Here's a famous Chinese animated film: "Three Monks" (1980), directed by Xu Jingda (known as A Da). According to magnil (who really deserves more credit for what he does), Han Yu designed the characters, and music was by Jin Fuzai.

When I first watched the cartoon, the design struck me as being John Hubley-esque (combined with traditional Chinese aesthetics, of course). magnil confirmed my assessment to an extent:

A Da's style in Three Monks(1980) was a mix of western modernism and traditional Chinese art, and it was considered as the first (and the best imo) cartoon to successfully combine these two aspects. A Da's modernism flavor was kind like John Hubley to me, though I'm not sure if he had watched any Hubley cartoons.

The absorption of western modernism art in China was first happened in 30s but ended quickly due to WW2. Unlike Japan and Zagreb, China also missed the opportunity to be involved in the modernism animation movement led by UPA and other studios in the 50s/60s. It was until 80s after the Cultural Revolution, that China finally embrace the modernism movement again with the large-scale translation and introduction of western works. Biographies, painting albums and writings of Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky and other modernists were translated and introduced to China at that time. A Da was generally considered as the pioneer of Chinese animation who introduced many modernist elements into animation. He had a better understanding of western modernists than other Chinese directors/animators which made his works aesthetically and philosophically different from other Chinese cartoons. When he directed Three Monks(1980), his inspration was western painters and designers rather than cartoon directors/animators.

A while back on Twitter, magnil also posted an animator breakdown for the cartoon, sourced from animators' articles and from his own speculation:

-Scene 1-41, opening scenes introducing the little monk, animated by Xu Xuande(徐铉德).
-Scene 42-92, from the appearance of the tall monk, to conflict between little monk and tall monk, animated by Zhuang Minjin(庄敏瑾).
-Scene 93-143, from chubby monk's appearance to conflict among three monks, animated by lead animator Ma Kexuan(马克宣) who recently passed away.
-Scene 144-180, mouse causes fire, possibly animated by Qin Baoyi(秦宝宜).
-Scene 181-236 the last sequence, three monks fighting the fire, animated by Fan Madi(范马迪).

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A better transfer of the post-code Betty Boop, "Buzzy Boop". The currently floating copy and this one appear to be based off the same print (perhaps a bootleg?) This has cleaner video and audio, but the audio itself is unfortunately dubbed in French.

It's rare as it was never included in the UM&M TV package presumably by oversight.

Edit: also a high-quality transfer of the Korean redraw of The Henpecked Duck. This has amazingly better color than the other floating copies of the same hand colorization. I'm not even ironically kidding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S7mKfH2w8E

Edit: also a high-quality transfer of the Korean redraw of The Henpecked Duck. This has amazingly better color than the other floating copies of the same hand colorization. I'm not even ironically kidding.

I actually remember seeing this version on TV a couple times last decade, and I noticed one scene was cut out near the end of the cartoon when Daffy was about to do his egg magic trick again to see if it would work.

At least the computer colorized version (which I mostly remember seeing on CN airings) left the scene intact.

btw: that channel also seems to have a HQ copy of Toy Town Hall aswell but it's blocked by WBTV...

It might be possible to download or watch it but definitely not here in the USA.

btw: that channel also seems to have a HQ copy of Toy Town Hall aswell but it's blocked by WBTV...

Unfortunately it isn't avalaible in Poland too, in fact according to the website, which provides hints in which countries a particular video is blocked: http://www.proxynova.com/proxy-articles/watch-youtube-videos-blocked-in-your-country/ that HQ copy of "Toy Town Hall" can be watched only in Western Sahara, Somaliland and Kosovo.

And here's a rarity - the 70s print of "Song of the Birds" Noveltoon (the uploader, which seems to be a children cartoon distributor, for some reason confused with an installment of Fleischer's Color Classic) with Paramount titles intact (Catch - proxynova site says that the video can't be watched in Benelux!):

(the uploader, which seems to be a children cartoon distributor, for some reason confused with an installment of Fleischer's Color Classic)

That uploader has a lot of high quality NTA prints of Fleischer cartoons; Most of them which have not been affected by Eastman color's red fading flaw!

The channel's copy of The Fresh Vegetable Mystery, for example, almost seems to be in full color!


EDIT: Well look what we have here from this channel, the Color Classic "Always Kickin" with original titles! Jackpot!!!

A better transfer of the post-code Betty Boop, "Buzzy Boop".
It's rare as it was never included in the UM&M TV package presumably by oversight.

I believe it wasn't included because Paramount couldn't find their negative when they sold the cartoons. The Betty Boops from that period which are missing were lost way back by Paramount, not U. M. & M.

"Always Kickin'" was released with those titles on the Somewhere in Dreamland DVD so it's not exactly a jackpot.

Song of the Birds still has the different NTA titles where they still cut out the Paramount logos (similar to AAP's prints of the Popeye cartoons).

"Always Kickin'" was released with those titles on the Somewhere in Dreamland DVD so it's not exactly a jackpot.

I believe the print on the SiD DVD, while more saturated than this one, had too much blue hue though, and if I recall correctly it was a bit blurry.

This print is at least a bit nicer transfer.

I wonder where this uploader got the cartoons from, actually.

In memory of Joe Alasky:

Henri Lacam an animator who worked for Paul Grimault

I believe it wasn't included because Paramount couldn't find their negative when they sold the cartoons. The Betty Boops from that period which are missing were lost way back by Paramount, not U. M. & M.

And the matter involving those 4 Betty Boop cartoons was also a bit complicated too, according to a quote found in the old GAC Forums:

Many of these negatives had to be transferred to Safety Film when the industry abandonded the Nitrate standard in 1950. When the cartoons were sold into television syndication, 16mm reduction negatives were made, form which distribution prints were circulated. In the case of the Fleischer cartoons, alterations on the titles were done on a 35mm positive source from which the reduction prints were made. This explains why many surviving 35mm black and white Fleischer cartoons have the U.M. & M. shield replacing the original Paramount openings and closings. This footage was removed from the print source and discarded. In the case of NTA color prints, those titles appear to have been butt-spliced onto the 16mm negatives since the physical splices for the NTA logos can be seen, where they are not on the U.M. & M. prints. Similar care with the POPEYE black and whites was taken as well, while the three color specials also suffer from abrupt shifts in the titles.

Regarding certain lost cartoons such as BUZZY BOOP, there are four that are missing: BUZZY BOOP, BUZZY BOOP AT THE CONCERT, PUDGY AND THE LOST KITTEN, and HONEST LOVE AND TRUE. The rights to these four plus THE RAVEN were supposed to have been retained by Fleischer Studios. Fleischer Studios was inactive as a corporation for nearly 30 years, and was only reactivated near the time of Max Fleischer's death for the merchandising of BETTY BOOP. And while Richard Fleischer has inherited the corporation, it has no films since the original company did nothing to maintain the negatives to the missing titles. Since Fleischer Studios retained the rights to the four cartoons, because of their interest and continued battles over rights to the films and the cartoon character, BETTY BOOP, these titles were not available for the television package. Adding to the complication was the fact taht Max Fleischer was involved with a complicated lawsuit over the sale of these cartoons to telelvision. This also adds to the understanding of why these four were not available. What is most curious is how THE RAVEN did enter into the package. My memory of seeing THE RAVEN was in the mid 1960s, not during the 1950s when the cartoon packages were first sold for broadcast. This is the same with the Color Classics, except that I do remember seeing POOR CINDERELLA when I was a pre-schooler in 1956.

After all of trading and selling from Parmount to U.M. & M., then NTA, then NTA becoming Republic, Republic becoming a Spelling Company, and Spelling being acquired by Viacom, the cartoons originally sold for television syndication 50 years ago have been re-acquired. As as "the chickens come home to roost," let's home they realize the golden egg potential of what they are already sitting on.

Stoopnocracy... It's the poorest print ever of this 1933 Screen Song, but it's the only publically uploaded one! And with original titles.... sort of. It's a bootleg print without any trace of the Paramount Logo, but there appear to be no traces of UM&M, and main titles are left intact.

Another magnil reel, of Chinese-American animator Cy Young! (Best known for his effects animation at Disney.)

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I never knew Disney had a Chinese-american animator in the 30's and 40's.

Darn! The uploader for the latter-day NTA print of Song Of The Birds got terminated from YouTube because of copyrights!

Did anyone manage to catch it before it went off the web?

EDIT: Phew, found off my hard drive!

Yeh that sucks that the account was terminated. 😞

For those of you with no interest in following me on Anitwitter, I thought I'd post the interesting stuff that's gotten on my feed lately.

First, a nightmarish short (from the early 90s?) by Ken Bruce, "Lullaby".

Second, the first Thai animated feature, "Sudsakorn" (1979), directed by Payut Ngaokrachang; not available on home video, or in any dubbed form. It's a fascinating mess; the production design is beautiful, but the animation, direction, etc. is horrifyingly sloppy. Don't judge too harshly, though; the film was beset by financial and staff problems, and Payut nearly went blind doing several things himself :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE88FF959F4492DBC

Third, Sid Marcus's off-beat classic, "Up n' Atom" (1947). This isn't Youtube, though it used to be on there, and it's now the only online way to see this cartoon that I know of (and I see it's uploaded by our very own Duck Dodgers ):
http://www.dailymotion.c...deo/x4crl5_up-n-atom_fun 

Fourth, two sequences animated by Børge Ring from the Danish animated feature "Valhalla" (1986). In three days it will be his 95th birthday:


Finally, a great musical sequence from Toshio Hirata's "The Golden Bird" (released in 1987), animated by Koji Nanke. Hirata was a fairly proficient yet underrated anime director and animator (he most likely animated the crows in the previously-posted "Joe and the Rose"); more information on his career can be found here . He passed away on August 25, 2014 from cancer, though thankfully he went out with a bang , which is more than I can say for certain other famous filmmakers. Nanke is an independent animator who has animated openings and endings for such shows as Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, in addition to making several music videos for the NHK show Minna no Uta. This is a Greek dub, unfortunately:

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Various beautiful Koji Nanke music videos for Minna no Uta. Watch them while they're still online!

The sad mongoose 悲しきマングース (1979):
http://www.dailymotion.c...%83%BC%E3%82%B9-op_music 

I woke up this morning あさおきたん (1982):


The kittens of apple forest リンゴの森の子猫たち (1983):
http://www.mmcafe.com/ni...ideo.jp/watch/sm19621930 

Come to the ocean 海へ来て (1984) (begins at 2:32):


The upper classman 上級生 (1985):


A tail's feelings しっぽのきもち (1986):


Rain falls on banana town バナナ村に雨がふる (1987):


I am your tears 僕は君の涙 (1998):


Kindness 優しさ (2001):


The boy who fell in love with a squirrel リスに恋した少年 (2008):
https://vk.com/video-548...?list=7ac0c47b829bee5438 

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