Last year, Kino Lorber released DVDs and Blu-ray Discs of cartoons produced by DePatie-Freleng, shorts which were regularly shown as companion 'toons in Pink Panther Show TV series. So far we've seen releases of The Inspector, Crazylegs Crane, The Ant and the Aardvark, Roland and Rattfink, and Tijuana Toads. Now a new group of Amazon pre-order listings show that two more companion cartoon series will be coming to home video on May 30th. Here's what will be released next month:
- Sheriff Hoot Kloot: The DePatie-Freleng Collection on DVD and Blu-ray:
Diminutive loudmouth Sheriff Hoot Kloot, astride his curmudgeonly, limping horse Fester, wages an ongoing battle of witlessness against lunatic sheep rustler Crazywolf. DePatie-Freleng's only series of cartoon Westerns, the Sheriff Hoot Kloot films are characterized by especially strong direction and layout (by Hawley Pratt, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Leonardi and others). Delighted with the chance to slip in clever Wild West in-jokes, writer John Dunn further pits Kloot and crew against a veritable rogues gallery of ridiculous outlaw villains, including Billy the Kidder, Calamitous Jane, Butch Casualty, Wild Bill Hiccup, and the hanging Judge Soy Bean.
Special Features: Two documentaries by Greg Ford and William Hohauser: DePatie-Freleng's Range Rovers and Art for Art's Sake (a tribute to brilliant DePatie-Freleng multi-hyphenate Art Leonardi), featuring Mark Arnold, Jerry Beck, Barbara Donatelli, Will Friedwald, Art Leonardi and layout artist Martin Strudler. Audio commentaries for selected films by author Mark Arnold, cartoon director Bob Balser (archival audio), animation historian Jerry Beck, filmmaker Greg Ford and cartoon writer William Hohauser.
- The Blue Racer: The DePatie-Freleng Collection on DVD and Blu-ray:
Unlike Warner Bros. Cartoons iconic Road Runner, nothing about DePatie-Freleng's supersonic Blue Racer could be described as streamlined. This listing reptile, while surely speedy, definitely is not slick and ranks as more of an Everysnake who loses more battles than he wins, most of them to a philosophical Japanese Beetle. The DePatie-Freleng artists, while dubious acknowledgists, still displayed their knack for extended physical comedy and squash-and-stretch action scenes in this surprisingly popular scheme that bucked the contemporaneous trend toward limited animation. Never consigned to any indigenous natural habitat, Blue Racer vacations in Tokyo, winters in Alaska, even emigrates to Ireland with a wanderlust echoed by the films producers, who outsourced one of the entries to Sydney, Australia and another to Barcelona, Spain.
Special Features: Two documentaries by Greg Ford and William Hohauser: DePatie-Freleng's Range Rovers and Art for Art's Sake (a tribute to brilliant DePatie-Freleng multi-hyphenate Art Leonardi), featuring Mark Arnold, Jerry Beck, Barbara Donatelli, Will Friedwald, Art Leonardi and layout artist Martin Strudler. | Audio commentaries for selected films by author Mark Arnold, director Bob Balser (archival audio), animation historian Jerry Beck, filmmaker Greg Ford and cartoon writer William Hohauser.
The DVD versions are $19.95 SRP each, and the high-def Blu-ray Disc versions are $29.95 SRP each. Below is the front cover art for each of these, in both formats. Our thanks to one of our readers, "J.C.," for letting us know about the Amazon listings!
 
|
No comments:
Post a Comment