Lobster Films - cartoon restoration demo

[Lee Glover]

I recently visited the Lobster Films website where I found a sound restoration demo, which features "before" and "after" clips from the Van Beuren Tom & Jerry cartoon PHANTOM ROCKET (1933).

http://www.lobsterfilms.com/sound_restoration.htm

This is another great reassurance that these long-forgotten cartoons are getting the attention they deserve from such dedicated companies like Lobster and Inkwell Images. :D

[Tom Stathes]

I've watched the two videos, and IMHO I can't really tell the difference.

[Duck Dodgers]

I've watched the two videos, and IMHO I can't really tell the difference.

The difference is not in video quality but in sound quality. You probably have only seen the video, without hearing the audio, didn't you?;)
If you listen both audios you'll find the differences.

[Tom Stathes]

The difference is not in video quality but in sound quality. You probably have only seen the video, without hearing the audio, didn't you?;)
If you listen both audios you'll find the differences.
Now I 'hear' what you mean ;)

[Nelson]

Lobster Films is a good company(just look at their silent comedy releases thru Kino On Video)and they have done a great job of locating and restoring silent films.I have a Al St.John two reel short "DYNAMITE DOGGIE"(25), that features "Pete The Pup" dir.Roscoe Arbuckle, that was considered lost for over many decades, until Lobster found a original(with french titles)35mm nitrate print a few years ago and the company has restored the film.The print I have of this comedy is directly from Lobster's archives in a brand new sparkling 35mm print.

[Lee Glover]

Lobster Films is a good company(just look at their silent comedy releases thru Kino On Video)and they have done a great job of locating and restoring silent films.I have a Al St.John two reel short "DYNAMITE DOGGIE"(25), that features "Pete The Pup" dir.Roscoe Arbuckle, that was considered lost for over many decades, until Lobster found a original(with french titles)35mm nitrate print a few years ago and the company has restored the film.The print I have of this comedy is directly from Lobster's archives in a brand new sparkling 35mm print.

I agree with you, Nelson. Lobster has done some fantastic things during its lifetime, but I admit it's only recently that I've really appreciated their hard work. Their hi-definition restorations of the Buster Keaton films look amazing, especially "The General". I just bought the UK edition of the first Harold Lloyd 2-disc set, and I plan to buy the French DVD edition of the Flip The Frog cartoons that Lobster also owns.

The president of Lobster Films, Serge Bromberg, obviously has an infectious passion for film, as was demonstrated when he was interviewed in the recent BBC4 documentary series "Paul Merton's Silent Clowns". He was interviewed in an edition about Buster Keaton, and in this programme he showed the presenter a recently-discovered missing ending of the Keaton short "Hard Luck". :D

[Steve Stanch]

Lobster's Serge Bromberg is a great guy. I licensed a film from them for 'Cartoons for Victory' and am looking forward to working with them on future projects.... If you can find a 35mm print of the VB toons, they all sound a whole lot better than some of the 16mm prints...For the ones we've done, very basic equalizing (and sometimes pop or track noise removal) is all I've done to them- comparing the original sound back and forth to attempt to keep the original tracks sounding as close as possible to what's on the film, with only a reduction is hiss for the most part. I've rarely made the tracks much more 'booming' in any direction- most of them seem to sound pretty good. The print displayed there is on the hissy side- most of the VB prints, if not a dupe, sound a whole lot better..... RCA recording system is much finer than most, even as early as 1929. Some of the ones I've heard from 35mm Nitrate prints beat out (in fidelity) the quality of many of their contemporaries, including Vitaphones...Of course, almost everyone caught up pretty fast...

[Duck Dodgers]

I was told that the superior copies of Famous and Terrytoons that I own were
broadcasted inside an half-hour daily show called "Cellulo" hosted
by Serge Bromberg himself.
Probably these cartoons were restored from the original elements by Lobster.