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Has anyone seen this post at Leonard Maltin.com? Interesting reading! (1 Viewer)

Dick

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By Leonard Malton, from his website:

SILLIER THAN EVER

Reviewers of DVD releases, especially online, tend to be harshly critical and demanding. Most of them are savvy film buffs who hold the video companies to a very high standard, as they should. But now that I am involved in the production of DVDs, I’ve become more forgiving as I see the daunting number of pitfalls that lie between good intentions and great results.

You wouldn’t think there was anything terribly complicated in taking a master copy of a movie off the shelf and reproducing it. I can’t begin to explain how many problems can arise along that path. Last December, upon release of the four latest entries in the Walt Disney Treasures series, I discovered to my dismay that while exceptional new digital masters had been made for some of the Silly Symphonies cartoons, someone used older versions when authoring the discs. What’s more, after the folks at Sparkhill, with whom I work, slaved over a series of replica main titles for the black & white shorts in this series (since the originals were destroyed fifty years ago), they were somehow never attached to the actual films for DVD mastering! This can only be ascribed to “human error,” and should have been caught before the product was finalized.

At least one sharp-eyed viewer also noticed a subtle edit in the 1932 cartoon The Night Before Christmas. It consists of a seven-second cameo appearance by Amos and Andy in toy form, participating in a parade of Santa Claus’s goodies. This footage was removed at some point, for the sake of political correctness, but no one in the Disney archives could identify when, nor could they locate the missing material. Fortunately, I remembered that this was one of the first Disney cartoons donated by Walt himself to the Museum of Modern Art Film Library , decades ago. I’d seen the 35mm Technicolor nitrate print projected there on more than one occasion. Luckily for us, archivist Peter Williamson at MoMA was willing and able to help out. The fragile print was copied, then integrated into the Disney video master and color-corrected so that the addition would be seamless.

Now, finally, the good news: anyone who purchased the More Silly Symphonies, Volume 2 DVD set can obtain replacement discs with all of these errors corrected. Simply call 1-800-723-4763 in the U.S. or 1-888-877-2843 in Canada . You will receive replacement discs, not replacement packaging, so please hold on to your current packaging. I am glad that the folks at Walt Disney Home Video committed itself to set things right in this manner...and they have put safeguards in place to see that this kind of problem doesn’t occur on the next three Walt Disney Treasures coming out in December.
 

Steven Good

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Made the call. Got the postage paid sticker in the mail today. Sending discs back tomorrow. Operator says to expect new, corrected discs in 2 - 3 weeks.

Thanks for doing the right thing, Disney!
 

Patrick McCart

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I called them yesterday. Really nice customer service! I also called WHV about the Looney Tunes GC 2 replacement (disc 4) and that's on the way, too.
 

Brandon Conway

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It is good to see when a studio steps up to the plate to make corrections. I got the new Silly Symphony discs a few weeks ago and was very happy with the process. I got the True Life Adventure replacements, too.

It's just too bad that they didn't do an exchange for the problematic Wave 5 titles.
 

Jon Martin

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What are the True Life replacements? I wasn't even aware of that one.

I also got the discs from Disney. Great customer service, I agree.
 

John Stell

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Re Disney:
Called August 2 for the prepaid envelope.
Envelope arrived August 6.
Mailed back problem discs August 8.
Received replacements August 20.
 

PaulP

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I called way back when this was first announced and received them out of the blue a month or so ago.

My question to Leonard Maltin is, though, and not to be an asshole about it, but how does something like this happen, where you have all these restored prints but somehow another one ends up and the actual disc?
 

AndrewR

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The Looney Tune replacements are finally ready?? When was this announcement made?
 

John Stell

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I'd like to know if anyone has actually received one. I called Warners the same day I called Disney, and still don't have the prepaid mailer much less the replacement disc.
 

Jeff F.

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What was wrong with disk four of the Looney Tunes GC 2, and how does one go about getting a corrected disc? I can't seem to find a thread on this. Thanks.
 

Ethan Riley

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I called for the MSS discs on Tues; talked to a very sweet and patient lady named Lana, who I bless because I had a bad cough and I'm sure she could barely understand me! She said to expect the mailer in 7-10 days. However, does anyone have a list of the things they actually changed on the replacement disc?? It's all so very mysterious! Why am I doing this??

Also, can anyone answer Jeff's question above? I have that same question. And I 've never noticed anything wrong with that LT disc.
 

Sean Richardson

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I have no direct knowledge of the situation, of course, so don't take this as gospel...

But I have worked in an office for many years. I would bet that what happened was, these conversations were had a higher level, but nobody included the people who actually physically do the DVD stuff in the E-mails / meeting / phone call ... or the quality check people.

Just a thought. Just silly, stupid human error.
 

Scott-S

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Mike, Ethan was referring to the Looney Tunes Volume 2, disc 4 changes referenced in this post by Patrick:

I am curious as well. I didn't know there was an issue with this set.
 

Mike Frezon

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Scott: Ethan's remarks (which I quoted) were part of a paragraph in which he referenced the "MSS" discs. I took that to mean "More Silly Symphonies". But, I could be wrong.
 

Jack Cleveland

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Thanks so much for posting this information. I have contacted Disney, and they are getting the Peturn label out to me...

The woman said she had lots of calls for this today- When I told her I had read it here at HTF, she said many others have told her the same thing. So I'm obviously not the only one who has benefited from this posting.

Thanks again!
 

Jack Cleveland

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That should be "Return label" not "Peturn label"!

Oh boy, and I'm a teacher. Guess it's time for me to return to the classroom. Summer's over...
 

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