IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS, THAT DARN CAT, etc. coming in PAN AND SCAN ONLY! (1 Viewer)

[rich_d]

To be fair, what studio home grown projects hasn't had its share of losers over the last 20 years? I don't think it is about consistency at all rather most of us are bothered by the downward slope the company has been traveling over the last x number of years (I don't want to know how many, it will only be depressing).

 

[Ernest Rister]

To be fair, what studio home grown projects hasn't had its share of losers over the last 20 years? I don't think it is about consistency at all rather most of us are bothered by the downward slope the company has been traveling over the last x number of years (I don't want to know how many, it will only be depressing).

The studio routinely hits high-water marks (like Bambi: PE) and low-water marks (Mary Poppins: SE) within weeks of one another. It happens all the time. Disney can make DVD sets that rival the best in the industry and then turn right around and release an infamous pressing of Third Man on the Mountain. This has a negating impact on the reputation of Disney DVDs as a whole. Look at how poorly the great Wave 3 of Walt Disney Treasures performed in critics polls last year. "Looney Tunes Vol. II" was found everywhere, while "Disney on the Front Lines" was lucky to achieve also-ran status (see the "Bitsy" awards for a perfect demonstration of this).

 

[rich_d]

Agree on all points Ernest. But since the poster mentioned 20 years of inconsistency I assume that he meant theatrical offerings as DVD as a medium certainly would not apply.

 

[MatthewA]

I was hoping that by 2001, with high-quality DVD releases of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Sword in the Stone, Dumbo, Pete's Dragon, the overwhelming quality of the first platinum, Snow White, and the first wave of Walt Disney Treasures, that Disney had learned their lesson. As a relatively early adopter of the format, their material was not reference quality, even though they had done some incredible laserdiscs. And before, live-action catalogue titles had been shipped out to Anchor Bay. After the $40 limited editions of Pinocchio, Little Mermaid, etc., with no features, it seemed they finally took the format seriously.

Now they have a dartboard approach to titles. They put titles on a dartboard, and whichever title draws a dart gets a decent transfer, and/or extras.

Blackbeard's Ghost's transfer was probably the same one from the early 1980s. I'm surprised it didn't have the early 80s Walt Disney Home Video logo, too!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Other than the painfully bad and easily ignored Enhanced Home Theater mix, I would not call the Mary Poppins SE a low water mark, not that I disagree with your main point, especially since this thread was inspired by some obvious forthcoming low water marks.

Regards,

 

[soop.spoon]

The death of the very short-lived Vault Disney line was a devestating blow to fans of Disney's non-animated classics. The first wave of 4 Vault titles (Swiss Family, etc) was excellent in every way. 20,000 League and Herbie didn't carry the Vault banner, but they were clearly approached with the same care and thought.
Then came mediocre releases like Darby O'Gill, The Gnome Mobile, Island At The Top Of The World, Black Hole etc. These were decent releases properly framed, but not particularly exceptional. And now we get release after release of great film from old (and/or shitty) fullframe transfers. So Strange.

 

[MatthewA]

I'd forgotten about Vault Disney. That line, quite simply, ruled, and was snuffed out prematurely. I guess Eisner didn't want to give anyone the idea that they might enjoy anything pre-1984 (which happens to be when most of the Disney titles that interest me were made). If that's the case, then they could revive the line to redo screwed up titles as OAR SEs like The Journey of Natty Gann or Honey I Shrunk the Kids (Both OAR in Region 2).

Of course, we often don't get specs until the disc is out already. I didn't even know that Pete's Dragon was 16x9 widescreen until someone actually had it in hand!

In 2003, The Apple Dumpling Gang and the two Witch Mountain films were intended to be Vault Disney releases but scaled down to one disc each. At least they actually gave a damn about quality there.

I was hoping that when the rights to Happiest Millionaire reverted back to Disney from Anchor Bay, we'd at least get a 16x9 transfer and the original 3.0 sound mix. Nope. Same transfer, with added problems. And what bothers me is that, if Richard Sherman, Lesley Ann Warren, and John Davidson were around at the same time to do commentary for Family Band (also a non-OAR disc, and the film needs to be restored to its originally intended length), why didn't they ask them to do something similar for the last live-action title personally supervised by Walt? There was even an anthology series episode planned to promote the film, and footage was shot, but it was scrapped after Walt died.

Robert Iger, now that you're the boss, here's a great way to restore confidence in this company: put a little TLC into your DVD releases.

(edit: fixed italics)

 

[MatthewA]

I'd forgotten about Vault Disney. That line, quite simply, ruled, and was snuffed out prematurely. I guess Eisner didn't want to give anyone the idea that they might enjoy anything pre-1984 (which happens to be when most of the Disney titles that interest me were made). If that's the case, then they could revive the line to redo screwed up titles as OAR SEs like The Journey of Natty Gann or Honey I Shrunk the Kids (Both OAR in Region 2).

Of course, we often don't get specs until the disc is out already. I didn't even know that Pete's Dragon was 16x9 widescreen until someone actually had it in hand!

In 2003, The Apple Dumpling Gang[/i[ and the two Witch Mountain films were intended to be Vault Disney releases but scaled down to one disc each. At least they actually gave a damn about quality there.

I was hoping that when the rights to Happiest Millionaire reverted back to Disney from Anchor Bay, we'd at least get a 16x9 transfer and the original 3.0 sound mix. Nope. Same transfer, with added problems. And what bothers me is that, if Richard Sherman, Lesley Ann Warren, and John Davidson were around at the same time to do commentary for Family Band (also a non-OAR disc, and the film needs to be restored to its originally intended length), why didn't they ask them to do something similar for the last live-action title personally supervised by Walt? There was even an anthology series episode planned to promote the film, and footage was shot, but it was scrapped after Walt died.

Robert Iger, now that you're the boss, here's a great way to restore confidence in this company: put a little TLC into your DVD releases.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The Gnome Mobile was a rehash P&S transfer, IIRC, and doesn't belong mentioned in the same sentence as the others.

Regards,

 

[FrancisP]

The question for me is if anybody knows what the OAR of movies like That Darn Cat and Adventures of Bullwhip Griffith are. It seems that Disney is very spotty on their original movie releases. For example, The Absent Minded Professor was shot in wide screen yet Darbby O'Gill was apparently not shot in widescreen. I also know that a lot of Disney's 60's and 70's movies were cheaply made. Would
they have gone to the trouble and expense of shooting them
in a widescreen format?

 

[walter o]

Wasn't the OAR of both The Journey of Natty Gann or Honey I Shrunk the Kids 2:35 scope panavision?

 

[DavidBL]

This link at DisneyDVD.com says that Summer Magic will have an AR of 1.75:1. This is the final Hayley Mills "must have" for my family so I'm very glad it won't (crossing fingers) be a compromised version.

 

[PeterTHX]

"Honey I Shrunk..." films are 1.85

"Natty Gann" is 2.35