all of the animals. Little do they know that the winner will become his dinner. The Fresh Vegetable Mystery is very well done; the baby carrots turn up missing and some mischievious creatures do all they can to prevent them from being found. Several rare cartoons are found in the Lost Episodes feature, a short documentary about the Fleischer cartoons and the making of this DVD set. The Kids in the Shoe is included here, a great short about the woman who lived in the shoe. She puts the children to bed and goes off to take her nap, and the kids wake up to play some great jazz. Overall, this is a great set. The picture quality isn't always amazing, but all of the cartoons are watchable and appropriate for all ages.

There a few films in this collection that brings back wonderful memories, such as (Somewhere in dreamland, and Christmas comes but once a year). Thank you for selling this item!

A nice find this set. More please! Some top cartoons like COBWEB HOTEL (clever & scary) and ALL'S FAIR AT THE FAIR (love the 1930s Deco styling!) amid a few weaker but still enjoyable ones. Recommended! Oddly you can only find the track listing by playing it, so here's what the 2 DVDs contain... 1 Poor Cinderella 2 Little Dutch Mill 3 An Elephant Never Forgets 4 Song Of The Birds 5 Dancing On The Moon 6 Somewhere In Dreamland 7 Little Stranger 8 Cobweb Hotel 9 Greedy Humpty Dumpty 10 Hawaiian Birds 11 Play Safe 12 Christmas Comes But Once A Year 13 Bunny Mooning 14 Chicken A La King 15 Car Tune Portrait 16 Peeping Penguins 17 True Love 18 Musical Memories 1 Educated Fish 2 Little Lamby 3 Hold It 4 Hunky and Spunky 5 All's Fair At The Fair 6 Playful Polar Bears 7 Always Kickin' 8 Small Fry 9 Barnyard Brat 10 Fresh Vegetable Mystery 11 Little Lambkins 12 Ants In The Plants 13 Kick In Time 14 Snubbed By A Snob 15 You Can't Shoe A Horsefly

These cartoons are wonderful! Some of my favorites are Poor Cinderella, The Kids in the Shoe, and Christmas Comes But Once a Year. Restored as best as this company could, given what they had in 2002. We need more Fleischer cartoons released on Blu-ray!

This collection represents a quest to track down every one of the 36 Fleischer Studios `Color Classics' cartoon series. There are 35 of them on these two disks. One of the `Color Classics', "Time For Love" has only survived in a single black and white print found in Europe (this was seven years ago and a color version has since turned up). The only `Color Classics' cartoon not included is "Tears Of An Onion" which is explained as not being here because "it is under copyright and therefore not in `public domain'" This explains a lot because obviously Jerry Beck and company are on a budget. Despite the poor condition of some of the prints included here, there are two processes that I know of that are used to transfer film to video and/or digital; one is a frame-by-frame reader that takes the image directly off of the film for maximum clarity and color but it is a tedious process and is costly. Look at the excellent Disney collection of `Silly Symphonies' if you want to see how it should be done. The second process which seems to be used by all other DVD/VHS collections of cartoons I've seen, including this one, is projecting the film onto a reader screen that will inevitably shave a little off the top, bottom and sides of the image and loses some image and color integrity. The result is one we cartoon affectionados are becoming used to in VHS and DVD collections, kinda dark and kinda fuzzy and it makes you wish you could have been there at the theater at the time. But for now this is all we're going to get. I've watched this one several times now anyway though. DISK ONE 1. Poor Cinderella (starring Betty Boop) ** 2. Little Dutch Mill ** 3. An Elephant Never Forgets ** 4. Song of the Birds 5. Dancing On the Moon 1935 ** 6. Somewhere in Dreamland ** 7. The Little Stranger 8. The Cobweb Hotel 9. Greedy Humpty Dumpty 10. Hawaiian Birds 11. Play Safe 12. Christmas Comes But Once a Year ** 13. Bunny Mooning 14. Chicken A La King 15. A Car-Tune Portrait 16. Peeping Penguins DISK TWO 1. Educated Fish" (1937) 2. Little Lamby 3. Hold It! ** 4. Hunky and Spunky (1938) 5. All's Fair At the Fair ** 6. Playful Polar Bears 7. Always Kickin' (starring Hunky and Spunky) 8. Small Fry 9. Barnyard Brat (starring Hunky and Spunky) 10. The Fresh Vegetable Mystery ** 11. Little Lambkins 12. Ants In the Plants ** 13. A Kick In Time (starring Hunky and Spunky) 14. Snubbed By A Snob (starring Hunky and Spunky) 15. You Can't Shoe A Horsefly (starring Hunky and Spunky) **optional audio commentary by Jerry Beck** THE LOST EPISODES A documentary about the making of this collection of the complete `Color Classics' cartoons. It includes four uncut ultra-rare cartoons: 1*The Kids In the Shoe 2*Time For Love (the only known copy in existence is this black & white version) 3*Musical Memories 4*Vitamin Hay (starring Hunky and Spunky) ART GALLERY Working sketches of various characters from the `Color Classics' and other cartoons plus photographs of production activities inside the Fleischer studios in the 1930's.

Just got this DVD -I'm in a wild hunt for every 30's and 40's cartoons and have been searching Amazon for everything available. Though the restoration isn't perfect in some of the cartoons, I greatly appriecate Jerry Beck and VCI's intiative in releasing these Fleischer classics (and shame on those holding the rights for "Tears of an onion" for not letting us see it in this collection!). These cartoons, showing a very different, sometimes dark and sinister, and always more surreal approach than the Disney cartoons makes me wonder if the Fleischers (also the creators of POPEYE, SUPERAMN, and BETTY BOOP)were ahead of their time and maybe that's way they were economically unsucceful and lost theit studio (who after being taken over by Paramount did nice cartoons, but without the special quality the Fleischer's kind had) . And speaking of BETTY BOOP: She appears in this collection in her only colored film, and I only wish someone (Jerry again?) would initiate a full and hopefully best restoration possible of Betty's cartoons, for the antic cartoons afectioniados and for those not knowing that Betty was a film star way before her merchandising present era.

A product of its time... unintentionally offensive by today's standards, but visually gorgeous. Most def not for youngsters...

Long before the rise of the Disney empire, animation had Max Fleischer and his whimsical illustrators producing some of the best cartoon shorts of all time. This collection contains most of them. It acts as a dipstick of American history. Innocence, whimsy, charm and naivity are clearly brought to life, with a depth not seen since. I remember watching these gems early in the morning with my mother describing the time period to me. The 1930s come to life with singing, dancing and hope that was needed at the time. Compared to everything that followed, it seemed to lack something. Children of all ages would appreciate this magical world that seems to be alive without modern CGI effects.