Disney's Snow White, 2016 Blu Ray

How did the movie look? Some of these new Disney classic animated Blu Rays look so pumped up and modern that the film doesn't look the same.

 

I don't think Snow White had an earlier VHS release, Disney held out for a long time. Most of the other classics had already been released when Snow White was released on VHS and laserdisc.

[QUOTE="Benno123, post: 13756930, member: 9020"]For us we didn't have a child when this (and so many other classic Disney films were first released) so now we're collection them for our daughter. She isn't as concerned with the bonus material as daddy is, though, on these things! Lol[/QUOTE]

We had two kids, but I'd have bought the movies for me anyway.

 

Yeah, and it wouldn't matter if something was brickwalled and or compressed/maximized, because they'd at least be able to hear it

 

I can't stop laughing ...

 

To me it looked fine ... Not modern at all but that definite 1930s animation look.

 

Like which ones? I haven't seen any "pumped up and modern" Classic Disney Blu Rays.

 

I bought the restored Pinocchio blu Ray and really disliked it. The color palette was too amplified and not how the film originally looked. I have a Japanese DVD that looks much truer to me.

 

How do you know how it originally looked? How do you know the DVD is truer and correct?

 

Is it possible that you (and lots of folks) are just used to watching a faded print version, or that the restoration process used to create the Japan DVD wasn't available at the time of release? I suspect Disney is pretty meticulous when it comes to the handling of their canon. They have extensive archives from which they could reference paint colors used to create their animated film.

 

I saw the film at the Fox theater in SF in the early sixties. It sure didn't look like the Blu. I'm certainly no expert but the new "restoration" looks way too vivid to me. Others love it.

 

You're going by 50 year old memories of a print that was already 20 years old? How do you know the print you saw was what was intended?

 

All of the 4K restorations of the classic Disney animated films were compared to original Tech IB prints from that era and painstakingly matched. There are a lot of armchair experts out there who are convinced they know better and their memories of what the film looked like in the theater 30, 40, 50 years ago are more accurate. My experience is they are wrong. I would also say the earlier transfers in the 1980s and early 1990s were not that good. They weren't terrible, but at best they were going from 3rd- or 4th-generation interpositives. Scanning from the original 3-strip nitrates or at least a good safety backup is going to yield far more detail and far more accurate color.

I can also tell you that a committee of people inside Disney supervise this work and they go to endless lengths to make sure it's done right. No one person makes the decision, and they do refer back to previous transfers and more than one film element to get a good sense of how it should look. They are very, very, very particular about this stuff, with very little left to chance.

 

All of what you say makes perfect sense. I'm certainly no expert. I just wish I liked the results better. Many are disappointing to me. YMMV.

 

I certainly don't know how the film looked in the forties. All I know is I don't care for how the blu ray looks compared to the prints I have seen.

 

I kind of felt the same way about Snow White. No doubt the new blu-ray is probably accurate to what was originally released. But it's not what I remember seeing in the 1960s. I remember the colors being darker and more vibrant, even if it was (or maybe because it was) a 3rd or 4th generation print that was 30 years old.

I guess I expected the color palate to be closer to what is in Beauty and the Beast. That seems to be how I remember it but maybe my 50 year old memories aren't accurate.

So yes, it looks great but it doesn't have the nostalgia magic for me that I thought it would.

 

How can you guys say you clearly remember how a film looked in the 60s?! 50 years ago!

 

I edited my post to say I may not be remembering it accurately. But I have very vivid memories of seeing some of the classic Disney movies as a kid. My mom took me and my younger brother on a bus to downtown Dayton (this was before we had malls with cinema complexes all over). I can still remember the wide sidewalks and walking across the metal grates (that my mom would avoid and tell me and my brother not to walk over). I remember the red plush seats of the theater, the red curtain at the front and how quiet the place was before the movie started. My memories of the movie itself are of magic taking place on the screen. I had no idea until much later that the movies we saw weren't new. I could be mistaken, I admit, but my memories of the colors in the movie were darker and more robust than what we have on the blu-ray. I don't recall ever watching this movie on TV as a kid.

We didn't take a bus downtown to watch movies more than 2 or 3 times, so it truly stands out in my mind.

The theater is still standing, btw, and was remodeled quite a few years ago. I'm not sure if they show any movies now; it shows mostly stage shows and concerts. (Victoria Theater).

 

I do not think any other movie company has had so many first, limited releases...Disney is king.

 

As an early adopter of DVD (as I'm sure many here were) I remember buying the first wave of DVDs Disney released. There were maybe a 1/2 dozen titles and the discs contained the movie, and one bonus feature which was "other titles available on DVD." They re-released a bunch of upgraded titles just before the advent of blu-ray, then various versions of blu-rays with some combination of 3D, digital download, or whatever.

While I was tempted to ditch the early versions I had, I decided to hang on to them. Those are the ones my granddaughters are using to learn how to put a DVD in the machine.

 

it is overwhelming to say the least keeping up with the releases...hey, great use for the older DVDs! LOL!

 

In terms of semantics, I too would be bugged by the idea of calling UV codes and digital downloads being a case of “available on digital for the first time.” But as someone else pointed out, I’d have to be going out of my way to be purposely obtuse to actually be incredulous as to what they mean.

It’s just shorthand for non-physical copies that you can own. They had to come up with some sort of general term for this “format”, and since they are delivered via all sorts of methods (iTunes, Ultraviolet, whatever Disney uses), and are redeemed through a variety of services, they’ve apparently just gone with “Digital.”

Didn’t the same thing happen with music, e.g. “When are the Beatles albums going to be available digitally?”, referring to iTunes, etc.

As for the “look” of vintage Disney films on BD, I can’t speak to the coloring since I rarely saw them in theaters and agree it would be tough to meticulously remember. But I’ll go ahead and just assume the *color* is accurate. What’s hard to argue against is that most of the old films have been scrubbed and polished and tend to not look much like “film” anymore. It’s beyond DNR and whatnot. It’s very well done, but some of the old stuff looks almost like it has been reanimated and/or scanned back through CAPS and captured digitally or something. None of that is happening of course; they are simply meticulously removing all debris and wobble and grain and whatnot.

I’d say, because of its extreme age and look, “Snow White” suffers from this far less than a lot of others (Pinochhio, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, etc.).

Ironically, the old Disney stuff that isn’t “Diamond/Platinum” stuff sometimes escapes with somewhat more of a “filmic” look, presumably because they haven’t budgeted as much time and money for the restoration; “The Rescuers” and “Fox and the Hound” and stuff like that.

 

Great story! We will be at the Victoria Theater in a few weeks to see a show ...

 

I already own the first Blu-Ray edition, but I would love to have a digital copy for my UV account, and for my daughter to watch on her iPad.

If any of you guys don't want your digital copy, please PM me and we can make a deal. I'll be glad to buy the code from you for a few bucks. Seriously.

For those of you who don't know, there is a *very* active marketplace on blu-ray.com, where these digital codes are bought, sold, and traded.

Thanks.

 

Which has always perplexed me. It's not that difficult or expensive to rip your own Blu-rays. What am I missing?