Betty Boop - The Definitive Collection

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The Fleischer Story The Fleischer brothers, Max and Dave, were animation pioneers. Creators of Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, and the Bouncing Ball, they also brought Popeye the Sailor Man to the screen and produced the first feature-length animated cartoon—on the theory of relativity! Max invent...	Betty Boop: Her Wildest Adventures	The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939 By 1937, where Volume Two of this long overdue chronological collection picks up, Moe, Larry, and Curly had been performing together for over a decade, and appeared in several feature films and 19 short subjects for Columbia. They were just getting warmed up; there is nary a clun...	Popeye the Sailor, Vol. 2: 1938-1940 During the late 1930's, the Fleischers' Popeye the Sailor cartoons rivaled even Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts in popularity, and this second collection makes it easy to understand why. In contrast to the realistically animated characters in Disney's lavishly beautiful shorts,...	The Thing from Another World With its modest special effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate production values...

Good hard laughs
I don't know why it took me ten years to buy this collection. I don't remember enjoying these shorts as much when Amc was showing them in the late 1980's on the weekends. They're almost as funny as the cartoons produced at the whitehouse, the creativity and intellect was certainly superior. I highly recommend this set, even being that the format is vhs. I decided not to wait for the more user friendly dvd version to be released, as there is nothing to guarantee that it will be as complete, or as well made, or even if they will be offered at all. One thing is certain about this collection ; a lot of time and research went into this project, it shows in the the presentation and packaging. As mentioned in other reveiws, I too would have prefered them to be in chronological order instead of arranged by theme, and a companion booklet would have been nice also. Don't wait, if you're anything like me, and see what's on the television, you probably need good hard laughs as soon as possible.

Excellent but not perfect...
This VHS collection, is the only "official" release of Betty Boop cartoons from Republic. It has all the cartoons, except one with Popeye and three or four others, considered lost back in 1998, when this collection first released (those cartoons already "re-discovered" on various private collections worldwide, maybe a future DVD collection gonna have them). The picture and the sound quality is great, compared the usual public domain DVDs you may have seen the last years. There is a problem through: It is called "Digital Noise Reduction" and it is the nightmare of the animation fans! This set here, is the obvious example of how bad DNR can be, when we use it on Cartoons. Beyond that, it is an excellent choice for Betty Boop fans, now!

For fans of the brilliant early cartoon style
It might be worth buying the first few volumes separately and just leaving out the last ones - unless you have a young kid in your family, who will probably enjoy them. It's very sad to see Betty end her wild career as a middle-class sweater-wearing schoolteacher catering to a cute puppy (just as it was depressing to see how they domesticated Popeye in his later years) - but the early "surrealist" cartoons more than make up for the duds. They're worth seeing for the Cab Calloway numbers alone, and for their visual originality and imagination. There was integration of live action and animation in some episodes, I believe well before Disney ever thought of it, and the "out of the inkwell" idea was also original in its time. This is a well-made collection, with very good visual and sound quality, and it's a great look into the early history of American animation. And Betty herself is a character who will live forever! It's just a shame the series isn't avaiable on DVD.

Excellent Collection For Boop Freaks
If you love Betty Boop, this collection will not disappoint. My only complaint is that it is not available on DVD. The transfers are excellent, many are better than those on DVD collections I've come across.

Black and White and Boop All Over!
"Definitive" is an excellent word to describe this most complete collection of cartoons from one of the most enduring stars of 1930's Hollywood.It is missing only a handful of Boop cartoons, but those are believed lost forever and have never surfaced on any video collection that I'm aware of. In addition, the prints are generally struck from the best, uncut copies available. The collection also includes several "politically incorrect" cartoons that are never shown on any of the cable networks, and the set also includes a brief video history of Betty narrated by Max Fleischer's son, director Richard Fleischer. Despite an earlier reviewer's assertion, only one Betty cartoon was ever filmed in color - "Poor Cinderella" - and it appears here in all it's two-color glory.Without a doubt, the early cartoons that feature Betty teamed with boyfriend Bimbo and Koko the Klown are head and shoulders above the rest, especially when teamed with a Cab Calloway song. "Bimbo's Initiation" and "Snow White" are perhaps the finest examples of the surrealistic style of cartoon the Fleischer Brothers excelled at. "Is My Palm Red" is Betty at her risque best, before the Hays Office censors toned down her act. Of the latter shorts, only those with Grampy rise above the pedestrian. Alas, Betty went to cartoon heaven not with a bang, but with a whimper.For any fan of animation in general and Betty in particular, this collection is THE "must-have!"