I submitted some images to Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/161346744015168
They compare original cel materials with frames from a DVD of the Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons. The post hasn’t been approved, and I have my doubts that it will be. I previously gave the Max Fleischer Superman Blu-ray from Warner Brothers a favorable review, despite the Archive Collection team being taken off of the project for reasons I don’t know.
The reviews by hardcore fans have been scathing, with the consensus being that, for all its faults, the 2009 Warner DVD is vastly better and truer to the original cartoons. Comparisons between images from the raw HD transfers and the restoration work that was done on them for the Blu-ray release can be seen here.
https://bluray.highdefdigest.com/115440/maxfleischerssuperman.html
The guy who produced this video review goes so far down the proverbial rabbit hole, he’s beyond all reasonable hope of returning.
Here are the images I submitted. My idea is, if the old DVD is preferred over the Blu-ray, how does it compare to the original cels? There aren’t many still in existence, and with an acknowledgment that the paint on the underside of the cels may be faded, they look nothing at all like the colors as presented on the DVD.
My point about the Blu-ray image quality is that it gives an inkling of how the cartoons might have looked if it had been possible to scan the original cels digitally, rather than being photographed in Technicolor. The Technicolor process requires combining three strips of film, one for each primary color, with each layer having its own grain. The Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons have always seemed especially grainy, compared to other Technicolor cartoons. Not too bad in SD DVD, but revealing to the point of distraction in HD Blu-ray. I’d compare it to the dust that plagued the layers of glass on Disney’s multi-plane camera. Technicolor’s color saturation is appealing, but it can also go too far, along with changes in contrast.
The mastering software used on the Fleischer Superman Blu-ray set has removed Technicolor’s triple-layer grain and subdued some of the candy-coated colors. For better or for worse, the cartoons look nothing like they do in any of the previous releases. This is what makes the latest set interesting to me. There’s a happy outcome yet to be realized, and I agree with the majority opinion in wanting to see the raw transfers done over once again, but this time supervised by Jerry Beck and the Warner Archive Collection team.