Max Fleischer's Superman (1941-1942) Warner

[prostx23]

I suspect that these will be HD versions of the shorts Warner released on DVD years ago, errors and all. I'd think if new restoration work had been done, they'd mention that on the back cover hype. Having said that, I'll still buy it as those WB versions, despite the errors, look the best I've ever seen these shorts appear.

[Hammerlover]

Originally Posted by prostx23

I suspect that these will be HD versions of the shorts Warner released on DVD years ago, errors and all. I'd think if new restoration work had been done, they'd mention that on the back cover hype. Having said that, I'll still buy it as those WB versions, despite the errors, look the best I've ever seen these shorts appear.

It says "NEWLY RESTORED" on the blurb.

[prostx23]

It says newly "mastered", not restored. Now unless mastering is different in video than it is audio, I take that newly "mastered" to mean the video equivalent of a remastering. Big corpos choose their words carefully. I remain confident that if any significant restoration work were done here, it'd say so on the box. I hope to be wrong.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by prostx23

It says newly "mastered", not restored. Now unless mastering is different in video than it is audio, I take that newly "mastered" to mean the video equivalent of a remastering. Big corpos choose their words carefully. I remain confident that if any significant restoration work were done here, it'd say so on the box. I hope to be wrong.

Press release:

Make them exciting and visually bold, make them in brilliantly saturated Technicolor: This is a job for Superman! From their signature bullet-paced prologues to their muscular style to their stories steeped in heroics and wartime topicality, these 17 animated theatrical shorts produced by Max Fleischer (with the first nine directed by his brother Dave) set the tone for future screen versions of the Man of Steel's exploits, inspired animators for decades to come and, best of all, continue to pack a thrilling punch for fans. Superman's adventures in comic books were scarcely three years old when the Academy Award-nominated debut cartoon, Superman, burst onto the screen with its breakthrough look and vitality. The excitement still soars.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEWLY RESTORED
Max Fleischer's Superman: Speeding Toward Tomorrow - intense action, noir filmmaking, a heroic soundtrack, Max Fleischer's Superman changed the world of superhero storytelling forever - Featurette
First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series - Featurette
The Man, The Myth, Superman - Featurette
Optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles

[prostx23]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Press release:

Thank you,

I hadn't seen that. I'm surprised it's not mentioned on the box hype (which is what I was referring to). We'll see soon. :-)

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by prostx23

Thank you,

I hadn't seen that. I'm surprised it's not mentioned on the box hype (which is what I was referring to). We'll see soon. :-)

WB tends not to boast their new restorations/remasters on the box. Look at the Tex Avery sets or any of the HB cartoons they did. Not sure why.

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by Burt Lancaster

UGH I know!! I also dislike the vague "newly restored". The Woody Woodpecker set said "Remastered in HD" and it wasn't! It was a junky update of the dvd set, lots of dnr and lots of compression horrors.

I love Max Fleischer's Superman, I want to upgrade my dvds, but seeing this is not being done by the warner archive collection, I'm extremely concerned...

Mask of the Phantasm, Popeye cartoons, etc. all look great. New 4K scans of either the camera negatives or other elements. NO dnr, NO compression flaws. Those were done by WAC. *With the one exception of Tex Avery Vol. 2 which looks dreadful*

On the flip side of the coin, we have the warner bros company. Their releases include: Duck Dogers, The Flintstone's, Batman TAS, Scooby Doo, Where are you, complete with dnr and compression artifacts --just what we love, right!?

UGH! Warner PLEASE do this one without noise reduction!!!



Would you mind posting the audio problems here, it would get more people aware and I forgot myself lol. Much appreciated!

https://mmsuperman.tumblr.com/post/164860117140/welcome

The main page for the Mild Mannered Edition fan corrected edits goes into details for each short. Most are only minor problems due to WB standardizing the credits to a cleaned edit of the first cartoon's opening. Others are differences from various print sources being used over the years and others are just plain goofs. This began as a thread on originaltrilogy years ago and I helped do a tiny bit of research with the info I had from examining video releases over the years.


Basically what the MM version did in most cases was to sync the Bosko audio to the Warner master. That fixes most everything unless you look at the color timing of the Bosko print scans vs the WB negative sourced master.

There are still one or two video versions I haven't checked and now that I finally have one of the LDs (sadly slightly rotted) I now know it's worth seeking out all four.

The problem is once again this is being done as an afterthought for boxset extras. It's like doing Popeye, Tex Avery, Looney Tunes or any legendary animated work with the effort of it being tacked on as an extra.

Yet the "newly restored" credit is interesting. My guess: they did a new scan, probably 2K and we're getting in 1080p with the usual studio compression. If they stayed off the DNR button and didn't re-use the 2006 master audio we should be relatively ok. But this is WB and their animation BDs have been shockingly poor at times.

[albabe]

Originally Posted by SmittysGelato

Still my favourite version of Superman.

I saw these for the first time when I was a little kid. I think it was on the Marshal J Show in Sf/Bay Area. It was so awesome!

Then a couple decades later just when I was starting to work for Marvel, I was at my First or Second Con and chatting with a friend (Brent Anderson, who drew Astro City). He looked at his watch and said, "Oh crap... I gotta go. They're showing the Fleischer Superman Cartoons up in some Room..." I asked him what he was talking about and he said there was a guy (There's always a guy) who had all of the Superman cartoons on 16 and/or 35m, and that he was showing them in a Hotel Room... and I need to get a seat.

Needless to say I scurried upstairs with my bud, attained entrance to the "Secret" Affair, grabbed a folding chair, and relived these amazing little Ten Minute Increments of my long gone past. I remember the little room filled with whoops and hollers for that afternoon. As far as I could tell, a fabulous time was had by all.

I remember a few years later this guy made VHS Transfers for a bunch of us.

[Class316]

Will be interested in seeing how the new blu compares to the MM fan fix.

[brysenji]

From TheDiscFather's Twitter:

5/16/23

Digitally remastered from a 4K, 16-bit scan of the original 35mm negative and presented in its original 1.37:1

And from Why So Blu?:

Warner Bros. Discovery’s advanced remastering process began with a 4K, 16-bit scan of Fleischer’s original 35mm successive exposure negative. Staying true to the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37-to-1, the highest quality raw image was then scanned and then entered into the recombine process – utilizing special proprietary software to merge the successive exposure Technicolor negatives into a single RGB color image. The end result are pristine animated shorts that have been restored to the animators’ originally intended production quality.

[Hammerlover]

When this gets released, I'm going to get it faster than a speeding bullet. Sorry, couldn't resist!

[Egbert Souse]

I wasn't expecting Warner to be that detailed on the new restorations, but that's a definite preorder for me now. Time to put the DVD set in the resell box.

[theatom]

Anyone have any guesses as to why they wouldn't drop a 4K UHD set if they're doing such high scans of the original elements?

[Alhlan Ain Ajeeba]

Originally Posted by theatom

Anyone have any guesses as to why they wouldn't drop a 4K UHD set if they're doing such high scans of the original elements?

Simple,so they can release the 4k 6 months later,for us to rebuy,lol!! Mark my words.

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by theatom

Anyone have any guesses as to why they wouldn't drop a 4K UHD set if they're doing such high scans of the original elements?

It's likely that while they're scanning in 4K, the final masters are 2K. UHD is probably not feasible between the likely smaller difference and the fact they're public domain. Maybe the digital versions will be 4K, though.

[Deciazulado]

Successive exposure RGB = Pure Technicolor Gamut > 709/sRGB

But the 4K would be 2020/P3 Pure Technicolor Gamut

No matter, I'll get it.

And if it comes in 2028 in 4K with S/SSE/STV/SIIRD/SII/SIITV/SG/SGTV/SR/SRwK/SIII/SIIITV/SIV/SIVWP I can always give it to a needy kid and make him find wonder.

[hanshotfirst1138]

We can only hope until it comes out.

[captainsolo]

WB studio division wouldn't scan vintage animation at 4K. WAC would if the elements warranted it even if it's just for BD.

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

WB studio division wouldn't scan vintage animation at 4K. WAC would if the elements warranted it even if it's just for BD.

At least anything scanned within the last decade or so from camera negatives would have been 4K regardless of the division. It's all going through Motion Picture Imaging.

[Thad Komorowski]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

At least anything scanned within the last decade or so from camera negatives would have been 4K regardless of the division. It's all going through Motion Picture Imaging.

Correct. They have been notoriously lazy with the soundtracks, however. Almost the entire pre-48 Warner cartoon library right now is the restored OCN/etc. matched with the tape transfers Turner did in 1995. They sound genuinely awful on a modern sound system. So it's not out of line to expect the worst with Superman's audio.