Mazaliche

I'm a caveman and therefore have no idea what you're all talking about when the conversation gets technical. However, I do regret the look of film has been scrubbed away from these works, and that tweaking with colors and aspect ratios has become routine.

    It's a pity to see the major studios either don't bother with their older titles, or feel they have to be updated and "improved" upon. I wish they had more respect for their heritage and product. Many people all over the internet seem to care.

   It makes me wonder if some kind of partnership couldn't be struck. We're all still learning about the possibilities of the internet, and perhaps in a couple of decades, we'll be able to get exactly what we want ( like a General Audiences' 'Fantasia'" or the unrated version, or choose between  the open matte "Beauty and the Beast" or the widescreen one... ).

   Wishful thinking?

   I'd love to see this materialize, as I've been after this longer cut, but have absolutely no access to laserdiscs ( or ld players ). No need to bother with composites or fancy menus, I'd be perfectly happy with a simple LD to DVD-9 job...

   I'm a fan of fullscreen versions, too ( both open matte AND pan & scan ), so if I lived in the US I'd probably have a laserdisc collection by now...

   Not to mention I love watching these older transfers, before digital made live action look like cartoons and made tweaking special effects and colors almost mandatory...

monks19 said:

The Disney Gereration were axed a while ago because they weren't selling well... They didn't do much for it, anyway...

   You're right, many didn't even know about them. I remember more than a couple of people  being happily surprised when they learned that "Child of Glass" was available.

  I can kind of understand there are no plans for further "Disney Treasures" releases at this point. The economy is not so great, Blu-ray, streaming and piracy make everything harder and more confusing... lavishly restored classic DVDs with lots of bonus materials are simply not selling so well anymore, I hear. So although I lament it, I can kind of understand that decision from the business point of view.

   They could, however, manage to release more titles AT LEAST as part of the "Disney Generations" line. Barebones and "presented as available at this point" they might be, but they're at least, well, available. I can't believe "Mr. Boogedy" and "Bride of Boogedy" haven't had any kind of official release, just to mention a couple of obvious choices.

   I have a HUGE list of titles I'd like to own in their fullscreen versions ( again, I love BOTH open matte AND pan & scan ). When I watch a movie for the first time, I go for the intended aspect ratio, but from then on, open matte gives you more picture ( which can be fascinating ) and pan & scan is valuable not only for historical reasons ( that's how the movie was first seen by most ), but because it's interesting to see the "artistic" choices of the person doing the transfer, the segment they focused on. Not only that, I prefer grainy, slightly faded and scratched film to the overscrubbed, grain-free, color-tweaked, cartoony-looking product they put out nowadays. It's a joy when I come across some nice looking conversion of older prints, especially to full DVD. Among the titles in my wishlist:

Laserdisc:

  -The Alamo - Uncut Version ( though letterboxed, it's the only way the longer version has been made available )
-The Great Escape ( Fullscreen unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-1941 (The 1979 comedy)
-Amadeus
-An American Werewolf in London
-Society (The 1989 horror movie by Brian Yuzna. Unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-Schindler (The 1982 documentary)
-Troll (1986) ( Fullscreen unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-Hope and Glory
-"Zardoz" and "House of the Long Shadows" ( Fullscreen unsubbed PAL Laserdisc available ) (fullscreen DVD of "...Long Shadows" had terrible picture, dark and orange )
-All of David Lean's Epics: "A Passage to India", "Doctor Zhivago","Ryan's daughter", "Lawrence of Arabia"...
-Friday the 13th and Star Trek movie series...
-The 4 Superman films with Christopher Reeve
-A Room with a View
-Titanic, True Lies and Terminators 1 & 2... Why not?
-The Fearless Vampire Killers ( I want the animated opening made for the American cut, offered as an extra on the ld )
-Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead
-Dr. Phibes 1 & 2 ( Fullscreen unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-Remote Control (1988) ( Fullscreen unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-The Company of Wolves (1984) ( fullscreen unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) ( Fullscreen unsubbed NTSC Laserdisc Available )
-Best Picture Winners like "The Deer Hunter", "Ben Hur", "Tom Jones" and "My Fair Lady" ( for this last one, both pre and post 1994 restoration releases )
-Radio Days
-Miracle in the Wilderness
-Historically interesting material, including very early releases and discs like "Memories of Videodisc" ( an homage and farewell to the CED format ). Notices and logos would be specially interesting on these...

A few titles I KNOW were made available as fullscreen NTSC DVDs:

-The Sound of Music
-Jason and the Argonauts
-West Side Story
-Cat Ballou
-Back to the Future and Star Wars trilogies
-A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise
-The Amityville Horror (1979)
-Jurassic Park (1993)
-Animal House (1978)

   Not to mention the aforementioned "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" open matte 16mm and basically every movie ever made... even the lost ones...


and it goes on, and on, and on...

 Yes, Disney did foreign language versions for scenes with text, AT LEAST from "Snow White" to "Lady and the Tramp". "The Little Mermaid" also had the actual title ( with the ripple effect) in Portuguese, and if my memory serves me right, I think its first vhs release still included that.

   It's a pity earlier foreign versions of the Disney features are left to rot in some vault. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, The Brazilian versions are not only historically interesting, they feature important artists early on in their careers, and since the redubbing began in the 1960's, before home video, not even snippets are available... A shame!

   Excited to hear those segments might turn up. But you know, the black centaurette was only present in a handful of shots, and even a shortened version might be, as Spaced Ranger mentioned, "good enough" if it happens to include those specific shots.

   Keeping my fingers crossed here.

Oh, Zeropc...

   Although the remuxes and all are the joy of most members, as a fan of the fullscreen versions of movies I would just love to see a straight laserdisc-to-dvd job...

   Of all my body parts, I imagine my spleen would be overjoyed to see such an item...

   I'd love to see a 16mm ( or even 8mm ) of the segment with the censored scenes from "Fantasia" show up, now THAT would be nice. All I've seen are very low-res videos.

   And if some of the more technically-gifted fans were to clean it up and re-insert it in the segment, that would also be great, wouldn't it?

   Now a real treat: What if Disney showed its past some respect and released it uncensored, even if that meant a big disclaimer which can't be skipped?

   By the way, does anyone know if there are any pics of the scene in "Snow White" that was replaced soon after released? The one where Dopey was crying after they find her dead, but his crying made people laugh , so it was removed? They mention that scene on the DVD extras.

   Remember I was looking for a PAL dvd ( presumably uncut ) with the Portuguese track? Well, it seems the Spanish DVD version on a public tracker is being seeded (on and off) again. If I were to download it, connectability issues would be keeping me from getting it, and I imagine any help would be nice ( that is, more people in the swarm ).  It's the "Melody Time Disney Classic" one, at 4,37 GB and which specifies the Portuguese audio on its description. Since this forum does not support piracy, I'm not gonna mention the tracker's name, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to keep you AT BAY yet again...

Thanks for trying to help, Doctor M.

   According to a Disney discussion board in Portugal, the Portuguese edition has the Portuguese audio, and there was even a disc available on a public tracker ( but no longer seeded ) which includes English, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

   I'm not sure I can post the link over here, so I might have to keep you AT BAY , but the torrent was 4,37 GB.

P.S. I just got your "Melody Time". Looking forward to it.

  I know there were fullscreen releases, they're just not available to me.

   By the way, I just had a look at your "Make Mine Music". Good job!

   Now here's something someone might be able to help me with: the Brazilian R4 NTSC release of "Melody Time" was based on the R1 and has, therefore, the censored version of the "Pecos Bill" segment, missing a line in the song...

   I heard, however, that many of the European PAL discs have the Portuguese dubbing, and since they are uncut, I imagine so is their audio. Could someone make the Portuguese track available?

   A few pointers on how to convert it to NTSC would also be welcome, as I'm not very good with these things.

   The fullscreen version usually shows more animation, and I'm fascinated with fullscreen versions in general, whether open matte or pan & scan. I even started a thread on this:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Fullscreen-Laserdisc-DVD-Preservation/topic/15846/

   As for the original Brazilian dubbing of "Snow White", Disney supposedly keeps copies of the foreign versions of its movies, so they might have it. However, I don't think they'd bother to check or make even a small clip available ( just for the record, the 1966 dubbing is a gem in its own right ).

   By the way, I heard the original Spanish dubbing is gone, too.

   Even if they censor and over-restore their films, Disney's record regarding preservation is still much better than what we see happening with other studios.

   On the other hand, they did not preserve Fantasia's original narration, so who knows what they still have, and what has simply rotten away?

   I think it's wonderful that we fans get together to do these kinds of preservation.

   Personally, I'd love to get a copy of "Snow White" as I remember it, grainy and not so bright / slightly brownish-pastel.

   I'd also like to have the open matte versions of the newer ( post "The Jungle Book" ) films, especially "Beauty and the Beast" ( laserdisc, anyone?)

   But the real grail for me, and I'm afraid nobody will be able to help me on this, is the original 1938 Brazilian Portuguese dubbing of "Snow White".

   It was the first "de facto" dubbing made in Brazil, it featured a cast of radio stars, Snow White's speaking voice was done by a fine singer that would become the most popular of the 1940's, Walt Disney was so impressed with the results that he personally sent a letter of praise and a gold watch to the director....    but I've never heard a word of it. Since the movie was redubbed in 1966, long before any kind of home video release, that first version has completely vanished. No excerpts have ever been made available. I can't even get any confirmation that it still exists...

Nice to have some feedback, Mr. Brown.

   I just remembered another movie I'd just love to have the OPEN MATTE fullscreen version of: the 1956 "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

   As it came out during the years of transition to widescreen, it appears to have been shown theatrically in different aspect ratios. The original fullscreen version, however, ONLY HAS SURVIVED as a 16mm...

   The best material available is of the matted widescreen version, and the fullscreen versions floating around are pan & scans of that widescreen version...

http://www.northwestchicagofilmsociety.org/2012/07/02/invasion-of-the-aspect-ratios/

   Wouldn't you love to have a look at that 16mm print? Wouldn't it be great if Criterion released this movie? Not only because of this aspect ratio problem, but because the movie invites the kind of discussion that dvd supplements love to deal with, and also because a series of interviews with cast and crew and other related material has been produced through the years, but are scattered along a few of its home video incarnations or gathering dust in some vault. This movie deserves the royal treatment!

I'm not very good with these things either, but I've managed to get a few torrents up. People who know much more about it have written online guides, but here's a few pointers, from beginner to beginner, the kind of thing I wish I had been told:

First, be aware that you have the MOVIE FILE you want to torrent ( be it an avi, Iso image or VOB's, mkv, whatever...), and that you're also gonna have to create a TORRENT FILE, a very small file which simply exists to tell everybody else you have the MOVIE FILE above and lets people know how and where to get it.

01.Prepare the file you want to torrent. Just to make things easier, put the file in your download folder, and do the same to the torrent file you're going to create. Just keep everything there, to avoid complications.

02.Create the torrent file: On your client ( I use µTorrent ) choose "File" and "Create new torrent" . On the window that opens up, you have to select the file you want to torrent and on "trackers" or similarly named window you must write the announce url (address) for WHERE you want the torrent  ( usually plainly stated on the "Upload" page of the tracker, and looks something like h ttp://YourFavoriteTracker.net/announce.php ). That will create the torrent file.

03. Then, on the tracker, you will go to the "Upload" page, fill all the details, point it to the TORRENT FILE created in number 2 ( NOT to the original movie file ).That should get the torrent ready.

04. Download the torrent just as you would download any other torrent that had been upped by somebody else. The client ( like µTorrent) will then "check" ( called "hash check") the file to 100%, meaning you have the whole file and is not just some seeder. When it gets to 100%, it will automatically start seeding.

05.Wait. Leechers will eventually show up.

06.About the connectability thing, if you're not connectable like me, it means that even if you do everything right, only about half the people will be able to leech from you. Don't worry: if any connectable member joins the swarm, HE will leech from you and act as a bridge, seeding forward to the other unconnectable members. In the end, everybody will get the file.

   Incidentally, that's not a joke, I REALLY am looking for a fullscreen laserdisc-to-DVD conversion of this and other movies!

Yes, studios like anniversary editions, but is it the 50th anniversary restoration? A couple of interesting articles on the Blu-ray and the controversy regarding its quality:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Great-Escape-Blu-ray/47102/

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/323483-a-few-words-about%E2%84%A2-the-great-escape-in-blu-ray/

   See? All the more reason for me to keep looking for a fullscreen laserdisc-to-DVD conversion! ( laughs )

Hello, again!

   Apparently, there is a "50th Anniversary Restoration" done at high resolution. Does anyone know if that's the one used for the BD? The Blu-ray having been released months after the screening would seem to indicate so, but studios have been known to do illogical things in the past. And a 4k of the original camera negative should look better than what the BD reviewers seem to indicate.

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4260&start=360

• The Great Escape (1963) – World Premiere of 50th Anniversary Restoration
(...) The Great Escape was restored by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios at Deluxe Digital Media using a 4K scan of the original camera negative.

And about the seeding: perhaps you're not connectable ( like me ), which means about only half the people can actually connect to you. But if you hang on in there, a connectable member will show up and act like a bridge between you and the rest.

Hello!

I love fullscreen versions of films ( open matte or pan & scanned ). I’m particularly fond of pan & scans of movies that REALLY shouldn’t be pan & scanned ( think “The Deer Hunter”, “The Fall of the Roman Empire”, “The Magnificent 7”, “The Great Escape”, “Ben-Hur”… ). They’re fascinating.

I own many of those on DVD, and love the restoration job and the fact that I can finally watch them in their original aspect ratio, which is my favorite way of watching them, but I’m really sad to see pan & scan go. They have not only nostalgic value, they are also historically interesting, in the sense that this was the way most people first encountered those movies for the best part of the last 40 years, and also because new releases usually have slightly different cuts / revamped special effects / color timing, and other tweaks. Just like deleted scenes or alternate takes on a DVD, these versions tell you a little more about the film.

So I was wondering if there are more people out there who feel the way I do. There were a few fullscreen DVDs early in the format ( either stand-alone releases or flippies ( Widescreen on one side, fullscreen on the other ), laserdisc for a few prominent titles, and vhs for the rest. I hear Netflix also makes some movies available in fullscreen.

I do not have the resources, technical knowledge or money to own, convert or download everything I’m interested in, I have never even touched a laserdisc player, but if I didn’t think so strongly about piracy, I’d love it if like-minded people were to post a reply with their thoughts on this or maybe shoot me a pm about fullscreen laserdisc-to-dvd conversions and other such material…

By the way, I happen to be a member at a number of trackers, under the same username. Isn’t that a funny coincidence?

Hello!

   I wonder if anyone has the Pan & Scan Laserdisc of "The Great Escape" and the means to do a laserdisc-to-full DVD transfer.

   'Love me some pan & scan of movies that REALLY shouldn't be panned &  scanned... ( think "The Deer Hunter", "The Magnificent 7", "The Great Escape", "Ben-Hur"... ). They're fascinating.

   If I didn't think so strongly about piracy, I'd love it if someone were to shoot me a pm about fullscreen laserdisc-to-dvd conversions...