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While they are sometimes considered by film historians to be pale ''Silly Symphonies'' knock-offs, many of the ''Color Classics'' are still highly reguarded today, including ''Somewhere in Dreamland'' ( 1936 ), the Academy Award -nominated ''Hunky and Spunky'' ( 1938 ), and ''Small Fry'' ( 1939 ). The first film in the series, ''Poor Cinderella '', featured Betty Boop (with Red hair and Turquoise eyes); future films were ususally one-shot cartoons with no starring characters. In 1955, Paramount sold the Color Classics to TV distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. U.M.&M. altered the original titles on a few Color Classics, redoing the entire opening credits. Before the retitling could be finished, National Telefilm Associates bought out U.M.&M., but instead of refilming the openings, NTA blotted out references to Paramount and Technicolor. Only a few cartoons were redone by U.M.&M. The shorts with the most common prints containing U.M.&M. titles include: ''Play Safe'', ''Christmas Comes But Once a Year'', ''Bunny Mooning'', ''Little Lambkins'', and ''Vitamin Hay''. NTA distributed the Color Classics to TV, but the copyright lapsed on all except "Tears of An Onion". Public domain video distributors have put TV prints of the Color Classics on home video. However, the UCLA Film and Television Archive through Republic Pictures (successor company to U.M.&M. and NTA) restored the Color Classics to their original theatrical condition. Some of these shorts have been shown in revival film houses and on cable television. Ironically, original distributor Paramount (through their 1999 acquisiton of Republic) has now regained rights to the Color Classics (including owning what survives of the original elements), but so far no official video release has occurred. In 2003, animation archivist Jerry Beck conceived a definitive DVD box set of all the Color Classics, and tried to enlist Republic Pictures' help in releasing this set. After being turned down (presumabaly due to both corporate ownership changes within Republic and cost factors), Kit Parker Films (in association with VCI Entertainment ) stepped in to provide the best available 35mm and 16mm prints of the Color Classics from Parker's archives to create the box set ''Somewhere In Dreamland'' (named after one of the shorts). These "interim restored versions" contain digitally recreated Paramount titles. However, the U.M.&M. prints had to have their title cards as well as their animator credits redone. "Tears of An Onion" was not included in the set due to its continuing copyright status. |
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