8mm Forum: Snow White BD Review

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on October 07, 2009, 10:11 AM:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Blu Ray Disc Diamond Edition

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been available on super 8mm for a very long time, both in excerpt form as Whistle While You Work and The Dwarfs Dilemma and as the full length feature from Derann. As we all know, the quality of Derann’s super 8mm Disneys is superb with very sharp imagery and rich colors that make them a joy to watch. Now comes the release of Snow White for the first time in high definition blu-ray, available in a 3 disc Diamond Edition package for $24.99 at Wal Mart and Target. There are also other packages available with additional supplemental material, topping out at $159.99 for the sumptuous deluxe package which is packed with memorabilia on everything related to Snow White.
It has been quite a while since I have seen Snow White in its entirety so I was really looking forward to viewing the new blu ray release. Well it did not disappoint. In every respect this is a wonderful, wonderful film, and clearly deserves its recognition as Disney’s masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever made. Yes, it’s a fairy tale, but so well told and executed that you really get involved with the characters. It does not surprise me at all that at the Hollywood premiere macho stars, such as Clark Gable, were weeping at the end of the film. And I had forgotten how wonderful the music and the songs are in this film – possibly the best of all the Disney films.
The Blu ray disc can only be described as stunning in every way. The image is beautifully clear and bright, the blacks are inky black, and the color is sumptuous Technicolor. Every frame is a gorgeous painting and its like looking at the original cell art. Disney have obviously lavished great love and care on this reference quality restoration. There has been no image cropping, its still exactly 4:3 format as in the original, and digital noise reduction has been minimized with film grain still discernible. There are no image artifacts that I could see, and no jaggies or artificial edge enhancement. In other words it just looks like a beautiful pristine film print. The sound is wonderful with plenty of richness and depth and even a little stereo separation has been introduced to enhance the listening experience, although you can default to the existing mono sound if you want to.
The second disc is loaded up with extras, including the slightly creepy magic mirror host that helps you find your way around, and somehow learns your viewing preferences and makes suggestions about menu options. There is a great documentary about the making of Snow White and a terrific interactive tour of Disney’s Hyperion Studio where you can visit each department of the studio and see movies and stills including many full length Silly Symphonies all in High Definition.
The third disc is a standard definition DVD of the movie.

This latest release of Snow White is simply a must have for any film collector, even if you are lucky enough to own a super 8mm print. Even if you just buy the DVD package, Disney has thrown in a Blu ray disc for future use. This Blu Ray disc is reference quality HD, superb in every way. It is impossible to find fault with it.
Walt would have been so proud of this one.

***** out of *****

[ January 27, 2010, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Paul Adsett ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 07, 2009, 06:44 PM:

Nice review Paul. I have a question though. You were saying that it is as its original aspect ratio.

Is the image cropped a little from the sides to give that nearly perfect square image of the the cinema of 1937? The standard
TV size (of the past), while close to the original ratio, still cut off a little from the top and bottom.

There were some Looney Tunes released some while back with that perfect "window boxing" giving the complete image, but I haven't seen many others released that way.

It's not a big thing, but with such a great restoration, I'd love to hear that Disney took the same care with Snow White, that MGM took with giving viewers the original look of Cinerama on "How the West was Won".

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on October 07, 2009, 09:51 PM:

I just ordered the Diamond edition; it has been so long since I have seen the film, and the reviews have all been stunning.

One note for anyone in the US who might want to buy it:

I went to www.blu-ray.com and looked up the title.
In the right-hand corner of their web page, there was a promo code ('snowhite') applicable to Amazon, and when I put it in prior to ordering, it took $10 off the price, so my total with shipping was a whopping $13!

Can't wait to have the little guys dancing in Hi-Def on my Panasonic.....

Claus.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on October 08, 2009, 11:14 PM:

High praise Paul and a super review yet again. Is this A region only? November 2nd is the UK release date.

The only thing I don’t like is the artwork on the cover, it is new and not sourced from original art work, the Snow White on the cover looks nothing like the original, a minor niggle I know.

Could you list me all the Silly Symphonies that are in high def, the disc would be worth the money just for them?

Agree 100% about the super 8 prints; I have a beautiful copy of Dwarfs Dilemma that looks as if it was only printed yesterday. I wish I could afford the full feature, maybe one day.

Chris.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on October 09, 2009, 08:21 AM:

Chris,
I agree with you about the cover artwork. I don't know how this film will be marketed in the UK, but here all the stores are carrying two versions of the film - a 2-disc blu-ray package that also includes the DVD of the film, and a 1-disc DVD package that also includes a blu-ray disc of the film and a blu ray disc of extras - but either way you get exactly the same thing! , the only difference is the external box, one being a normal BD case and the other being a normal DVD case. The other difference is the cover artwork, and the DVD artwork is I think a lot nicer being more traditional Snow White. Talk about confusing the public - I spent 15 minutes at Wal Mart trying to figure out what was different between the two options, and there is no difference except the clamshell case! Even if you buy the DVD package you still end up with two blu-ray discs thrown in! Pretty good deal.

Posted by Kevin Clark (Member # 211) on October 09, 2009, 08:42 AM:

Chris,

Have a look at this review and you will see all the extras listed including the Silly Symphonies:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2276/snowwhiteandthesevendwarfs.html

Looks as though they've gone for Disney 'firsts' such as Steamboat Willie (sound Mickey Mouse) Flowers & Trees (full 3 strip Tech.) The Old Mill (multiplane camera) etc.

I wonder how soon it will take the e-tailers to put this in a BOGOF offer though (currently Pinnochio & Sleeping Beauty can be purchased for less than £18 the pair) as I'm getting tired of paying high prices for early uptake of BD & DVD disks that devalue to half price or less in a mere matter of months.

Kevin

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 09, 2009, 09:10 AM:

I looked at that link for the review. Is that the same site that the "Wizard of Oz" review was on? I was hoping to see some actual screen captures from the film to see just how good the restoration was.

From what they talked about in the extras, most of what is there is on the two disc DVD version put out some years ago, with the exception of the extra silly symphonys, minus, "Goddess of Spring" which was released on the 2 disc DVD years ago.

Hee hee ... I wonder what Disney is going to do when there are no more advanced formats to release they're films in? Come to think of it, as long as there is some unused song in the archive or scrap of paper lying around, they will continue to re-release they're films.

Posted by Kevin Clark (Member # 211) on October 09, 2009, 09:47 AM:

Osi

I think this review will satisfy your desire for screen captures:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews47/snow_white_seven_dwarfs_blu-ray.htm

Kevin

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 09, 2009, 02:05 PM:

Thanks Kevin ...

You really do have to marvel at just what is possible in film restoration these days.

If I may, I noticed on that website, that at times, the DVD version outshined the BR. The BR was slightly sharper, but in a few cases, the facial tones looked slightly off on the BR screen capture, while the earlier DVD had better facial tones. This could be due to loss of color from screen capture to website however, but I assume that the same program was used for both the DVD and BR captures.

Still, a fine job.

The film, above all others, that I would really LOVE to see completely restored and put out on DVD (or BR, hey, sooner or later I'll probably plunge into it, just for specific titles)
is ....

"Chimes at Midnight" (also called "Falstaff")

The last great film by Orson Welles in the late 60's. It was a great compilation of the charatcer "Falstaff" from Shakespeares collected works, as Falstaff appeared in a number of his plays, if I remember correctly.

You could see a lot of Orson Welles own feelings about himself in his performance. A great movie.

[ October 09, 2009, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on October 10, 2009, 01:35 AM:

The Old Mill is my favourite 8mm short; I also have a pristine Flowers & Trees that I picked up from Blackpool last year. Music Land and the Skeleton Dance are also excellent shorts and in HD as well, Blimey! Excellent stuff!

Here’s some more screen captures Osi from the same place as the Pinocchio ones…

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Snow-White-and-the-Seven-Dwarfs-Blu-ray-Screenshots/5220/

I think the next Disney to be Blu-rayed is Fantasia.

Chris.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on October 10, 2009, 09:05 AM:

........and Dumbo.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 10, 2009, 01:18 PM:

I must say, (though Paul would probably drag me to the store kicking and screaming ... hee hee!), when Disney re-releases Bambi in a complete restoration, like they did for Snow White, I'll have no choice but to make the plunge into BR!

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on November 27, 2009, 08:24 PM:

Hi Paul
Last weekend I got the OK [Smile]

from my chief financial advisor "the wife" to buy a Blu-ray player as there was a special on at a local store of heavily reduced Panasonic players. One of the first discs I watched this week was "Snow White" its certainly very good, one thing that did impress me while watching it was the use of "Disney View Presentation" not only does this take care of the black bars at either side but really looks good on a widescreen 16:9 TV the watercolours are by artist Tony Bluth. The "Disney View" feature and "its optional" is also on "Pinocchio Blu-ray" by the same artist his work matches in really well with the film.

Graham.

Posted by Stewart John Boyle (Member # 1785) on November 29, 2009, 11:38 AM:

Hi Everyone,
I hope im not alone by saying that i feel alot of the Blue-Ray discs seem to be a bit soulless to me, i like a bit of splicing cement every now and then.. a missing frame here or there.
The Blue-Ray editions are without question exceptional,but many are not quite the way i experienced them in the bad ol days.
I remember an older post regarding how Digital films seem to just be forgotten or disregarded by the brain..I think this applies to Blue-Ray in general.Im not format bashing in any way so Blue-Ray fans please please dont take exception. [Wink]

Regards
Stewart

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on November 29, 2009, 01:45 PM:

There is a lot of truth in what you say Stewart. For example, this past Friday I decided to show Meet Me in St Louis for our after dinner Thanksgiving film. I have it both on DVD and also on super 8mm so I had to choose which way to show it. The DVD is excellnt quality, but so is the super 8mm print, with superb contrast and rich color. Well, I elected to show it on Super 8mm because it somehow seems to be a more satisfying viewing experience.
I don't have the full length super 8mm Snow White print, but I know if I did, I would probably be watching the S8 print more often than the Blu Ray, for whatever reason.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on November 29, 2009, 02:51 PM:

Paul
Last night I watched the Super8 Derann feature of "Snow White" as a comparison to the Blu-ray. It might seem strange in this day an age and considering all the work that went into the Blu-ray that I enjoyed the Super8 feature a lot more. I felt that as "Snow White" was made in 1937 that the "film look" including the "mono sound" was more in keeping with the film of that period than the Blu-ray. However for the modern viewer the release onto Blu-ray and in particular those with the latest TV it is impressive, myself... I will more than likely run it again over the Christmas period but will prefer to watch it on a larger screen on film.

Graham.

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