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The Bootleg Files: Tin Pan Alley Cats

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BOOTLEG FILES 765: “Tin Pan Alley Cats” (1943 Warner Bros. animated short).

LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Withheld from release due to politically incorrect humor.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In today’s woke environment, the possibility of giving a second chance to the long-banned racially insensitive Warner Bros. cartoons collectively known as the “Censored Eleven” is nil. At least one of these cartoons, the 1943 “Tin Pan Alley Cats,” is certainly deserving to be kept out of circulation – but not so much for its broadly demeaning caricatures as for the laziness and sloppiness that went into its creation.
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Travels in the Congo (1927) [DVD]

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In 1925, French filmmaker Marc Allégret’s traveled to the French Equatorial Africa colonial region with writer André Gide to create a documentary record of the customs and cultures of the diverse tribal groups within the region. Unlike other documentaries of that era, most notably Robert Flaherty’s “Nanook of the North” and “Moana,” Allégret took an observatory approach to the subject, capturing the everyday life and special events of the African people.
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SF Sketchfest Presents “Plan 9 From Outer Space” Table read – adapted by comedian Dana Gould

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Part of the 2021 TCM Classic Film Festival, the SF Sketchfest presents their rendition of “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” The virtual event is depicted through a series of web cams, and in glorious black and white just for authenticity. Despite the characters not being able to play off one another, the adaptation of “Plan 9” from Dana Gould is actually damn good, and that can be attributed mainly to the fantastic cast, all of whom have a great time with the goofy material.

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TV on DVD: Warner Archive’s Complete Series

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I’m a big fan of “Josie and the Pussycats.” I think the theme song one of the most raucously entertaining themes ever made, while the cartoon is one of the better byproducts of the “Scooby Doo” influence. Hoping to continue the series, Hanna Barbera took their franchise to the more obvious setting: Space! And they branched out in to orbit with Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series, now on Blu-Ray.

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A Woman of Paris: Chaplin’s Misunderstood Masterwork

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Charlie Chaplin’s “A Woman of Paris” (1923) has been one of the most misjudged films of all time, for both its content and its history. In this episode, we take a new look at this work with Wes D. Gehring, author of “Charlie Chaplin and A Woman of Paris: The Genesis of a Misunderstood Masterpiece.”

The episode can be heard here.

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The Bootleg Files: Popcorn

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BOOTLEG FILES 764: “Popcorn” (1974 animated short by Hanna-Barbera on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Reserve).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Hanna-Barbera animation studio supplemented its television and film production output with contracted work on behalf of government agencies and nonprofits. One of the strangest of these works was “Popcorn,” made in 1974 on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
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