Rating: 
Summary: A great collection, but mis-titled!
Review: Cartoon Crazys Banned & Censored is a collection of 13 cartoons from various animation studios including Warner, Max Fleischer and Walter Lantz, created in a period from around 1933-1947. It's a fine assortment of styles for anyone interested in American cultural history and who can bear to see shameless stereotypes of African-Americans and Irish immigrants and who can endure some pretty full-on sexism.
However, the implication of the title of this collection is that these cartoons were too racy or hot for the Hayes Office at the time and were either banned or censored when they were new. I doubt it. Perhaps a more accurate title would have been "Politically Incorrect & Culturally Irrelevant Cartoons".
Of course, any thinking person has to deplore the racist stereotypes of fat, black mammies and their pickaninnies (of which there are more than their fair share to be found here), but the strongest sexual content is the suggestion of a slap to the backside of a cigarette girl. We see her reaction, but not the contact. Bad, yes, but hardly meriting a "ban", particularly in the late 1940s.
The notes on each cartoon, which are included as an extra on the disk, give a list of why this cartoon was deemed to be Banned or Censored, but again, I have doubts as to these being the reason that these cartoon are no longer seen; mostly, they have limited modern appeal. Many are black-and-white and most are simple moral tales that wouldn't appeal to 21st Century audiences.
In "Christmas Night" for example - which features The Little King - the disk notes that there are "homosexual overtones" in the king stripping to his underwear and with three cartoon characters in the bath together, scrubbing up, prior to the arrival of Santa Claus. Watching this cartoon, I couldn't see any such suggestion. Not a one of the characters touched the other and it was made plain that each was wearing shorts throughout the sequence.
That said, the notes are correct in pointing out that some scenes are simply disturbing and no longer appropriate as entertainment, such as in "Be Human", a mid-30s Betty Boop in which a very angry farmer repeatedly whips a tethered dog and horse, punches a cow in the face and throttles a non-laying hen. The required "happy ending" sees the farmer whipped as he runs along a treadmill, which powers various devices for making the farm animals' lives more enjoyable. He cries and moans and Betty and Grampy chortle at his pain. This one is just strange.
Other cartoons in this collection are:
"Little Black Sambo", which is a fairly lame story of a black boy skipping through the forest, and chased back home by a tiger. Aside from it being a later cartoon by Ub Iwerks, not that notable.
"Booby Traps" and "Spies", two short cartoon features were made for the US military use during WWII. The entire series of Private Snafu is available elsewhere (and recommended). There are the usual, unflattering wartime stereotypes in these two, which is presumably why it's included in the collection.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" from 1933 sees Betty Boop and Koko release laughing gas into their cartoon, then out the window into the real New York City, which makes for a fascinating mix of animation and live action, as we get to see New Yorkers going about their business on real streets of the era. The notes suggest that this made the collection for showing drug-taking in a positive light.
"Cupid Gets His Man" is just plain strange. A colour cartoon from the late-1930s, the plot involves an army of cupids attempting to matchmake two quarrelling neighbours, one of whom is clearly modeled on WC Fields, right down to his saying "my little chickadee". The cupids are, indeed, naked from the waist down, as noted on the disk, but if there is anything sexual suggested by that, I missed it.
"Opening Night" is a clear rip-off of Mickey Mouse; in fact, if you squint, you might mistake Cubby Bear for Mickey, circa 1930. This is included because one of the characters gets his head cut off with a sword and another bounces off the roomy bosom of a female opera star.
"Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat" is the gem of the collection, racism and all. Yes, the entire population of Lazy Town is black, but overlook the stereotyping and enjoy the boogie woogie! Not included in the notes on this cartoon is the oozing sexuality of the visiting singer, with her wiggly breasts and see-through skirts.
"Fresh Vegetable Mystery" is one of those many inanimate-objects-come-to-life cartoons that popped up throughout the 1930s, the big "mystery" being "Who stole the carrots?" Irish caricatures throughout.
"Making Stars" is another Betty Boop with baby entertainers performing for a theatre crowd. Some babies are non-white and again, stereotyped.
"In a Cartoon Studio" is a very early sound cartoon, interesting only for the clear novelty of synchronized sound to the animators and audience. Included, according to the notes, because the female character gets physically abused for rejecting the bad guy's advances.
The final cartoon is "Easy Does It", a 20-minute animated ad for the Stokely-Van Camp food company, probably made just after the second world war. Although it does feature some sexism - there are intertwining plots involving a failing grocery store and a young man in love with the grocer's daughter - it's nothing that wasn't done far worse in the 1950s in "I Love Lucy". Not worth banning or censoring, the reason this one hasn't seen the light in 50 years or so is more likely to be that it's intended audience is really small-town shopkeepers. I can imagine this one being shown at a Midwestern canned-food conference in 1947, but not many other places.
This is a great collection, and truly interesting on a variety of levels, but don't be fooled by the title: there's nothing here that was ever banned or censored.
Rating: 
Summary: A Major disappointment
Review: First of all, the title...Banned and Censored...by whom? The Pvt. Snafus were made for the military (certainly THEY didn't ban them) and Easy Does It is a 20 min. commercial for a canned vegitable company (who the audience for that was and where it was presented eludes me..) The rest were released for general consumption, but again, banned by whom? The studio? Hayes code?Distributors? TV?
Secondly, the reasons for their being banned are often quetionable at best, ludicrous at worst. Alleged homosexuality from clothed bathing? PLEASE!
Thirdly, with the exception of the delightful Betty Boop/Koko films and the Snafu shorts, the remaining 'toons don't even cut it as entertaining (IMO). THat's my two cents...YMMV
Rating: 
Summary: Love Toons?
Review: I find myself a big fan of the classic cartoons. I love anything from Bettie Boop to Pinky and the Brain but I found myself a little dissappointed when I watched this DVD. There are some cool scenes that I won't spoil for ya but you might be better off buying "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" to get your dose of classic cartoons.
Rating:
Summary: Classic cartoons - for all the wrong reasons!
Review: The people from Winstar must be congratulated for their brave decision in releasing this DVD, as this will keep you entertained and makes you think at the same time.
As the title suggests, all the cartoons have been banned because of their "offensive" content, from the downright obvious (racial stereotypes, animal cruelty) to others that you may not think about while watching (each cartoon has a list of why it is banned). These cartoons were made during the different attitudes and tastes of the 30's and 40's, and, in most cases, no malice was ever intended by the cartoon studios.
The quality of these cartoons ranges from excellent to downright poor, but Winstar treats these cartoons better than most video companies (Yes, in England, we have the same problem of third-rate bargain-basement cartoon videos as well!).
What is great about this DVD is the inclusion of black and white cartoons, which includes Betty Boop and cartoons from the Van Beuren studios. I've always believe that black and white does not mean it is not entertaining!
This DVD is a must for all animation fans, but bear in mind that these cartoons could offend and must be viewed with an open mind. Some of these cartoons are difficult to defend, but, as a whole, it is one of my favourite animation DVDs.
Rating:
Summary: Better than most 'Cartoon Crazys' titles on DVD
Review: This collection of cartoons is appropriately included on Cartoon Crazys 'Banned & Censored' DVD release - and for good reason too. This is the 'type' of release that the Disney Empire would love to be able to release so that it could do justice to the wonderful Song of the South and animated shorts like the banned Fuhrer's Face.Anyone interested in cartoon history or indeed the progression of the cartoon industry would do well to purchase this title. In keeping with the intention of the release the content features blatant stereotyping and risqué material and should not be viewed by those of a sensitive disposition. In summary, treat this DVD as a dose of cartoon history and you won't be disappointed - 13 fantastic shorts with enough taboo about them to be classed as 'banned and censored' - not quite an animated Lady Chatterley's Lover, but it'll do.
Rating:
Summary: Better than most 'Cartoon Crazys' titles on DVD
Review: This collection of cartoons is appropriately included on Cartoon Crazys `Banned & Censored' DVD release - and for good reason too. This is the `type' of release that the Disney Empire would love to be able to release so that it could do justice to the wonderful Song of the South and animated shorts like the banned Fuhrer's Face. Anyone interested in cartoon history or indeed the progression of the cartoon industry would do well to purchase this title. In keeping with the intention of the release the content features blatant stereotyping and risqué material and should not be viewed by those of a sensitive disposition. In summary, treat this DVD as a dose of cartoon history and you won't be disappointed - 13 fantastic shorts with enough taboo about them to be classed as `banned and censored' - not quite an animated Lady Chatterley's Lover, but it'll do.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow....what was America thinking?
Review: This collection of old toons will spook you for sure. America was, at one time, not very permissive, and this reel of old cartoons represents some of what this country was not letting us see at the time of their respective production. Most notable is Little Black Sambo, a short that caused all sorts of hoopla when it was made (the book was also banned). Into old toons? Into American history and culture? This DVD is an eye-opener!
Rating:
Summary: Off the mark
Review: This DVD stands out as a good historical collection of "banned and censored" cartoons, for this reason it stands out as a priceless look the history of animation, and societal views. If the producers of this DVD, however, had assembled this collection with the intent of preserving history, then this DVD would have been more worth the cost. As it stands, it is not. The producers have taken the liberty of adding sound effects to all of the cartoons to improve the fidelity of, often, poor audio quality - this, in effect, is added (unwanted) commentary. They should have left these gems of entertainment history alone, and not included new sound effects. It is true that the video quality of many of the cartoons are poor, however we are talking about cartoons that are 60-70 (and more) years old - animation techniques were still relatively new. I would have prefered if the producers had attempted to improve the video quality over adding sound effects. As for content it's easy to understand why these titles were banned in their day (racial stereotypes, cruelty to animals, sexual content), yet some of the choices, and explanations given, for some "banned" items is sketchy (no pun intended) at best. A good example of this are the two "Sergeant Snafu" cartoons ("Booby Traps" and "Spies"), which were clearly created for the military and not for general public consumption, and are a brilliant example of the type of entertainment provided to the military even today (frankly, Bob Hope was often more controversial than these cartoons). If you are a serious collector of the history of animation, this DVD is a must buy, despite the poor video quality and added sound effects. If you are merely looking for "banned and censored" type videos, then your money may be better spent elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting History
Review: This is a dvd that requires a modicum of knowledge about the period in question - rather than expecting classic cartoons or works banned at the time of release the viewer needs to understand that they are viewing segments of history. These works are considered unacceptable NOW but were not nec out of bounds in the time they were made. An interesting look at some work by some of the greats - but not for the easily offended or viewer hoping for a casual chuckle. Cartoons That Time Forgot might suit that shopper better. The quality transfer varies from outstanding to poor but given the scarcity of prints on some of these it's understandable. However, the two featured Snafu cartoons don't meet the standard of the released Complete Snafu. A few cartoons are definitely filler - there is material out there that would be better suited to the disc than some of the fairly common choices made. That all said, there are some stellar moments - Betty Boop's Peta commercial "Be Human" or "Scrub Me Mama" come to mind at once. Hopefully, there will one day be a more conprehensive look at restored cartoons that reflect the bias of their times - but until there is, this is an excellent primer.
Rating:
Summary: POLITICALLY INCORRECT CARTOONS
Review: This set features a rather eclectic collection of cartoons from the golden age of animation. This set, titled as uncensored features toons that are racy, racist, sexist, but altogether stereotypical of the toons of the 30's and 40's.
Offensive? Ok...but again we have to take into account the times. These things shouldn't be buried and forgotten just because of their content anymore than "The Jazz Singer" should.
Some of the featured toons are:
"Be Human" with Betty Boop 1932. An old farmer abuses his animals too much, punching cows, beating up chickens and whipping horses. Catching wind of this, animal hospital nurse Betty makes a phone call to Humane Society officer Grampy to arrest and teach the bullying farmer a lesson in learning to be human to animals.
"Booby Traps" with Snafu. Snafu skips through an area abandoned by the enemy as if he is on a picnic. He refuses to heed a warning regarding the potential presence of booby traps... much to his regret.
"Opening Night" with Cubby Bear 1933. It's opening night at the Roxy, and Cubby Bear is trying to get in. Eventually he sneaks in and ends up conducting the orchestra! Nice off color boob joke here...
"Fresh Vegetable Mystery" 1939. The setting of this cartoon is a kitchen inhabited by living vegetables. A mysterious figure kidnaps some carrot babies and several Irish potato police officers commence an investigation.
"Cupid Gets his Man" 1936. Colonel Dan Cupid and his matchmaking babies bring together two very difficult people: a prudish spinster (Edna Mae Oliver) and a bulbous-nosed dyspeptic (W.C. Fields). When Cupid's young charge can't get the job of hitching the two done, the boss himself joins the battle.
"Easy Does It" 1948...The story of a beautiful daughter who sacrifices herself to the greedy, mephistophelian banker to save her father's grocery store from bankruptcy...yeah..that way!!!
"Scrub me Mama with a Boogie Beat" 1941. A truly racist toon is there ever was won. This swinging animated short is set in Lazytown (population 123½), a sleepy Southern burg along the banks of the Mississippi that's home to some outrageously stereotyped blacks. Everyone is lazy here -- even the fish! The all-black townspeople nap and attract flies. They fall asleep in the middle of fistfights, and the dogs don't have the energy to chase the cats. A jazzy young lady from Harlem steps off a riverboat and teaches the locals about hot rhythm, singing the title tune. Soon, everyone's moving to a Harlem boogie beat, dancing, scrubbing clothes and eating watermelon. The town has come to life, and swings so much that even the underwear climbs out of the washtub to dance.
As I said...it is offensive but this WAS our culture during this period and I think fans of classic animation will truly appreciate this set for what it was.
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