The original Puppetoon movie is back!  In 1987 Arnold Leibovit helped secure the legacy of producer George Pal with a feature-length tribute; 40 years later, his film has been remastered in 4K and enlarged into a new Director’s Cut. The extra gallery of additonal Puppetoons is icing on the cake: it’s an impressive introduction to the stop-motion replacement animation world of George Pal.

The Puppetoon Movie Director’s Cut
Blu-ray
Puppetoon Productions
1987 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 89 min + 2 hrs of Pupptetoon extras / Street Date March 25, 2026 / Available from Puppetoon Productions / 39.95
Voice talent: Paul Frees, Dallas McKennon, Art Clokey, Dick Beals
Cinematography: Gene Warren, Jr.
New Prologue animation: Pete Kleinow
Composer: Buddy Baker
Produced, Written and Directed by Arnold Leibovit

In the middle 1970s Pal was honored with a special FILMEX presentation of some of his Puppetoons. He attended the special Century City function and was visibly moved by the appreciation of the enthusiastic crowd. I saw and talked to him briefly at the FILMEX exhibition of models from his movies. He was exactly as described to me by others — friendly, open, funny.

This week we have the fun of revisiting a video celebration of George Pal’s famous stop-motion animated films, in Arnold Leibovit’s The Puppetoon Movie Director’s Cut. It reminds us of the ‘specialness’ of Pal’s creations, and of Pal himself.

Most everyone who spent any time with George Pal emphasized the very sweetness of the man — in my case, the late Sci-fi fans Bill Warren, Mike Hyatt and Ted Newsom. My generation learned to love Pal through his colorful space movies that launched the ’50s Sci-Fi boom and contributed several of its biggest hits. Older fans were first charmed by his earlier Puppetoon creations, elaborate ‘trickfilm’ extravaganzas.

In 1930s Europe, Pal’s name as an animator was almost as well known as Walt Disney. Although he used a full range of visual effects, Pal’s specialty was ‘replacement animation.’  Instead of malleable rubber puppets, Pal’s animators used beautifully carved and lacquered puppets with interchangeable wooden parts. By swapping out sets of arms and legs, his characters could perform complete walk cycles, and shift to a variety of facial expressions.

Hungarian György Pál Marczincsak went right from college into film work. By age 25, he had his own trickfilm animation company and had made pictures in several European capitols. Always a step ahead of the Germans, Pal spent two successful years in London before coming to the United States in 1940 to work for Paramount Pictures. He was welcomed and befriended by many in the often-contentious Hollywood animation community, even the competitive Walt Disney. Working for Pal as young animators were later greats Bob Baker, Wah Ming Chang, Ray Harryhausen, Phil Kellison, Pete Kleinow, and Gene Warren. In just a couple of years his Technicolor Paramount Puppetoons were an established hit

His best known ‘toons were a series of wildly imaginative Jasper Puppetoons, about a happy little black kid repeatedly tempted by a miscreant scarecrow. The cartoon included here, Jasper in a Jam, is a mini-masterpiece that features the music of Charlie Barnet and Peggy Lee. The Jasper shorts played regularly on television until the 1970s, unfortunately for us, usually in B&W. Around 1970, they were quietly retired, along with other cartoons that featured racial stereotypes.

The Puppetoon Movie (1987) is a handsome grouping of original Pal Puppetoons that include several nominated for Oscars. The toons are bookended by Arnold Leibovit’s new animated prologue and epilogue. Animated by Peter Kleinow, the bookends show the familiar Art Clokey characters Gumby and Pokey the Horse filming a movie; an animated Tyrannosaurus Rex is too meek to threaten a little fawn. To assure the meek dinosaur that it’s all make-believe, Gumby takes him to an editing room (with an incredibly well-made miniature Moviola) and screens the Pal short subjects. Paul Frees is one of the voice talents heard on the soundtrack.

Some of the Puppetoons are visually elegant and others look like the contents of an antique toy box come to life. The stories aren’t complex, but tend to be different than those found in flat-animated cartoons — part of the thrill is seeing everything happen in such smooth stop-motion animation. With Paramount’s blessing, popular songs and performers appear; like many Europeans, Pal was enamored of the music of black jazz performers.

The selection of ‘toons covers a nice range of material, featuring Pal’s work from Europe and Hollywood, filmed in different styles. The titles for Tulips Shall Grow brand it as a ‘Madcap Models’ short, not a Puppetoon. It is the famous anti-Nazi picture showing the (wished-for) defeat of the ‘screwball’ army — soldiers that are literal balls with bolts for heads.

The earliest full Puppetoon here appears to be South Seas Sweethearts. We’re told that John Henry and the Inky-Poo was filmed in response to charges of racial stereotyping. John Henry is a massive muscular railroad worker who defeats a mechanical track-laying machine in a spike-driving contest; the excellent narration is by Rex Ingram. Even when lauded in heroic terms, the black rail workman now seems just another kind of stereotype. We’re told that the last official Paramount Puppetoon was Tubby the Tuba, which become one of the more popular short subjects screened in primary schools. Its narration is by Victor Jory.

The titles for Phillips Cavalcade begins with a portrait of a lady (a puppet) in a cameo — which makes us think it’s meant to spoof the logo for England’s  Gainsborough Pictures. The six-minute show is a roundabout advertisement for Phillips radios, a frequent sponsor of Pal’s animations.

Besides animator Peter Kleinow, the show’s elaborate bookend sequences employ many stop-motion and effects notables from the pre-digital years: Charles and Stephen Chiodo, Ernest D. Farino, Michael Minor, Harry Walton, Gene Warren Jr..

The show ends with Pal’s creations (and some other animated friends) coming together to honor him. It’s a little bit like the conclusion of Pal’s own  The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.

Puppetoon Productions’ Blu-ray of The Puppetoon Movie Director’s Cut is an improved remaster all the way through. The Paramount Puppetoons are in prime condition, and the earlier European pictures look the best we’ve ever seen them. We’re told that everything in the show has been re-scanned in 4K.

This full remaster and re-think comes with an impressive menu of extras. The Puppetoon Movie: A Legacy Revisited is a fifty-minute documentary on Leibovit’s production, with input from some of its animators. Another testimonial comes from Aardman Animation’s Peter Lord, who speaks about George Pal on his own 10-minute piece.

The other extras are a fistful of unusual foreign and advertising films made with Puppetoon techniques. Can we assume that when George’s last name is credited with an accent – Pál — that it’s an English or continental production? Speedy Goes to Hollywood is a 5-minute TV clip about the Speedy Alka-Seltzer TV spots, that used the replacement animation technique. The People’s Choice is a commercial for Mounds candy bars. The Lady Says No uses Puppetoon personnel for a United Artists release directed by Frank Tashlin — a comedy with a stop-motion character modeled on the Mexican comedian Cantinflas. It’s 100% Mexican stereotypes, and all very accomplished.

Two ‘Gasparcolor’ sales films come from Germany. Opta Receiver is a very creative musical short, to sell ‘Opta” radios; Four Aces takes a musical tour, including a song by Maurice Chevalier, to hawk a whole line of Philips radios. A B&W German film How Much Is Your Health Worth To You? is an insurance ad, complete with a doctor spokesman, that uses mostly conventional animation. It and Winner, a 6-minute ad for vegetable oil, were produced by George Pal. Refining Oil for Energy is an industrial film that uses several minutes of Pal animation.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Puppetoon Movie Director’s Cut
Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent & Very Good
Sound: Very Good
Supplements:
Documentary The Puppetoon Movie, A Legacy Revisited (50 min.)
Interview Peter Lord on George Pal
Nine unusual advertising films by George Pal:
What Ho She Bumps (1937)
Speedy Goes To Hollywood (1987)
The People’s Choice (1947)
The Lady Said No (1945)
Opta Receiver (1933)
Four Aces (1935)
How Much Is Your Health Worth To You? (1932)
Winner (1933)
Refining Oil For Energy (1948).
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? No
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case
Reviewed: March 29, 2026
(7490pupp)

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