Disney's Animated Feature "The Fox and the Hound" Aspect Ratio on DVD (3 Viewers)

[JohnDoe]

Hey Again,

Are there any Disney Animated Feature Fans out there??? If so, does anyone know why "The Fox and the Hound" was released on DVD in "pan & scan" 4:3 three years ago? It is the only Disney animated feature which has been released on DVD, not in its original OAR (which I believe is either 1.66 or 1.78).

Does anyone know the reason for this, and/or the original theatrical aspect ratio for "The Fox and the Hound" from 1981???

Buena Vista Home Entertainment is pretty good about releasing the Disney full-length animated features on DVD in their original theatrical aspect ratio, but they really missed the boat on this one. Just thought that one of you guys might know why....

Thanks,

-John

 

[Malcolm R]

Check here for some info: Ultimate Guide to Disney on DVD - OAR Discussion.

Though no definitive info seems to exist, the full screen ratio was thought to be correct for The Fox and the Hound but new doubts have surfaced.

Credit to LukeB from whose sig this link was pinched. (Is this your site, Luke?)

 

[Patrick McCart]

Fox and the Hound was made so that it can be seen with or without matting. 1.33:1 is fine, as is 1.66:1.

 

[JohnDoe]

Sorry, but "The Fox and the Hound" was definitely either 1.66 or 1.78, because I remember seeing it in the theatre in 1981, and it was definitely "Wide".

As I just got into a major discussion/argument about OAR (concerning "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), it is the supposed "mission statement" of this forum, that ALL theatrical films be released on DVD in their OAR, which "The Fox and the Hound" was not (4:3 is not the OAR of the film). I was just hoping that someone would know definitively why this happened for this one particular film on Disney DVD, when all the others released by them are in their correct OAR. Anybody out there know the truth about this issue???

I have seen the actual film frames for "The Fox and the Hound" and I have calculated (thru measurements)that the film's OAR is approximately 1.78. I know for an absolute certainty that it is no less than 1.66, so I just want to know why it wasn't released that way on DVD. I think that somebody was "drunk" at Disney that day.

-John

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Okay...I'm really confused here. I own the Fox and Hound DVD, and it is 1.66:1, although it is not anamorphic. Are there different versions of this DVD that I am not aware of?!?!?

 

[Nathan*W]

Mark, you need to look again. The only Region 1 release of TFaTH is 4:3. (From the Gold Collection)


The "Ultimate Guide" link that Malcolm provided seem to corroborate what JohnDoe said:

So, if The Rescuers marks the first Disney animated feature to be created in widescreen (not counting the two Cinemascope features of the 1950s), then logic would have it that all animated features since 1977 should be in widescreen on DVD. And all of the animated features post-1977 ARE in widescreen on DVD...except for The Fox and the Hound (1981). This leads me to withdraw the claim that Fox and the Hound was animated for 1.37:1 and matted for widescreen theatrical presentation. Oddly enough, it seems that The Fox and the Hound is the ONLY animated feature that Disney has released to DVD in a compromised Fullscreen ratio, i.e. Pan and Scan. It certainly seems odd for just one film out of the whole batch to be released in the wrong ratio, but this is my new conclusion.

I agree that this is a travesty, especially considering it's hand-drawn animated status. That artists would toil for months only to have the fruits of their labors to be lopped off at either side...despicable.

 

[LukeB]

Yes, it's my site and it's very odd that Fox would be the only animated feature from Disney's "classic" list that is not presented in the ratio in which it was created and/or theatrically displayed.

Only thing odder than that is why would Disney animate it for 1.33:1 in 1981, having already done The Rescuers for the 1.66:1 ratio (a 'happy' compromise for both theatrical matting and a 4x3 VHS/TV transfer).

Like I say on the site, I haven't been able to definitively state that it's in the wrong ratio, but it seems that way from what I've heard about people (like Mr. Doe) who have film cels and Disney's "Modified" message (though I put less stock in the latter, which has been wrong at times in the past).

 

[John Berggren]

I would love to see this one come out in Widescreen Anamorphic. I too saw it in 81, and have always loved it.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

JohnDoe,

Why don't you take the film frames you measured and compare them to the DVD equivalent frames on a system that has no overscan? That should answer conclusively whether anything has been cut off the sides. Until someone does that, this is just idle speculation.

 

[JohnDoe]

No "idle speculation here". Some of the "sides" have definitely been cut-off, I just don't know how much. "The Fox and the Hound" was obviously matted down for 4:3 for the DVD release(there was definitely more animated material on the sides of the film frames I inspected, than there was in the DVD release),I just don't know why. The correct aspect ratio for the film is somewhere between 1.66 and 1.85 (most certainly NOT 1.33).

It is quite possible that some of the original film used for the transfer was damaged at some points along the sides of the film frame, and they may have not had enough of a budget to do a complete restoration (as done for "Snow White" & "Sleeping Beauty"), so if this were the case, it would have been easier for them to do just a 1.33 crop and transfer (but all of this IS speculation, I am just thinking of all possibilities...).

If anyone has any contacts at Disney Feature animation, and can ask them about this, it would greatly be appreciated by all of us.

-John

 

[rob kilbride]

This really pisses me off because it says right on the DVD that it is presented in its original theatrical ratio. Has anyone gotten any new news on this?