SKot

I’m definitely a Trekkie since before there was a Star Wars, and though I haven’t picked the Roddenberry Vault set up yet, I undoubtedly will soon.

I really dislike it when deleted footage is buried in documentaries so that you can’t access it any other way. There should always be an option to watch the footage separately, as well as within the documentary. A common thing these days is to have deleted footage viewable separately, but then have additional segments that can only be seen within some documentary piece. They did this on the Star Wars BDs, and it sounds like they’ve done this on the Star Trek discs as well. This is part of why I haven’t purchased it yet.

On another related note, where the hell are the Star Trek TOS bloopers? Certainly not included with the BD release, or even with the new Roddenberry Vault release. Those reels have got to be out there somewhere; they showed for years on the convention circuit. Time for a new topic on this, I think…

–SKot

So…after a prolonged pause, an update on the situation:

I’ve now been in touch with animation archivist Steve Stanchfield, and I can reveal that there is in fact a project in the works through his Thunderbean company to collect and release the Felix films in highest quality on a 3-volume BD set of 3 discs each…which is exactly the best case scenario I was hoping for when I started this thread. It is being worked on as we speak. Fantastic!

Unfortunately that’s about all I can say about the project at the moment, but I will certainly keep this thread updated when I have future information. Suffice to say that right now Felix’s early films are in good hands (the best hands, in fact!) and I look forward to the day when we can purchase a definitive collection to reside on our collective shelves.

Stay tuned.

–SKot

It looks like there’s a good chance that a number of those films aren’t what they say on the canister or reels. That one marked Felix the Cat doesn’t look like a Felix film - the animation and artwork doesn’t look right for any of the Felix releases. So I’m guessing that’s something else as well, but I’m not sure what. Oh well.

–SKot

I don’t suppose you wound up with any Felix the Cat in there?

See my separate thread on this for details on the missing Felix films…

–SKot

Barnstormer said:

In case it may help anyone:
The version of “Beyond Westworld” which I acquired has both a pilot episode (395MB) and an episode 1 (303MB). I was not sure whether there’s a difference between them, so I checked. To do so, I watched them both side-to-side, with one of them muted.
They are virtually identical and contain exactly the same scenes. There are some minuscule editing/quality differences, with the most major one (and perhaps the only noticeable one) being that in the former, all red alert scenes have the entire screen tinted with a red hue (which I found rather amusing).

I just checked my original downloaded copy against my DVD of the series, and you’re absolutely right about the red tint! Glad I didn’t delete the downloaded copy.

Curiously, this IMDb link talks about a two-hour pilot which I’ve never heard of, so I’m still not sure whether I’ve missed out on some scenes or not. (The pilot I watched was about 48 minutes.)

Interesting…if this is true, I would love to get my hands on that two-hour pilot.

–SKot

It’s nice to be able to see that a lot has changed since the original post here. Both Westworld and Futureworld are available on BD in the US, as well as what appears to be a sharper transfer on French BD. Beyond Westworld was released finally as an MOD with all 5 episodes on it in decent quality. And now we have a rather good Westworld remake series on HBO with at least a second season in development and up to 5 seasons total.

It’s a good time to be a Westworld fan.

–SKot

GrindhouseGuru said:

You may want to get ahold of a very nice gentleman by the name of Steve Stanchfield.

Funny you should mention that! I just emailed him yesterday. I’m hoping he’s got some knowledge to impart on this.

–SKot

I like that formatting, and I may do something with that. It could get a bit unwieldy, though, if we wind up with certain films possibly being on 10 or more different releases with cover variations for each. So we may not necessarily be able to do the cover art here.

Most of what I already have is pulled directly out of the existing spreadsheet. I’m still working on the best way to format the data in the original spreadsheet, but I’ll either port that here or link elsewhere for it.

In the meantime, I contacted Don Oriolo (son of Joe Oriolo who took over Felix after the original creators had passed on), and he gave me a lead on someone who appears to be putting material together for this same kind of project. I’ll be getting in touch with them and hopefully be able to collaborate in some capacity.

–SKot

Spaced Ranger said:

Whoa, nice project! Most of us have absolutely no idea until someone points it out.

Thanks! Yes, I went from spending a few years obsessing over the lost Doctor Who episodes (still am) to this. I had no idea so much of Felix’s past was missing as well, but given how much film from the previous turn of the century is lost, it’s not too surprising.

If I can suggest more work for you, 😃, would you also specify sources for these listed shorts? I’m constantly seeing collections of old Public Domain cartoons in store sale bins. It would help to know what you have identified from particular film, videotape, DVD, and Internet media (YouTube, et al) links. It would give topic watchers the chance of catching shorts not on your list. And show pictures, too, of package front/back covers (where applicable).

I would love to do that, and much of that info is in my spreadsheet…but I’m not sure how best to implement it here. Maybe a link to an online shared copy of the spreadsheet on Google docs? I’m open to any suggestions, of course.

–SKot

This space is reserved for the master listing of all the Felix film shorts.

DISTRIBUTED BY THE FAMOUS PLAYERS-LASKY FOR PARAMOUNT PICTURES:

1919 11/09 Feline Follies
1919 11/16 The Musical Mews
1919 12/14 The Adventures of Felix
1920 01/25 A Frolic with Felix
1920 02/22 Felix the Big Game Hunter
1920 03/07 Wrecking a Romeo
1920 04/11 Felix the Food Controller
1920 04/18 Felix the Pinch Hitter
1920 05/16 Foxy Felix
1920 06/06 A Hungry Hoodoo
1920 06/13 The Great Cheese Robbery
1920 07/18 Felix and the Feed Bag
1920 08/22 Nifty Nurse
1920 09/26 The Circus
1920 10/24 My Hero
1920 11/21 Felix the Landlord
1920 12/26 Felix’s Fish Story
1921 02/06 Felix the Gay Dog
1921 02/13 Down on the Farm
1921 03/20 Felix the Hypnotist
1921 04/17 Free Lunch
1921 05/15 Felix Goes on Strike
1921 06/05 Felix Out of Luck
1921 07/03 The Love Punch
1921 07/17 Felix Left at Home

DISTRIBUTED BY MARGARET J. WINKLER PRODUCTIONS:

1922 02/01 Felix Saves the Day
1922 03/01 Felix at the Fair
1922 04/01 Felix Makes Good
1922 05/01 Felix All at Sea
1922 06/01 Felix in Love
1922 07/01 Felix in the Swim
1922 08/01 Felix Finds a Way
1922 09/01 Felix Gets Revenge
1922 09/15 Felix Wakes Up
1922 10/01 Felix Minds the Kid
1922 10/15 Felix Turns the Tide
1922 10/21 Felix Fifty-Fifty
1922 11/?? Felix Comes Back
1922 11/01 Felix on the Trail
1922 11/15 Felix Lends a Hand
1922 12/01 Felix Gets Left
1922 12/15 Felix in the Bone Age
1923 01/01 Felix the Ghost Breaker
1923 01/15 Felix Win’s Out [sic]
1923 04/15 Felix Tries for Treasure
1923 05/01 Felix Revolts
1923 05/15 Felix Calms His Conscience
1923 06/01 Felix the Globe Trotter
1923 06/15 Felix Gets Broadcasted
1923 07/01 Felix Strikes it Rich
1923 07/15 Felix in Hollywood
1923 08/01 Felix in Fairyland
1923 08/15 Felix Laughs Last
1923 09/?? Felix and the Radio
1923 11/15 Felix Fills a Shortage
1923 12/01 Felix the Goat-Getter
1923 12/15 Felix Goes A-Hunting
1924 01/01 Felix Out of Luck
1924 01/15 Felix Loses Out
1924 02/01 Felix ‘Hyps’ the Hippo
1924 02/15 Felix Crosses the Crooks
1924 02/29 Felix Tries to Rest
1924 03/15 Felix Doubles for Darwin
1924 04/01 Felix Finds Out
1924 04/?? Felix Cashes In
1924 04/?? Felix Fairy Tales
1924 05/01 Felix Pinches the Pole
1924 05/15 Felix Puts it Over
1924 06/01 A Friend in Need
1924 06/15 Felix Finds ‘Em Fickle
1924 06/15 Felix Baffled by Banjos
1924 07/01 Felix All Balled Up
1924 07/15 Felix Brings Home the Bacon
1924 08/01 Felix Goes West
1924 08/?? Felix Minds His Business
1924 09/01 Felix Grabs His Grub
1924 12/01 Felix Goes Hungry
1924 12/15 Felix Finishes First
1925 01/01 Felix Wins and Loses
1925 01/15 Felix All Puzzled
1925 02/01 Felix Follows the Swallows
1925 02/15 Felix Rests in Peace
1925 03/01 Felix Gets His Fill
1925 04/13 Felix Full O’ Fight
1925 04/27 Felix Outwits Cupid
1925 05/08 Felix Monkeys with Magic
1925 05/25 Felix Cops the Prize
1925 06/08 Felix Gets the Can
1925 08/15 Felix Dopes it Out

DISTRIBUTED BY EDUCATIONAL PICTURES:

1925 08/23 Felix the Cat Trifles With Time
1925 09/06 Felix the Cat Busts into Business
1925 09/20 Felix the Cat Trips thru Toyland
1925 10/04 Felix the Cat on the Farm
1925 10/18 Felix the Cat on the Job
1925 11/01 Felix the Cat in the Cold Rush
1925 11/15 Felix the Cat in Eats are West
1925 11/29 Felix the Cat Tries the Trades
1925 12/13 Felix the Cat at the Rainbow’s End
1925 12/27 Felix the Cat Kept on Walking
1926 01/10 Felix the Cat Spots the Spook
1926 01/24 Felix the Cat Flirts with Fate
1926 02/07 Felix the Cat in Blunderland
1926 02/21 Felix the Cat Fans the Flames
1926 03/07 Felix the Cat Laughs it Off
1926 03/21 Felix the Cat Weathers the Weather
1926 04/04 Felix the Cat Uses His Head
1926 04/18 Felix the Cat Misses the Cue
1926 05/02 Felix the Cat Braves the Briny
1926 05/16 A Tale of Two Kitties
1926 05/30 Felix the Cat Scoots Through Scotland
1926 06/13 Felix the Car Rings the Ringer
1926 06/27 School Daze
1926 07/11 Felix the Cat Seeks Solitude
1926 07/25 Felix the Cat Misses His Swiss
1926 08/08 Gym Gems
1926 08/22 Two-Lip Time
1926 09/05 Scrambled Yeggs
1926 09/19 Felix the Cat Shatters the Sheik
1926 10/03 Felix the Cat Hunts the Hunter
1926 10/17 Land O’ Fancy
1926 10/31 Felix the Cat Bursts a Bubble
1926 11/14 Reverse English
1926 11/28 Felix the Cat Trumps the Ace
1926 12/12 Felix the Cat Collars the Button
1926 12/29 Zoo Logic
1927 01/09 Felix the Cat Dines and Pines
1927 01/23 Pedigreedy
1927 02/06 Icy Eyes
1927 02/01 Felix the Cat Stars in Stripes
1927 03/06 Felix the Cat Seems ‘Em in Season
1927 03/20 Barn Yarns
1927 04/03 Germ Mania
1927 04/27 Sax Appeal
1927 05/01 Eye Jinks
1927 05/15 Roameo
1927 05/29 Felix the Cat Ducks His Duty
1927 06/12 Dough-Nutty
1927 06/26 LocoMotive
1927 07/10 Art for Heart’s Sake
1927 07/14 The Travel-Hog
1927 08/07 Jack From All Trades (aka Mr. Do-All [color])
1927 08/21 The Non-Stop Fright
1927 09/04 Wise Guise
1927 09/18 Flim Flam Films
1927 10/02 Felix the Cat Switches Witches
1927 10/16 No Fuelin’
1927 10/20 Daze and Kights
1927 11/13 Uncle Tom’s Crabbin’
1927 11/27 Whys and Other Whys
1927 12/11 Felix the Cat Hits the Deck
1927 12/25 Felix the Cat Behind in Front
1928 01/08 The Smoke Scream
1928 01/22 Draggin’ th’ Dragon
1928 02/05 The Oily Bird
1928 02/19 Ohm Sweet Ohm
1928 03/04 Japanicky
1928 03/18 Polly-tics
1928 04/01 Comicalamities
1928 04/15 Felix the Cat in Sure-Locked Homes
1928 04/19 Eskimotive
1928 05/13 Arabiantics
1928 05/27 In- and Out-Laws
1928 06/10 Outdoor Indore
1928 06/24 Futuritzy
1928 07/08 Astronomeows (aka Astronomeous)
1928 07/22 Jungle Bungles
1928 08/05 The Last Life

GENERAL ELECTRIC PROMOTIONAL CARTOON:

1927 The Cat and the Kit

COPLEY PICTURES (REISSUES WITH ADDED SOUND):

1928 (was 1928 05-13) Arabantics
1928 (was 1928 06-10) Outdoor Indore
1929 (was 1926 08-22) Two Lip Time (Felix in Dutch)
1929 (was 1927 11-27) Whys and Otherwise
1929 (was 1927 08-21) The Non-Stop Fright
1929 (was 1927 10-20) Daze and Knights
1929 (was 1928 04-19) Eskimotive
1929 (was 1928 07-08) Astronomeous (aka Astronomeows)
1929 (was 1928 06-24) Futuritzy

COPLEY PICTURES (WITH SOUND):

1929 The Cat’s Meow
1929 False Vases
1929 Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee
1929 Forty Winks
1929 One Good Turn
1929 Romeeow
1930 April Maze
1930 Tee Time
1930 Hootchy Kootchy Parlais Vous
1930 Skulls and Sculls
1930 Oceantics

VAN BEUREN / RKO (WITH COLOR & SOUND):

1936 02/07 The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
1936 03/20 Neptune Nonsense
1936 05/29 Bold King Cole

It’s safe to say nearly everyone is aware of Felix the Cat. Most know him from his 1958-1961 cartoon series appearance where carried a magic bag of tricks. Some have seen him in the 3 color cartoons that appeared in 1936. But far fewer people know him from his earliest, mostly black & white incarnation on film shorts from 1919-1930. And fewer still are aware that a great deal of these films are missing, lost, or otherwise unavailable to the general public.

Since the early Felix films have fallen into the public domain by now, many of the surviving films have been made available on VHS and DVD mostly by low-budget or fly-by-night companies packaging up what are often really poor film transfers and selling them on the cheap, often alongside other public domain cartoons of the same time period. With well over 50 of these home video releases out there, it’s a confusing mess trying to figure out what’s available…let alone trying to watch all the films that exist. In addition to this, there are a great number of Felix films out there in public or private archives, some of which have been transferred and put online for viewing, but most of which have not.

I have already compiled a list of all the known Felix films from 1919-1930, as well as a list of all known home video releases and which Felix films they contain (where it was possible to determine this). There’s still a huge number of films that are unavailable as far as I can tell.

The purpose of this thread is:

• to determine what the best sources for these films are
• to compile a collection of all of the best available copies of the material
• to discover sources for any films not available in any home video release
• to identify any other early Felix preservation efforts in progress

This topic header will be updated as new information comes to light.

–SKot

camroncamera said:
Wow, I was already very impressed with the theatrical showing in Vancouver earlier this month (presumably from the same source that’s been projected there three years in a row). The only obvious flaw I can remember was the short glitch in the Diahann Carroll performance.

That glitch has been painstakingly patched over, and it’s really hard to spot where.

Mavimao said:
Awesome! Will check it out when I get back from the in laws. Are you able to say what the source of this specific version is?

From off a master copy, as noted by the lack of commercials and lack of voice-over on the credits.

–SKot

Well, here’s the scoop: EditDroid (you guys remember EditDroid, right?) is back with a new release…and that release is a previously uncirculated version of the Holiday Special that blows away anything else out there. Some of you may have spotted it by now; it’s up in the usual places.

Believe me when I say that when it comes to quality, this is about as good as it’s ever going to get. Even an official release (as unlikely as that may be) would have a hard time topping this one.

Until we see the real thing, I think this is the definitive one at long last.

–SKot

There has been an a-Wookiee-ning. Have you felt it?

Something is coming.

–SKot

GoboFraggle1983 said:

In case any of you are wondering about where I got the DVD footage of the original US opening titles and ending credits; I actually found another rare DVD copy of this dub somewhere on the web, though it actually had the French dub accompanied with a Polish voice-over for the audio. This copy actually has a less rough and more cleaner video transfer compared to the 2008 Televista edition, so I'm assuming that it's from the unofficial "Collector's Edition" mentioned on BlueBuddies website (the cover is below), though I could be wrong. Feel free to reply and comment below! ;-)

Interesting...never seen that edition before!

So, wait...it's got the US opening titles and ending credits, but dubbed in French...with Polish voice-over?  I'm confused...

--SKot

kingrixy said:

Hi guys is this project still active as last post was 2008 , I have been searching as I have some palitoy Uk commercials from a big box of vintage British off air recordings vhs I bought a few years ago. i have been slowly capping them  and cleaning them up. but would like to contribute to the project . if not then I can finish them myself and upload them over time. 

That would be fantastic, really...I think most of the Kenner commercials have surfaced in pretty good quality in the last few years, but not the Palitoy ones to my knowledge.

I think these days it would be great to have some kind of cloud archive of SW commercials that people could upload better copies to as they run across them...

--SKot

Here's to a swift recovery for Poita...hope to see you back on deck sooner than your doctors expect!

--SKot

poita said:

It is squarely on my radar actually, and will be done once I get through these.

Fantastic! Carry on then.  :)

--SKot

Awesome to see a project for the original Smurfs movie! I'm a big fan of everything Smurfs prior to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons (the comics, the records, the PVC figurines)...they were dumbed-down a lot for the cartoons and pretty much everything else since.

GoboFraggle1983 said:

Also, does anybody have the Televista DVD of this film from 2008?

I do in fact have this! It is most definitely cropped top and bottom, and has a  pretty rough transfer of the film. Definitely watchable, and at the time it was the best available. I haven't bought the 2011 DVD, hoping (probably in vain) that a US Blu-ray might appear. You mentioned you were working from the 2011 DVD. What about the UK Blu-ray? I've pondered getting it, assuming it is actually that much better quality than the DVD.

skoal said:

For other Smurf fans:

Les aventures des Schtroumpfs (1965)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDBE_J3STVc 

I am really, really hoping someday these early films show up. This posting to YouTube was the first time I'd seen so much as a scrap of footage from them.

--SKot

poita said:

The other films I am not working on until the trilogy is finished, but others can if they wish. The scans themselves are completed for the non SW stuff.

Very very excited by even the smallest amount of progress on this.

On the top of my personal list of other films that I'd love to see scanned for preservation would be the original THX 1138...for obvious reasons. Is that on your radar by chance?

I'll contact you by PM; I'd like to help finance your hard drive costs with a small donation...

--SKot

SilverWook said:

Those masks were around $100 bucks each back in the day, so not too cheap either. ;)

True...but a hell of a lot cheaper than paying someone like Stuart Freeborn to hand-make 20-30 new Wookiee heads!

--SKot

SilverWook said:

And I've suddenly realized Wookiee life day robes have ridiculously long sleeves to avoid having to make hands for all the extras. ;)

And by using off-the-shelf Don Post Chewbacca masks, they didn't have to custom-make anything at all.  Presto! Cheap Wookiee crowd scene.

--SKot

Tobar said:

WOW! This guy's collection is amazing!

Oh yeah...that'd be Gus Lopez. Didn't realize he'd entered the Holiday Special collecting game that seriously. That's nothing compared to the rest of the non-HS stuff he has...

--SKot

Chriz said:

Hello guys, its Nov 17... Happy Star Wars Holiday Special anniversary :)

Can anyone tell me how to get the updated/best quality version, I would like to watch it again, its been awhile since i last saw it when it was broadcast on a local TV station i think it was Dec of 89.

Thanks.

Hi Chriz! Where are you located to have seen that in December 1989, and what station?  I know Australia played it multiple times on into the late 80s...

--SKot

Tobar said:

Okay....well looks like they didn't get the price they were hoping for. As it's now been relisted with a BUY IT NOW price of $5000! Sheesh.

I got a bid in when it was around 600, but was immediately outbid. I noticed then it hadn't hit reserve.  Then on the last day, I noticed it was at $1500, and *still hadn't hit reserve*!!  What in the hell kind of price did they expect this thing to command, anyway?  $2000?  $5000?!  Apparently yes on the $5000.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm one of the most likely people in the world to want this item...and I would never pay $1500, let alone $5000 for it.

I mean, it's the HOLIDAY SPECIAL, for Ackmena's sake!!

So who was ready to shell out $1500 for it?  Fess up!

Apparently Joe Johnston really doesn't want to sell this thing.

--SKot