Disney Returns to TCM in December 2014

[milojthatch]

This is very unusual for Disney. They could've just launched their own archive channel, which is sorta what The Disney Channel used to be.

The optimist in me sees this programming block as a potential testing ground for such a channel.

The realist knows this is probably the only way we'll see Walt-era content on television ever again.

And the cynic expects it will be short-lived.

On the plus side, I'll be excited for the new Robert Osborne introduction/conclusion at Great Movie Ride. Now my favorite attraction has a connection to my favorite cable channel! Whether this brings additional changes to the actual ride-through remains to be seen.

Albert

Actually, BYUtv has been airing Walt and 1970's era live action Disney films for sometime now. Still, none of that was TV content, so this is still huge!!! I'd love to see it turn in it's own channel and even better yet DVD's, but in this age of Disney moving away from their roots, I'll take what I can get.

[carolinakid]

Just wanted to remind everyone of the Walt Disney Treasures Night on TCM tomorrow (12/21) starting at 8pm ET with Santa's Workshop (1932) and ending with the Walt Disney Presents episode Perilous Assignment (1959) at 4 am ET.

[Avaitor]

A primer of what to expect tomorrow night.

[carolinakid]

Great preview, Avaitor. However, even though TCM boasts that it airs its films "complete and uncut" I think Santa's Workshop will be the censored version as I believe that's what Disney will provide them with. Hoping I'm wrong, though. And wouldn't Disney Treasures on TCM with Robert Osborne giving the context of the era when it was made be the perfect venue for bringing back Song of the South to viewers everywhere? We can only wish.

[merlinjones]

Leonard Maltin is hosting!!! Starts tonight 8PM ET, 5PM PT

http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmalti ... m-20141220

[PixarFan2006]

The Santa's Workshop short was edited. The scene with Santa inspecting the dolls was omitted. This is a pretty strange move for TCM, who airs plenty of racially insensitive movies. I guess it was just the master they had on hand.

[Flanger-Hanger]

How wonderful it is to have all this content in HD too! Davy Crockett and those cartoon shorts look fantastic!

[EZLiver9139]

So tonight, the two main 50s titles, Crockett and Third Man are being presented in some decent form of widescreen. I wonder, though: Is there any evidence as to whether these two are either being shown in their proper theatrical OAR or cropped to tightly fit 16:9 monitors? Your thoughts are always appreciated. IMDB can't always be right, you know.

[Mickeyfan1990]

Well these films were made in the post-53 era, meaning that some films were shot in full screen, but matted in widescreen for theaters. As for me, I'm on the fence when it comes to this (one thing's for sure; theatrical cartoons, be it pre or post-53, should always stay in full screen, unless they're cinemascope).

Incidentally, The Third Man on the Mountain is also available in widescreen (and HD) right now on Disney Family Movies on Demand via IO Digital.

[carolinakid]

The uncensored Santa's Workshop is on youtube. The only edits I could tell were the white/black dolls being OKed by Santa and the Jewish toy with yarmulke. To be honest the "Mammy" crying doll was the funniest part of the whole short for me. I didn't really get what so offensive about the Jewish toy...

Does anyone know if this short is uncensored on the WD Treasures Silly Symphonies set?

[Escapay]

So tonight, the two main 50s titles, Crockett and Third Man are being presented in some decent form of widescreen. I wonder, though: Is there any evidence as to whether these two are either being shown in their proper theatrical OAR or cropped to tightly fit 16:9 monitors? Your thoughts are always appreciated. IMDB can't always be right, you know.

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier was released to theatres in May 1955, a fair amount of time after Disney had finished experimenting with widescreen formats (beyond 'Scope) and settled upon the 1.75:1 aspect ratio for matted widescreen films. And Third Man on the Mountain saw release in November 1959, when Disney had truly settled comfortably in the thrifty practice of shooting in 1.33:1, but making sure the frames were 1.75:1 safe for theatrical exhibition.

Their first forays in live-action filmmaking in the 1950s were Treasure Island (1950) and The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), both done before CinemaScope and Fox's The Robe popularized the widescreen format. Before then, widescreen was either experimental (see The Big Trail or Napoleon), or used exclusively by Cinerama and their immersive curved-screen travelogue documentaries (This is Cinerama, Cinerama Holiday, etc.). When Disney decided to get into the widescreen business with their live-action films, they used The Sword and the Rose as their litmus test, but also one in which theatres could control the size of the matte. It was billed as being filmed in the "Miracle-Screen" process, which was just a fancy way of saying that the film frame was widescreen safe at any ratio between the unmatted 1.33:1 to the matted 1.66:1. To date (as per the research by AlwaysOAR and disneyfella in the Aspect Ratio thread one can find on this forum), The Sword and the Rose is the only Disney film that's been cited as actually having a 1.66:1 ratio approved for exhibition.

Generally, any live-action Disney film between 1953 and some point in the late 1970s would have been theatrically projected at 1.75:1, a ratio that wasn't employed by any of the other major studios of the time. Exceptions to this rule were obviously the 'Scope and Panavision features like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Swiss Family Robinson. Most studios who were matting films often did so in the 1.66:1 ratio or the 1.85:1 ratio, the latter which was more commonplace.

Widescreen televisions are 1.78:1, thus making Disney's 1.75:1 ratio the closest to them. Thus, the TCM broadcasts of Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and Third Man on the Mountain were quite faithful in that regard, which was a first given that in the past, Disney had only sent 1.33:1 masters to use for some of their live-action films. (I remember in 2008, they sent TCM a 1.33:1 master of The Shaggy Dog even though the film was released on DVD in widescreen!)

I'm hoping that this paves the way for Blu-Ray releases of these films (well, beyond the bones they've started throwing to Disney Movie Club), given that most of the DVD transfers have often been subpar and obviously from old laserdisc masters.

We have to also remember that during the 1950s/60s, material that was made for television in the US also saw theatrical release internationally, so the idea of protecting the frame for matted exhibition was something that the director and cinematographer had to keep in mind. Thus, while Davy Crockett began as a three-episode series on "Disneyland" television, Disney already had the foresight to shoot it in color, and with a potential theatrical run planned. Later "Disneyland" serials saw the same treatment. Johnny Tremain started off production as a two-episode "Walt Disney Presents" serial before it instead was joined together as a theatrical feature (but would later be seen on television in its two-part form). 1963's The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh is also a good example. It was paired with The Sword in the Stone as a theatrical double-bill in the UK, then premiered on US television a couple months later in "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color." Live-action fare would thus be acceptable in either the 1.75:1 frame if we're being faithful to its theatrical version, or in the 1.33:1 frame if we wish to preserve the television version.

Albert

[Kyle]

The amount of dnr applied to a lot of the animation really killed much of it for me. The lines often just disappear.

[merlinjones]

IMHO -- Given Escapay's comments above, the relevant theatrical 50's and 60's titles shot at full-aperture appear to be most comfortable at 1:66 where the overall picture composition and story material/visual business near the top or bottom is not compromised or cut-off.

But I must say both "Davy" and "Third Man" looked great as shown on TMC at 1:75-ish (Though I noticed some hard matting on the sides in several scenes).

[EZLiver9139]

Well said, Escapay. Thanks for clarifying. How silly of me to forget; Just felt slightly off-putting at first. In my eyes, in regards to films not shot with scope lenses during that time, I can never precisely determine what feels more appropriate from a viewer's perspective. I can handle a decent 1.75 matting if done well; otherwise give me the raw unmatted neg. To repeat, I had a moment of ill confusion; this is something I should've been aware of before bringing it up here. Boy, do I feel like a clueless dunce. I just haven't seen enough actual archive documentation, if it still exists in some warehouse somewhere.

That being said, I purely regret not DVRing Third Man (never enough space); not looking forward to the pale-by-comparison DVD I've just rented. Have you seen it? Right from the start, it's difficult to look at. All my assumptions were based on those inadequate culled-from-laserdisc masters. Quite disgraceful.

[FigmentJedi]

The next block was announced via TCM's online schedule calendar for the night of March 15th. Lineup is:

Darby O'Gill and the Little People
How I Captured the King of the Leprechauns
Babes in the Wood
The Story of the Animated Drawing
The Three Caballeros
Walt and El Grupo
The Fighting Prince of Donegal

[Avaitor]

!!!!!

Looks great! I've been meaning to see Walt and El Grupo for ages now.

[carolinakid]

The next block was announced via TCM's online schedule calendar for the night of March 15th 2015. Lineup is:

8pm Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
9:45pm Walt Disney Presents: How I Captured the King of the Leprechauns (1959)
10:45pm Babes in the Woods (1932)
11pm Walt Disney's Disneyland: The Story of the Animated Drawing (1955)
12am The Three Caballeros (1944)
1:30am Walt and El Grupo (2008)
3:15am The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966)


I added the time slots to Figment's post.

[Avaitor]

I wrote up about this Sunday's block in preparation. Can't wait!

[carolinakid]

I'm pumped. I have all of this on DVD except Donegal which I recall seeing on the Disney TV show back in the day but I don't really remember the details. I do remember crushing on Peter McEnery in this and the Moonspinners. I am mostly looking forward to hearing Leonard and Ben intro and outro the lineup.

[Semaj]

This is so bizarre, seeing The Three Caballeros on a Time Warner channel.

The one package feature that comes closest to reading as a cohesive whole, it shows how even though wartime economics prevented Disney from doing full-length narratives at the time, the animators were still able to make the most out of a limited situation.