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- Feb 8, 1999
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- 18,271
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
After viewing only a few minutes of David Swift's Pollyanna, a new Disney Blu-ray offered exclusively through the Disney Movie Club, I realized what I was seeing.
One of the very rare live actions Disney productions to be shot in SE.
This was obvious for several reasons.
Original grain structure
Sparkling clarity
Gorgeous colors and densities with rich blacks and proper whites.
This was definitely not off dupe elements.
Then I began to think how haltingly all of the actors would have had to move in order to make this work.
And while the representation of experienced talent in the film, along with a new face -- one Hayley Mills -- might have been able to pull it off in single shots with little movement, it was those in-motion sequences that told me I was off base.
Pollyanna, which was probably shot late 1959 to early 1960, would have been on the worst film stock of the ages, Eastman 5248.
I'm aware of no films of the era that survived its wrath.
And yet, Pollyanna generally looks sensational. Not to bore you with specifics, but bottom line is that it took top talent to restore this film, along with Old Yeller, which would have similar, yet possibly not quite as virulent problems.
From the Disney archival staff that worked on Pollyanna to whomever did the scanning, color and cleanup, the Blu-ray representation of this film was has all the fingerprints of the best of the best.
While Pollyanna is a perfect film for tweens and younger, it won't bore the older folks in the crowd.
And the cast... Jane Wyman, Richard Egan, Karl Malden Nancy Olson, Adolphe Menjou, Donald Crisp, Agnes Moorehead, and the other young'un in the film, Kevin Corcoran.
A beautiful Blu-ray.
Now if we could get Swiss Family, 20,000 Leagues and a few of the other Disney classics looking like Pollyanna and Old Yeller...
Image - 4.8
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Highly Recommended
RAH