**** Official Review thread: Snow White Initial Impression (1 Viewer)

[ScottR]

Does anyone have a theory?

 

[Brian W.]

Well, Scott, almost all older films on home video are faded out a few frames early. This is to avoid a bunch of scratches and specks that would not be visible on a black screen. The same thing is done when older titles are remastered for CD -- you almost always lose a second or two on the fade out of the song.
However, the early fade outs were fine on the original home video release of "Snow White." I don't know why we lose even more in this new DVD edition. My main conern, as I pointed out a few postings back in this thread, is the witch's eyes during the fadeout on the line, "...in the sleeping death." It seems it was intentional by the filmmakers that her eyes be the last thing you see before the screen goes black, and it's unfortunate that we lose this in the new edition.
In short, I don't know why the fadeouts were redone -- they were fine the first time.

 

[ScottR]

I know that stranger things have happened, but I find it really hard to believe what with all of the care that went into this release, and the frame by frame inspection, that this could have gone unnoticed. Perhaps, and this may be stretching it a bit, the fadeouts on the DVD represent a truer version of the original...just a guess.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

My review of the set is up at Digitally Obsessed: http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=1718
That's not even taking into consideration the flooring quantity and quality of the extras!
This release gets

out of 5 from me! Phantom Menace can't hope to measure up to this new standard.
------------------
"This movie has warped my fragile little mind."

 

[ScottR]

Does anyone get garbled video during the Making of Documentary around 17 minutes in? On my copy, it occurs during the recording session with the guy at the keyboard (piano.) Thanks.

 

[Henry Gale]

Well, I've been busy, what can I say. Finally put the CAV LD up against the DVD and flipped back and forth.

There is never any doubt which version you're viewing, a amazing amount of detail is now visible in the backgrounds. The storybook at the beginning was not correctly framed on the LD and is now completely revealed.

When you're watching Antiques Roadshow you're continually reminded of the value of patina. I love old things and my viewing companion and I both preferred the LD version of the characters. This is, no doubt, a minority opinion, but I like my 60+ year old animations to look a little faded.

I'm just real happy I own both versions.

Jim

 

[Shelley Douglas]

Bill Catherall Posted:

I also experienced one glitch that I couldn't get to repeat. It was during the change from chapter 11 to chapter 12 (when Snow White and the animals are going up the stairs after cleaning the cottage). Some text to what looked like a sing-along suddenly popped up over the image. The video continued to run but the text didn't go away. I had to hit Stop then Play to get it to clear up. When the movie was over I went back to see if I could get it to do it again and it didn't happen. It could have just been a temporary player glitch (I have a Sony DVP-S3000) or some dirt that confused the player. If it happens again then I'll report it.

I have a Pioneer DVL-909 and it did the same to me.

But I will say, that I was born in 1955, and when I popped the disc in to watch with my two grandsons, I told them that this cartoon was older than me, they thought I was fibbing to them because it was to new looking. :b

 

[Patrick McCart]

Here's my review:

Video quality: A+

Audio quality: A+

Extras: A+

Menus: A+

I never had seen the movie before getting the DVD, so I was a bit skeptical...especially when the modern Walt Disney Pictures logo came up. I was scared that the quality might be average...

When I found out that Lowry Digital Images did the DVD restoration, my worries ended. I already had North By Northwest from 2000 and THAT transfer alone is a beautiful one!

The video quality is outstanding. Yes, the book scenes have a bit of breakup, but it's just the background. No points deducted since it's just a nit-picky thing. The handful of soft-focus scenes seem to be meant to be that way. I spotted no details lost, no scratches, lines, specks, etc. The color is extremely vivid and correctly saturated (the Cineon version suffered from a tan tint throughout).

The audio is excellent. The dialogue shows some age, but this is unavoidable due to older recording systems. Even The Wizard of Oz didn't have sound THIS good (which I thought it had a great 5.1).

The remixed track is simple, but perfectly suits the movie. The score sounds like it was recorded in the 1990's as do the sound effects. An excellent sound cleanup by Disney!

The extras are vast and I doubt anything can be added (The YCM restoration IS in the restoration short...it's the 1937 footage.) I loved the menus since they really set the mood for the film.

The only problem is that the menus aren't 16x9 enhanced. Even if the movie is 1.33:1, the menus need to be widescreen. Warner's The Maltese Falcon does this.

I think the main inspiration for this DVD was WB's The Wizard of Oz. I noted many similarities in many aspects of the 2 DVD's.

Another EXCELLENT DVD by Disney!