Fantasia 1940

[Phil Moors]

I am trying to find a definitive list of the Super 8 releases of the segments of Fantasia. I have;

Toccata & Fugue in D minor (Derann)
The Nutcracker Suite (Derann)
The Sorcerers Apprentice (WDHM)
The Rite of Spring (Derann)
The Pastoral Symphony (Flying Horses. Derann)
The Pastoral Symphony (Centaurs, Bacchus Etc. Still looking for this one)
Dance of the Hours (Derann)
Night on Bald Mountain (Derann)
Ave Maria (Derann)

Clair De Lune (Omitted from Fantasia, but imported by Derann)

I should point out that The Rite of Spring has been shortened, the early forms of life, amoeba etc are not present of this release (Shame) but I read that when Fantasia was re released this part was cut out so the 8mm print could be from this release.

I have a feeling that there may have been a release of title and end credits and interstitials presumably with Deems Taylor and the linking segments.

Any info would be appreciated.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Piccolo/Revue had a few extracts.



Piccolo also released Dance of the Hours, however the print is nowhere near as nice as Derann's.

[Osi Osgood]

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was also released as part of the Fantasia 2000 Derann release, and that was an LPP print, so low fade, but was letterboxed, to fit the rest of the "2000" feature. Sadly, the WDHM version was one of the few botched released by them, as, the negative source, while directly from WDHM division, had no perfect blacks, and so the color, even at best, was less than perfect. I have also heard that this was released by the Disney/picolo division, and some of these prints were low fade, so it may well be possible to find a good low fade print to your Derann feature print, albeit, it might not be at the same image quality level. Some more info ... It was also released as a pirate release in Italy back in the day, and what made this one so very special, was that it was the shortened rerelease by RKO pictures in 1942. What made this special was that it had the deleted footage Disney has acted like never existed since, the black servant centaurette, for instance, but there are two issues with this version, 1. Bad film stock that has faded, 2. It appears, that this feature was literally saved from the chopping block, as it has more splices to it than can be possibly counted.

[Mike Newell]

There was a feature version from Italy. Print was on par with Piccolo in its prime.I know Derann issued various white box parts in early 1990s . It wasn’t full feature but was close.

Fantasia is the sort of film like That’s Entertainment 1,2 & 3 and That’s Dancing that collectors watched certain extracts and reels rather than whole feature.

[Steve Klare]

Years ago Derann had Walt Disney Home Movies prints of The Sorcerer's Apprentice on their Used List all the time, always with the warning "slight colour fade". I took the chance roughly 2003 and sure enough: the blacks were a very deep burgundy and the colors overall could be described as "warm".

The good news is 20 years later I wouldn't say they've changed noticeably. I wouldn't hesitate to show this one to a crowd: it looks fine.

[Osi Osgood]

On the plus side, it has a very nice deluxe box, complete with plastic slipcase!

[Mike Newell]

Both Fantasia features are on Paul Fosters latest lists.