Alice vs. Alice
Inkwell Images' Alice in Cartoonland DVD & VCI's Alice in Cartoonland DVD go head-to-head
DVD Review by Lee Glover
Inkwell Images' Alice in Cartoonland DVD & VCI's Alice in Cartoonland DVD go head-to-head
DVD Review by Lee Glover
It is widely believed that the Disney empire "started with a mouse", but in fact, it started with a live-action girl!
Walt Disney, made bankrupt after his distributor of his Laugh-O-Grams collapsed, made a pilot film featuring a live-action girl called Alice in an animated universe, which was a reverse of the concept used by Max Fleischer for his Out of the Inkwell cartoons. The film caught the eye of film distributor Margaret Winkler, who commissioned a new series of Alice cartoons. Walt made the long trek from New York to California, where he set up his new studio. It was Winkler herself who suggested that the shorts also feature a Felix-like character (possibly due to the fact that she was about to lose her distribution deal with the Pat Sullivan studio), hence the creation of Alice's feline companion Julius, who would eventually be the true star of these shorts. The early cartoons proved to show what a wonderful concept the idea of a live girl in an animated setting really was, and it was the first true indication of Walt's fertile imagination. However, due to budget and time constraints, the use of live-action became more limited as the series progressed, and although the cartoons still proved to be very enjoyable, the role of Alice would only give the impression of a gimmick. The series finally drew to a close in 1927, where Walt decided to concentrate on his next cartoon star: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The Alice cartoon quickly become in the public domain, but due to the huge sensation that was Mickey Mouse, Raytone Pictures bought up a large percentage of the Alice cartoons, and, to cash in on the Walt Disney name, re-release these with hastily-produced sound. While the soundtracks might prove annoying to some cartoon fans, I actually found them to be quite entertaining, and, due to the era when these were produced, they also lend a certain authenticity to the cartoons themselves.
It is interesting to note that 2007 not only saw the re-release of Inkwell Images' Alice in Cartoonland DVD (which includes newly-restored transfers of previously-released cartoons), but also VCI released their own version, with all-new transfers taken from the Kit Parker archive. This leaves the cartoon buff with one difficult decision - which one to go for?
Below is the list of cartoons that are common on both DVDs:
Below are the cartoons that can only be found on the VCI disc:
And below are the cartoons exclusive to the Inkwell Images DVD:
VCI has proved that even public domain cartoons can get the best possible treatment (Somewhere in Dreamland & Popeye are their previous titles), and they included ten Raytone versions sporting fresh transfers. The set claims to be all from pristine 35mm negatives, but the latter half of the cartoons looks to me like they are sourced from 16mm prints. Nevertheless, the fresh transfers have given them a new lease of life, with the first half looking so pristine, they could have been shot yesterday.
Unfortunately, like their previous DVDs, they subjected all of them with DVNR, resulting in very-obvious artefacts. VCI may not have a huge budget like WB, and have used DVNR with the best of intentions, but surely they must have learned from the Popeye fiasco.
Inkwell Images have used a similar automated process for its restorations, and although some artefacts can be seen (Alice Gets Stage Struck being the worst affected), as a whole it is kept in better control than VCI.
While VCI uses the Raytone versions (in which some were edited by Raytone themselves), Inkwell Images has gone one stage further and uses complete prints (or as near to complete as possible). In one example, Alice's Egg Plant, there is one scene that is missing from VCI's Raytone print - the introduction of "Little Red Henski". Inkwell's versions of Alice in the Jungle and Alice The Whaler are also the most complete versions available.
On the extras front, VCI offers very-detailed text synopsis of every cartoon, including a list of the animators and a background of the making of each short. Also, there is on-screen notes of the history of the cartoons, plus a short bio of Walt himself. A VCI promo reel is included too.
But perhaps the most curious extra on the VCI disc is three silent Life cartoons re-released by the Weiss Brothers as Krazy Kid Kartoons (with the addition of sound). The only connection with the Alice cartoons is that is that the latter became part of the Weiss film library in the 1950s, before the entire collection was purchased by Kit Parker several years ago.
Inkwell Images' extras include two bonus Alice cartoons (indicated above). Although of lesser picture quality than the ones included in the main programme, they are still welcome additions. Also, the disc sports an Alice gallery, promo reel, and PC-ROM material. Like VCI, they include detailed information about each cartoon, which appear within the programme itself (unlike VCI, which you can only access the information via the synopsis menu).
But which disc is better: VCI or Inkwell Images? VCI may have more cartoons in total, but is severely let down by the edited prints and their overuse of DVNR. Inkwell Images may have less cartoons on their discs, but with the company's expertise in making cartoon compilations in an informative documentary format, and its devotion to presenting their shorts as complete and/or pristine as possible, Inkwell's Alice DVD is clearly the best version available. But depending on how big an Alice fan you are, even the VCI version is worth owning too. Whichever one to go for, it will ensure that Disney's forgotten star will not be forgotten even more.
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