Bedknobs & Broomsticks (1971) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

iTunes and VUDU were the only sites where I could find the 139-minute version before this disc came out.

 

[Dave MJ]

I watched this last night and it looked very good. None of the typical DNR scrubbing during the animated sequences. In fact it looked a bit too grainy if anything. But it was very sharp. I can't say if it accurately represented the theatrical presentation, but it looked good to me, very film like. Audio was also excellent.

It is very curious (and annoying) that the extended version isn't available because all of the deleted songs and scenes were presented in the same HD quality as the feature, so clearly they intended to create a restored extended version at one point.

"With A Flair" was never included in any version I saw prior to the extended home video release, but it was on the soundtrack.

 

[darkrock17]

It is very curious (and annoying) that the extended version isn't available because all of the deleted songs and scenes were presented in the same HD quality as the feature, so clearly they intended to create a restored extended version at one point.

"With A Flair" was never included in any version I saw prior to the extended home video release, but it was on the soundtrack.

They might of originally intended for a the restored version, but they decided to penny pinch at the last minute though.

With A Flair, the song itself is only in the restored version, but the instrumentals to the song are played during Prof. Emelius Brown "bad magic show" which are in both versions of the film.

 

[Mark-P]

I also watched it last night and enjoyed it very much despite the missing scenes. My guests weren't even aware that a longer version existed and were none the wiser.

I remember the very first time I saw the movie. It was in 1974 in grade school. They screened it in the school library in 16mm. I know we took recess breaks between reels. It seems like there were several breaks but my memory may be playing tricks. As a ten-year-old who had never seen a feature film, it was a new experience for me. Most of it was over my head as at the time I knew nothing of WWII and Nazis. But when it came to the cartoon sequence I was of course mesmerized.

I didn't see the movie again until 1985 on VHS. And for the record, that early VHS and first laserdisc release was incomplete even for the theatrical version. It only ran 112 minutes, so 4 minutes was missing somewhere.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Weird. I just went through iTunes and got the 117 minute version. And when I went to the iTunes store, the 117 min version was all they had listed as well.

I went through iTunes to get the 139 minute version.

 

[MatthewA]

I didn't see the movie again until 1985 on VHS. And for the record, that early VHS and first laserdisc release was incomplete even for the theatrical version. It only ran 112 minutes, so 4 minutes was missing somewhere.

That was a typo, and the overture was compressed on the original tape and laserdisc. 112 minutes is about what the short version would be in PAL.

 

[Mark-P]

That was a typo, and the overture was compressed on the original tape and laserdisc. 112 minutes is about what the short version would be in PAL.

It wasn't a typo. I clocked it. But I can't say if was trimmed or time compressed.

 

[Mark_TB]

Weird. I just went through iTunes and got the 117 minute version. And when I went to the iTunes store, the 117 min version was all they had listed as well.

That is weird. I most definitely have the 139 minute version. I redeemed the download within a couple of days of the Blu-ray's release. Maybe that was a mistake, and they reverted back to the shorter version. Guess I'd better make sure I don't delete it from my iPad.

 

[John Morgan]

They might of originally intended for a the restored version, but they decided to penny pinch at the last minute though.

With A Flair, the song itself is only in the restored version, but the instrumentals to the song are played during Prof. Emelius Brown "bad magic show" which are in both versions of the film.

I think darkrock17 is right on with his post. A few months before the BluRay was announced, I talked to an insider and he said the long version footage was restored in HD and because of advancements in sound technology, they went through a tightened up the sync issues as best they could. The plan was to release the full version. I don't know if it was going to be branching or two separate versions of the film or not. You could see by the quality of the extra scenes, they would have fit in beautifully.

The really odd thing was for Disney to include that original documentary with all the partipants saying how great it is to have the film as it was meant to be, how much better it is, the reason for the cutting, etc., etc. And that silly piece on the special effects, comparing it to Wizards of Waverly Place was embarassing.

 

[MatthewA]

Now, again, part of me thinks that the extended version of Bedknobs & Broomsticks
is a bit too long. But, at the same time, I can't pick and choose what I want and don't
want. To have an entire song like "With a Flair" cut from this release only tells me that
the longer version should have been included here.

The removal of "With a Flair" also created a huge continuity problem: after the crowd walks out on Mr. Browne, there's a large ball of paper on the ground and the mustachioed man in the brown derby (Milt Larsen, an actual magician, occasional collaborator with Richard M. Sherman, and owner of the Magic Castle in Hollywood. ) walks away with egg and pancake batter on his head.

I recently discovered that the fact that the film had been cut even more heavily in Germany did not stop the soccer game from becoming popular there.

 

[Erik_H]

Following up on the discussion from a few months ago about the extended version of "Bedknobs" available online. A couple of years ago, I purchased the 1080p (or "HDX") version of "Bedknobs" on Vudu---which was the extended version (the theatrical cut was not available). Yesterday, I accessed my Vudu copy for the first time since the Blu Ray release and noticed that it had been replaced by the restored theatrical version released on Blu Ray.

Replacing a purchased title with another version of that title without the buyer's consent is not at all cool---one of the more compelling arguments in favor of physical media. I will be asking Vudu to either restore my purchase or provide a refund.

 

[Will Krupp]

Following up on the discussion from a few months ago about the extended version of "Bedknobs" available online. A couple of years ago, I purchased the 1080p (or "HDX") version of "Bedknobs" on Vudu---which was the extended version (the theatrical cut was not available). Yesterday, I accessed my Vudu copy for the first time since the Blu Ray release and noticed that it had been replaced by the restored theatrical version released on Blu Ray.

Replacing a purchased title with another version of that title without the buyer's consent is not at all cool---one of the more compelling arguments in favor of physical media. I will be asking Vudu to either restore my purchase or provide a refund.

WOW!!!!!

 

[Yorkshire]

Following up on the discussion from a few months ago about the extended version of "Bedknobs" available online. A couple of years ago, I purchased the 1080p (or "HDX") version of "Bedknobs" on Vudu---which was the extended version (the theatrical cut was not available). Yesterday, I accessed my Vudu copy for the first time since the Blu Ray release and noticed that it had been replaced by the restored theatrical version released on Blu Ray. Replacing a purchased title with another version of that title without the buyer's consent is not at all cool---one of the more compelling arguments in favor of physical media. I will be asking Vudu to either restore my purchase or provide a refund.

NO!Don't ask them for a refund.You paid for it. It's yours. Insist they reinstate it.Steve W

 

[Ejanss]

NO!Don't ask them for a refund.You paid for it. It's yours. Insist they reinstate it.

And if they don't, hire a lawyer and raise a ruckus.
We're WAITING to see what happens in the press. (muahahahaaa!)

(And don't do the old fanboy "Class action suit" thing, companies have known how to blow fans off with cheap coupon-settlements since the days of Netflix "throttling".)

 

[darkrock17]

Too bad there's no Disney employee willing enough to go rouge and steal the restored version and all other copies of this film and hold them for ransom. It would be very interesting to see how Disney would react and handle to that type of a situation.

 

[Erik_H]

And if they don't, hire a lawyer and raise a ruckus.
We're WAITING to see what happens in the press. (muahahahaaa!)

(And don't do the old fanboy "Class action suit" thing, companies have known how to blow fans off with cheap coupon-settlements since the days of Netflix "throttling".)

No fanboy class action threat needed nor lawyer to be retained. I am an in-house lawyer handling distribution for one of the major cable network groups who has worked with Vudu, and one of my former colleagues is a senior in-house lawyer at Disney who was responsible for the legal end of the iTunes deal for the accelerated digital release of a certain frosty animated film early this year. I expect my complaint to be heard.

 

[MatthewA]

I bought the 139-minute version on VUDU months before this complete travesty of a disc came out. Sunday morning, after I heard about everyone saying their Disney movies were disappearing from VUDU, I checked it, and lo and behold they had pulled their bait-and-switch on me. I did not pay for a shorter version of the film. I called 1 (888) 554-8838 to complain, and they said they'd get into it and send me an email. I'm still waiting for it.Forget the class action suit, and they're not going to buy me off with coupons, store credit or a refund or any kind of settlement. I can't be bought. They stole my copy of the film. As far as I'm concerned, this has gone way beyond civil law and become a criminal case. Someone should go to jail for this.

Too bad there's no Disney employee willing enough to go rouge and steal the restored version and all other copies of this film and hold them for ransom. It would be very interesting to see how Disney would react and handle to that type of a situation.

Richard Mulligan's character tried that in S.O.B. And then

Spoiler

security guards shot him and killed him.

And they can't have any of my copies.

A Disney employee who tried to pull that would be fired and prosecuted. But I like the idea of this film being under the control of anyone else but Disney, but then what about the rest of the library? No film deserves to be under the control of people who are idiotic at best, barbaric at worst.We need to speak out against them loudly and constantly.On another note, I figured out what was wrong with the re-dubbed dialogue and how to (partially) fix it: it's all about two frames ahead of the picture, and that's enough to throw it out of sync. John Morgan's comment confirms what I suspected: Disney knew what needed to be done to make the long version ready for Blu-ray, but for some reason they just passed on it. How much could it possibly have cost?

 

[Jason_V]

I have been saying this over and over and over again anytime someone extolls the virtues of streaming and why streaming is "the future." Fine and dandy, but you don't own a single thing at that point. What you've paid for is controlled by corporations and can be taken from you without warning.

Disney, Paramount, Fox, WB, Universal, Criterion...none of them can take a single disc sitting on my shelf and tell me I can't watch it ever again. LaLaLand Records and Disney can't take any of the CD's I have and tell me they're going to take three tracks off THEN I can listen to them again. Not happening.

There is another problem here we all know about: Disney originally giving us something that isn't complete. But that doesn't have anything to do with digital copies being manipulated after the POS.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

While I think we should watch the rhetoric and language we are using to complain about this (it's just the movies, after all), I agree that this is pretty ridiculous.

The decision not to include both cuts on the Blu-ray may have been a bad one, but I can at least see the logic in not putting in the time and expense to do the seamless branching or to include a second disc. But putting in the time and expense to remotely remove access to a digital file that's already been bought and paid for, and replace it with something else? Wow.

 

[MatthewA]

They didn't even need a second disc. If almost all the scenes could fit in that supplement section along with a modest selection of extras, the film could have fit both versions on the disc, even keeping in mind that there are not just different scenes, but rearranged footage and the additions of little bits and pieces to existing scenes. And it bears repeating: there was, and still is, no good reason to offer two cuts of Muppets Most Wanted but not this film (honestly, The Muppets needed and deserved a director's cut one more than Most Wanted does, and I suspect that may be what's up with that).

Bottom line: Disney is cheap and lazy, despite being flush with cash. And after this VUDU bait-and-switch, they need to be stopped, even if we need to change the laws to do so.