Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Rating:
Summary: classic mickey
Review: I always wondered why we never, (or, in my 45 years, very rarely) see the early mickey mouse cartoons. I mean, there was never much trouble back when I was a kid seeing the old Warner bros. cartoons, the early Fleschier-popeye cartoons(which to me were the best cartoons of all!) The one Cartoon that has become as rarely seen as these early Mickeys is the Fleschiers classic, full length "Hoppity goes to town".
But it seems with thye release of these 1st Mickey cartoons we have the answer to why we never see them, & the answer is provided by Leonard Maltin. The Disney studios was afraid that Mickey Mouse, the character that CREATED THEM, was offensive! They seem to believe that, instead of laughing out loud (as the kids who watched them at our house on x-mas did) children will cry & go hide under their beds.
By the way, can anyone tell me why "Mickeys good deed" a cartoon I had never seen before but now think might be the finest Christmas cartoon ever made, was included in the "from the vault" section?? What could have been offinsive about it? The fact that it is an X-mas story & Jews, Muslims, etc dont celebrate x-mas??? I really dont get that one, but the DVD is worth getting just for that wonderfull cartoon alone.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Mickey
Review: "Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two" (1928-35) represents another valuable treasure trove of early Disney animation. The remaining 40 cartoons in this collection range from Ub Iwerks gems such as "The Barn Dance" (1928) and "When the Cat's Away" (1929) to politically incorrect obscurities along the lines of "Mickey in Arabia" (1932) and "Mickey's Man Friday" (1935). Upon viewing these shorts in chronological order, one notices the increased skill of the Disney animators and, sadly, the gradual diminution of Mickey's character -- from naughty cartoon star to squeaky-clean nonentity. Though Volume One showcased many of the finest black-and-white shorts, the second volume has its share of classics, including "Traffic Troubles" (1931), "Mickey's Mechanical Man" (1933) and "Mickey's Steam-Roller" (1934). With more than five hours of material, this DVD set is a must-have for animation buffs.

Rating:
Summary: Politicially correct -- but rather insulting
Review: As a hardcore Disney fan, the Treasures series is a dream come true -- and I certainly won't rest until I have every single cartoon from the Disney vault. I originally owned Mickey in B&W Vol 1 when it was on Laserdisc fifteen years ago; and knowing then that there were a few missing, I am thrilled to have this second volume.
But unfortunately, the people at Disney seem very much ashamed of their cartoons. On most of the Disney Treasure series, any appearance of a gun, an obscure racial stereotype or the use of the word "Mammy" is preceeded by a gushing apology from Leonard Maltin, explaining how back in the Dark Ages of the 1930's, people weren't as enlightened as they are today, and that we shouldn't judge too harshly.
But what the Disney people don't realize is that most people today don't know who Al Jolson was and won't know what "Mammy" is referring to. By pointing out these often hard-to-spot gags (one is a face-shaped balloon floating in the background), it just makes us notice them and even look for them.
But this particular collection goes beyond the previous collections, which is why I can't give this one 5 stars. They have taken all the cartoons that could be remotely offensive, including most of the best in this collection(including a classic Christmas cartoon), and placed them in a separate section. To access this section, you have to sit through a three-minute apology from Leonard Maltin, which cannot be skipped or scanned -- you have to sit through it every single time you watch these cartoons. They call this section "From the Vault", which I took to mean that they hadn't been seen in many years. Actually, they mean that these cartoons should only be watched alone, by adults, in the dark of night -- each time making me feel like a prurient pervert.
Still, I do applaud Disney for releasing these, especially their WWII collection, without censoring them for our delicate modern minds. But I do wish they would stop treating their own classics as though they might turn us all into gun-wielding Nazi racists.

Rating:
Summary: I would join my voice in praise.
Review: At last! the rest of the Black and White Mickey Mouse cartoons. I've seen very few of these, and it's great to have here the complete shorts. As has been said elsewhere, the main beefs about volume one have been met...the EBIL NON PC cartoons with the WICKED RACIAL JOKES (it's odd that no-one ever seems to single out the ethnic Jewish gags that feature in pre-war Disney shorts either in colour or black and white, but skin colour...WWWWOOOOAAAAHHHH!) have all been segregated so they get one warning from Leonard Maltin and then you can "Play All", which couldn't be done with Vol One, probably due to fears of offending those who might inadvertently use these cartoons as electronic babysitting wallpaper.
One I loved was "The Haunted House" with animation reused from "The Skeleton Dance" ... if the PC part can be skimmed over this would be great at Hallowe'en even now. The Iwerks animation of the earlier shorts is fantastic, with a vitality that seems to fade as the artwork becomes more, well, artistic with movement being rendered more realistically. I don't regret getting this one.
Gripe? Disney will probably never issue this as Region 2...they've only put out the first "MM in living colour" disc as far as I know, and this stuff while being a MUST HAVE for a cartoon lover isn't kiddie fodder or mass market material.
I'm just glad that they didn't whack on a collectors price for such collectable material.

Rating:
Summary: Puzzling
Review: I don't know why they had to make these in black and White. I ahve seen many cartoons that were in color. It is not expensive to make Dvds in color. I think it even uses the same kind of disc. Why do we have to see these classic cartons in dull black and White? Everyone knows Mickey Mouse has red shorts, I don't want future generations to not know. Also they are not letterbox, but I think with cartoons that is okay because if the pcture gets too small you can't see the eyes of the cartoon figures and the eyes are the windows to the emotions, as has oft been said, adn even cartoons have emotional problems. Anyway, it seems weird to me that they are even Bragging about them being in black and white when there aer so many cartoons in color. I know they had invented color because Gone in the Wind is color and that was even long ago too. They should be cmplete.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely for fans of classic animation
Review: I have to say if you're a fan of vintage black-and-white cartoons you have to get this. This disc set starts with 1928's "The Barn Dance," which was the fourth Mickey Mouse short (and the second one Disney produced in sound). Already the Disney staff was improving upon what they had set the course with the previous "Steamboat Willie." And as you go along with the shorts according to chronological order, you can see how the animation improves as time goes along, as well as how the Disney staff learnd to use a more structured way of storytelling. (Certainly using storyboards had a postive effect on the series, which really was not done before Mickey. Some of these storyboard drawings you can check out on Disc Two.) Some of the early sound Mickey shorts might not have been big on plot but they had a lot of music and gags. Some of the best cartoons from this collection are "Barnyard Broadcast" (in which a cat and four kittens interrupt Mickey's radio broadcast), "The Barn Dance," "Delivery Boy," and "Playful Pluto." "The Barnyard Concert," done in 1930, is a prototype for the color "The Band Concert" (which would come five years later), in where Mickey conducts an orchestra in a barnyard despite continuing mishaps.

As noted in previous reviews, the cartoons that conatain racial or ethnic stereotypes are put in the separate "From The Vault" section on Disc Two. The intro to that section has Leonard Maltin explaining the context to the Al Jolson "Mammy" jokes as well as the play/novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Another cartoon that gets placed in that section, "The Moose Hunt," has a scatological joke that one does not expect from Disney. (BTW I understand why that intro was made, I just wish I could skip or skim through it. Having to go through that again and again just I could see the cartoons themselves gets quite redundant.)

Overall this is a great collection. It makes me want to check out "Mickey Mouse In Black and White Volume 1."

Rating:
Summary: The conclusion of Mickey's black-and-white career
Review: Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2 brings all of the shorts left out of the first volume, uncut and uncensored. Disney enthusiasts/collectors should all own this long-awaited set, and just the casual viewer may enjoy them as well. Included are the final 40 shorts, completing the collection of Mickey Mouse cartoons. From the first short on the set to the latest "Mickey's Kangaroo" there can be seen clear artistic progress in not only the quality of the animation but also the telling of the stories within each cartoon.

The picture quality of the set is as good as it could be. For cartoons 70+ years old, some dust and grain should be expected. But most of them are great quality. Each short has been restored from the original negatives and they really do look great. The picture is sharp and crisp and I applaude Disney for their work in restoring these pictures. The sound quality is not great by today's standards, but I am sure that it is even better here than it ever was during the original releases. There were a few shorts that tell you that the original opening music cue has not survived, maybe about 5 of them in all. So while things arent 100% perfect remember that these are very old cartoons.

The content of this Treasures series is very good. Few of these shorts have been seen by the general public in a long time and some maybe have not been released at all due to ethnic/racial stereotypes and uncharacteristic behavior (violence, tobacco use). One such short is "Mickey's Mellerdrama" where Mickey and the gang put on a play about Uncle Tom's Cabin. But unlike previous waves where Maltin would have to put each short into its historical perspective, the potentially offensive shorts are all in a section on disk 2 titled From the Vaults. This was a great move on Disney's part. You can now hear Leonard Maltin explain that the shorts back then were not meant to be offensive during their original inception but that parents should cautiously allow their children to watch them and take the time to put it into context so children will not interpret them the wrong way. This handling of the non-PC shorts should please everyone displeased in the past with the Maltin introductions. Also, there is a Play All feature which is great to just kick back and enjoy the whole set at your own leisure. The extras are worth a look also, and they include the following:
* Mickey Mania: Collecting Mickey Merchandise
* Mickey's Portrait Artist: John Hench
* 'Pioneer Days' And 'The Castaway' In Several Versions
* Art Galleries: Mickey Mouse, Fully Covered; Mickey's Poster Archive; Background Paintings; Animation Drawings

The final verdict is that MMIBW V 2is a great addition to he treasures line and is in my opinion near the top of the sets released so far. It is great to now own all of the Mickey Mouse shorts, most obscure and locked in the Disney Vault until now. Yeah, the quality of the collectible tin has decreased with each wave(the certificate of authenticity instead of the stamped tin, there is no longer the blue banner to hold the tin together, and the details of the set that used to be printed on the back are now on paper glued to the back of the tin), but it is what is inside that counts here, a wealth of animation and Disney history to be enjoyed by the young and old alike.


Rating:
Summary: Not quite the best, but the rest.
Review: The best of the black and white Mickeys, and the best known all went on the first set. Leaving, obviously, the lesser cartoons for this follow-up collection. But second rate Mickey is still first class entertainment, and most of these cartoons are entertaining indeed.
As with the previous set, the worst aspect of the collection is Leonard Maltin. WHY can't he trust his viewers to have a little intelligence?
In vol. I, any cartoon that contained humor that was less than PC by contemporary standards was burdened with a brief introduction warning us about what we were about to see. In this volume, all those 'offensive' cartoons are clustered together in a separate section of the second disk, labeled "From the Vault." Apparently these cartoons are so offensive that they have to be locked away in a vault, and only viewed after Maltin has given us a detailed apology about how people were so unenlightened in the 1930's and '40's that they put such horrific content in their cartoons. And that, while SOME people might want to lock these films away for all eternity, HE believes that it's ok to watch them, if only to help us understand how much times have changed. Sigh...
To make it worse, every time you want to view ANY cartoon from 'the vault' you have to first sit through the commentary. The disk won't allow you to fast forward through it. And, to be honest, I couldn't even figure out what was supposed to be so 'offensive' about several of the shorts in 'the vault.'

Still, if you can put up with Maltin, this is a wonderful set, and well worth owning for any fan of Disney or early animation. (BTW, if there are any easter eggs on the disks, I haven't been able to find them.)

Rating:
Summary: Play All!
Review: This "volume 2" of Mickey Mouse in Black and White is superb. Perhaps in response to complaints about volume 1, volume 2 includes a "Play All" option, and we get fewer of Leonard Maltin's banal cautions that "This cartoon may be hazardous to your political correctness." Certain cartoons with racial stereotypes are grouped in a separate section of disc 2 ("From the Vault") that is not linked to "Play All." This is not a bad way to handle the issue.

Rating:
Summary: The More Abscure BW Cartoons...
Review: While Volume One of Mickey Mouse In Black and White covered more conventional, well-known shorts, Volume Two (this one) covers the rest.

Who's ever seen WILD WAVES or JUNGLE RHYTHM? THE SHINDIG? THE CASTAWAY? After watching the Disney Channel's various morning shows that showcased 1930s/40s Disney shorts, I never recalled seeing these.

Some go from the hillarious ( THE BARNYARD BATTLE and THE PLOWBOY) to the simply