Cheers for the info ynz, I'll have to check it out. I liked the extra scenes in the Director's Cut but agree that the CGI was unnecessary and out of place. I'm guessing there was never a widescreen version as it will have been broadcast in P&S. Time to have another look over at fanedit.org

This one just came to me after reading that other thread about Lady and the Tramp, and not really sure if this is really relevant in the scheme of things (with everyone getting wide aspect ratio HDTVs these days.) Yet, the later Full Frame Edition of Lady and the Tramp is the Academy Ratio version of the movie. As far as I know, this Laserdisc is the only way to get the Academy Ratio version of the movie.

The P&S version of the movie on the latest DVD release is cropped.

And it seems that the movie is going to be re-released again on BR and DVD:

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7710

But no mention of the Academy Ratio version! So the LD is still worth getting if you're a completist!

Lady and the Tramp was filmed in CinemaScope, not Academy Ratio.

This is incorrect. The film was actually shot twice from the same cels, once for CinemaScope anamorphic projection at 2.55:1 aspect ratio, & once for spherical projection at 1.33:1 ratio. See links.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/11818 ... -tramp-oar
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/23004 ... -the-tramp

I've always heard that Lady and the Tramp was the first animated feature in CinemaScope, but in looking up the information on the web, it turns out you're right. From widescreenmuseum.com...

I just assumed the "full screen" home video versions were cropped in from 2.55:1. (A lot of early 'Scope animated cartoon shorts kept the action within the center of the frame, so no vital information would be lost when the film was later cropped.) I can only imagine how expensive that must have been for the Disney studios to film it twice.

Indeed, and the 1998 LD (and I may be mistaken, but also the Full Frame VHS from the same year) are the only home video versions of the Academy Ratio version of the film.

And, unfortunately, several of the releases were made that way, instead of from the spherical version. Disgusting, really.

Well, presumably cheaper than filming Oklahoma! once in Todd-AO 70 mm 30fps & once in 35 mm 24 fps!

That also reminds me . . . anyone got this Laserdisc?

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1999 release

Apparently that set has the rare 1.85:1 non-anamorphic version of the movie as well as the 2.55:1 Cinemascope version. They were shot side by side so the camera angle is slightly different for each version.

The subsequent DVD release, slightly crops the 1.85:1 version to fit Widescren TVs at 1.78:1

DVD Beaver Comparison of SBfSB Different Aspect Ratios

I prefered ''THE MATRIX'' on laserdisc as the transfer, and the quality in sound is outstanding.

There are other Laserdisc's that I prefered compared to DVD/BD, but this is one that stands out for myself personally.

Shag the movie about a trip to myrtle beach the laserdisc has the original soundtrack i guess for the dvd they didnt try to even acquire the song rights.

Fantasia on VHS and LaserDisc have as much of the original narration that still remains while the DVD and Blu-Ray issues have an impersonator re-recording Deem Taylor's narration.

didn't the LD have a blue tint when they were inside the matrix? and the DVD had green?
or something like that was different.
the LD was the same as the release at the theatres.

and fantasia on DVD was re-dubbed by keiffer sutherland, that's what i read somewhere.
don't really know why they did that

The LaserDisc's of Fantasia (only the digital tracks) are the only way to hear Fantasound the way it was originally meant to be heard. The DVD is remixed to remove much of the overt directionality and much of the surround, while the Blu-ray has been completely destroyed, removing ALL the original directionality and surround, making it sound the way a modern classical music title would be mixed. Plus, the picture scrubbing done on the Blu-ray has made it look like a brand new computer generated film - its ghastly, a true destruction of the original.

The LaserDisc of Fantasia, played through the Fosgate Tate II 101A SQ Surround Stereo decoder in the SQ Quadraphonic mode, is an absolute treat and contains some astonishing "circle the room" 360 music pans.

Unless a person was around in 1940 they haven't seen the original version of Fantasia. The film had been re-edited and the soundtrack re-recorded several times over the various decades. In early '42 RKO cut the length of the movie from 120 minutes down to 81. Much of the edits were of the scenes of Deems Taylor interacting with the various band members. I first saw the movie in theaters during its 1982 re-release, but unbeknownst to me at the time, the soundtrack had been completely re-recorded for that version.

The 2000 DVD of Fantasia comes closest to representing the original 120 minute roadshow version. However, Deems Taylor's original dialog tracks had been lost, so actor Corey Burton was hired to re-dub the lines. The 1990 VHS and LaserDisc are based off of the 115 minute cut of the 1946 re-release version (and contain the original "fantasound" soundtrack), which still altered scenes of Taylor and the band. The earlier versions of Fantasia on VHS and LD before 1990 (and all theatrical versions re-released after 1969) contain edits that removed a caricatured black centaurette from the Pastoral Symphony. The 1990 and 2000 home video releases "restored" these scenes, but cropped them so the offending centaurette could not be seen in the shots. (In my opinion, these scenes -- though advertised as "uncut" on the video box -- are still censored.)

I haven't seen the Blu-ray release of Fantasia, but I'm not a fan of Disney's recent efforts at "restorations", where they basically rewrite cinema history using digital tools. Removing grain and recoloring cels is not restoration to me.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032455/alternateversions

The LD of Sorcerer is 1.33 the same as the DVD.

Another sad thing about the BD of Fantasia is that, after the DVD was released, Disney found ALL of Deems Taylor's narration for the long, Roadshow cut of the film that the DVD contained - and it was in completely usable condition too - but they elected to stick with the rerecording done by Corey Burton since that is what modern DVD viewers of the film would be used to.

In terms of the image on the BD, Disney removed ALL of the paint brush strokes in the image and all of the subtle color shadings and gradiations, pumping up the color levels and contrast to make it look completely modern and digitally generated. They also digitally stabilized every part of the image so the subtle shake and slippage of one animation cell against the other is gone - and such 'defects' are what gave the images so much life.

I was so looking forward to Fantasia's release on BD, but when I got it I couldn't even watch 30 minutes of the film straight through - the changes are that disturbing - its truly a different film now. And the soundtrack is so damaged by the new mix that a first time viewer will have no idea why Fantasound was so startling and exciting. It's now just another orchestral recording with no directionality at all and a weird EQ'd fidelity that sounds like they tried spectral replication to extend the frequency response beyond the limits of the original optical tracks and the 1950's magnetic tape and wideband phone lines that were used to transfer the Fantasound from optical to 4-track 35mm full-coat mag in an effort to save the original Fantasound recordings.

Would anyone be able to do a comparsen of some of the changes like the narration, of the Laserdisc version of Fantasia vs the DVD or Blu-Ray version?

There's a few uncut versions of movies that are on LD but not DVD/BD

Necronomicon (1994) [PILF-1951]
Hard Target (1993) (Uncut) [PILF-1913]
Braindead (aka Dead Alive) (1992) (Uncut) [PILF-1822]
Punisher, The (1989) (Uncut) [PILF-7027]

Just to name a few

To complete the sentence: "...in US".

Black Sunday/Black Sabbath

I had some time to watch the LD and noticed that both movies are the AIP U.S. releases (info updated in the database). I was pretty excited! These have been elusive to fans looking for high quality presentations. Well, here they are on LD.

I wouldn't say the AIP Black Sunday is necessarily better or worse than the Italian version. It has different music and less gore. The voice dub is better in the U.S. version imo.

The AIP Black Sabbath has the same give and take but it is overall really superior, in that it is in English with Boris Karloff's real voice.

Both films were performed in English and filmed without sound. All sound including voice dubbing was added later, for all versions.

I think these AIP ones may be on the horizon for BD. I noticed Amazon is streaming the AIP Black Sabbath in HD right now.