8mm Forum: WTB 80min Fantasia

This is topic WTB 80min Fantasia in forum 8mm films for sale/trade/wanted at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Jose Lopez (Member # 6647) on September 09, 2019, 10:50 PM:

I’m looking for a supposed 80 minute 1942 cut of the movie that omits the “Toccata and Fugue” segment as well as most of the “Rite of Spring.” If a dupe of that release exists on 8mm, 16mm, or somehow even 35mm safety stock and you so happen to have it, kindly message me to negotiate price.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 10, 2019, 11:33 AM:

This is quite the story. I once had this very print. This print was a "reconstructed" print, in that, it had apparantly been cut and was supposed to have been thrown away, but someone in the past, actually spliced it back together, (if you find this print, you'll notice the splices in almost exact amount of seconds). This isn't uncommon, as many studios would do this in order to keep they're films from falling into the "wrong hands".

Well, in this case, it fell into the right hands, as someone bothered to print it on Super 8. Sadly, I have never ran into a good color print of this title, but it is fascinating to see the "Pastoral Symphony" in it's uncut form, with the "black centuarette" completely represented, (after all, that carpet didn't un-roll itself, as we see in the current "fantasia".

Overall, the quality is only so-so to just passable.

Posted by Jose Lopez (Member # 6647) on September 10, 2019, 07:08 PM:

Fascinating! I've heard of a reprint showing up once on eBay several years ago and it sold for chump change. Wish I'd caught it. If you (somehow) happen to run into another copy, please remember that I'm looking for one. [Big Grin]

Would you happen to remember if Deems Taylor was in the print you had? In the Anthology DVD "making of" featurette, Scott MacQueen claims that Deems was completely absent from this version, but that's not what the continuity drafts for this release indicate.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 11, 2019, 11:09 AM:

I can't remember if Deems was at the beginning of the film, but I think that you are correct. It saved time, to be sure.

There is one really neat thing I found memorable (beyond the deleted pastoral footage represented), was that the audio was the truly original Fantasia "mono" version, which, for those theaters that did not have the "Fantasound" stereo capability (which most did not have), gave you a kind of "squashed" sound of all the tracks present, but the audio did have a much different quality. It was quite booming, very good, warm. It was neat to hear the actual original soundtrack, untouched by "remasters" and such.

Posted by Jose Lopez (Member # 6647) on September 11, 2019, 08:27 PM:

That same mono mix is the one I listened to the most when I was a kid through the “mono compatible” track on the 1991 VHS because, as you stated, there was something about it that sounded less filtered by digital processing and way more present and organic. I still listen to it today via the analog LaserDisc tracks.

I really wish Disney had made it a listening option on the 2010 Blu-ray along with the surviving mag stereo soundtrack, even if they still had to replace all of Deems’ commentary with the Corey Burton dub for consistency.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 12, 2019, 11:34 AM:

With all they're modern technology, they couldn't keep the "Deem"?!

That's just laziness! [Frown]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 12, 2019, 11:40 AM:

I enjoy the original Fantasia a lot, but Deems Taylor's voice makes for troubling audio!

-his voice was a little high pitched as men's voices go.

Sometimes I hear him and I start to think my frame rate is just a touch high!

(James Earl Jones on the next reel fixes this right up!)

Posted by Leon Norris (Member # 3151) on September 14, 2019, 10:48 AM:

This is a hard to find Disney! Good luck!

Posted by Jose Lopez (Member # 6647) on September 17, 2019, 07:47 AM:

I made the mistake of hoping that Disney would include both the general release and the roadshow versions of Fantasia on their last Blu-ray (almost ten years ago... goodness...) and of course it never happened. I don’t think it would’ve taken up much more space on the Blu-Ray disc to have two versions of the interstitials, so that seamless branching could allow anybody who wanted to hear the surviving Deems Taylor audio to do so. Oh, well.

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