The Return of Sunflower
I recently got a superb copy of "Magic and Music", the episode of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" in which the uncut "Pastoral Simphony" segment from "Fantasia" was shown.
During the sequence we hear (and sometimes even see) the Magic Mirror (which works as a link for all the shorts/segments presented in the episode).
So, in order to restore (at least try to) the magic and the beauty of this sequence, I decided to take my "Fantasia" DVD and put the two versions together, creating an hybrid which is not too much unlike what was actually shown in theaters when this feature was released.
Let me know if you like the final result.
See Youse,
Andrea
posted by Duck Dodgers at 8:19 am
24 Comments:
Excellent work, Andrea! I hope you don't mind but I created a link to this over at the Big Cartoon Forum in order that some of our members can watch this.
At least now I have a good idea of how contemporary audiences saw this segment in 1940.
I heard that Disney Home Entertainment plans to come out eventually with either a Platinum or Anniversary Edition of "Fantasia", unless I'm mistaken. If it is true, I hope they'll present the "Pastoral Symphony" segment complete and uncut!
5:04 pm
Thanks for posting this - I love it! The Pastoral Symphony segment was always my favourite part of Fantasia (I used to have the VHS). It's interesting to see it in it's entirety.
9:54 pm
Well done! Thank you!
10:45 pm
Andrea:
That is incredible. Wow. I applaud your work in getting it back to some semblance of the original.
1:03 am
Thanks for taking the effort to put this together, Andrea. I've seen the three clips from Widescreen.org, and I've seen the Pastoral Symphony on the DVD, but before today, I had no idea where Sunflower was situated in the actual piece. You've blended both sources together very nicely. On the DVD, it is very obvious that the carpet rolling itself doesn't look right. You've righted it. Sunflower is adorable! Thank you for posting this.
Fantasia is apparently being rereleased in 2009. Hopefully it'll be released uncut.
1:11 am
zavkram,
have you linked to the blog or to the video?
I'll prefer the first thing.
7:25 am
Andrea, your source clips for the uncut scenes are fan-TAS-tic. The blending of the scenes is flawless.
Truth Be Told, I'm more shocked by the topless centaurs at the beginning than by Sunflower.
1:29 pm
Well, I linked directly to this page where the clip is posted so that people can see it immediately and not have to search for it. But, all one has to do is scroll down to the bottom of this page in order click on a link to go to your Blog's homepage. I'm sure that anyone who has seen your excellent work here on this page will want to see more in the rest of the Blog.
I was careful to give credit where credit is due and I mentioned your name, Andrea (a.k.a. "Duck Dodgers") in our own Forum. I forget, what is your last name?
In fact, Dave Koch, our Forum Administrator, was the first person to read my post and follow the link I provided to this page.
12:37 am
zavkram,
my name is Andrea Ippoliti.
I'll have to remove the video in September though.
8:38 am
Andrea, why do you have to remove the "Sunflower" clip in September, is it for copyright reasons? Couldn't it be archived somewhere else in your blog for future reference?
Oh well... if worse comes to worse, I can always just delete the thread I started over at my forum when the time comes.
In any case, good job!
Here's a suggestion for another editing project (unless this has already been done by someone else):
Maybe you could put together an uncensored version of Disney's "Three Little Pigs". If I remember correctly, only the censored version is available on the "Silly Symphonies" DVD set in the "Walt Disney Treasures" series.
The censored scene in question, that of the Big Bad Wolf posing as a Jewish peddler, has been available on its own for awhile on the internet; but, so far as I know, it has never been integrated into the cartoon proper (unless such a version is available outside the USA).
12:56 am
zavkram,
the complete original video of "The Three Little Pigs" was restored to its own glory for the European version of the first Silly Simphonies Treasue set.
But there's more!
A good friend of mine even managed to find a print with the original audio (where the wolf actually speaks like a Jewish peddler!!).
So, another friend of mine put the two together and created the perfect version (the original restored video with the original audio, which is perfect and does not show any signs of time).
However I don't think it would be correct for them (one did the work, the other one found the original audio track) to post this copy online.
5:31 pm
Another thing zavkram,
could you send me a link to the thread you opened?
And talk of this blog with your friends!
it's great to have other classic cartoons fans here!
5:33 pm
Andrea,
Just log on to the Big Cartoon Database (www.bcdb.com) and then click on the link to the Big Cartoon Forum. On the main page there there are several sub-categories. The link I provided for your "The Return of Sunflower" clip here in this Blog is located in the "General Cartoon Discussions: Disney" Forum, under the thread entitled, "Restored Fantasia Segment". A number of people have viewed my post so far, but only one person has replied to it.
Unfortunately I have only the US version of the 1st Volume of the Silly Symphonies DVD set. I remember I had to pay nearly $100.00 USD for a new, sealed copy on Amazon because it is out-of-print. I imagine that the European version is out-of-print, also...
Even if it weren't, however, I doubt that I would want to purchase it for the sake of owning that one uncensored cartoon. Hopefully Disney will see fit to reissue the cartoon complete and uncut in some other DVD set.
It's too bad Buena Vista Family Entertainment didn't issue a replacement disc with the uncensored version of the cartoon for Volume 1, the way that they did for Volume 2.
10:34 pm
Could a post with the three animated segmenst from "Song of the South" (in very good quality) interest you?
11:47 am
Thanks, but actually I own an "unofficial" DVD of the complete "Song of the South" which I purchased online.
What I thought I was getting was a UK DVD version. As it turns out, all the company I purchased it from did was run off DVD-R copies of a UK VHS tape that was in PAL-format.
The quality is what you'd expect for a dubbing of a new VHS tape.
BTW, thanks for posting the censored bits from "Pecos Bill" I hadn't seen that since it aired on NBC back in the 1970's.
12:09 pm
Feel free to comment in other posts too!
I'd be only too glad to know your opinions about non-Disney material!
9:27 am
Sorry for commenting on such an old post, but let me thank you for making this blog first! I really love to look at all the screenshots and clips, since I hardly own any non-Disney cartoons on DVD, unfortunately. I should really check this place some more often.
Also thanks for putting together these Sunflower clips, the result is amazing!
Oh, and as a comment on another old post- Did you know the European DVD of Melody time shows Pecos WITH cigarette? I was surprised to find this when I bought the Dutch DVD. Even funnier is is that during the song in the Dutch dub, the vocals are missing during the cigarette verse. Not that I mind, the dubs sucks anyway and the English vocals are intact.
I'm actually commenting on your comment here where you mentioned Song of the South.
I would be VERY interested in having a good version of Song of the South. I have four different versions already, but they're all pretty blurred and more annoying- they're all interlaced. I've been looking for a good version everywhere. (I do have the b/w version of The Laughing Place, that was on a Disney Treasures DVD)
I love crazy slapstick cartoons, but I have a special love for Song of the South and the Brers. I draw these characters a lot and it really annoys me I can't even see the movie in a proper way. If you know where I could get a good version of at least the animated parts, I'd be really grateful!
- Henrieke
8:26 pm
Hello! Amazing to see the uncut version of Pastoral! I was wondering where I could buy this DVD (where did you get it from?), I've been looking around and it is no where to be found. I thought this segment would be in the Treasure set "Your host Walt Disney" but I am not sure.
Thank you so much!
10:26 am
Another very late comment, considering when this great vid was posted, but big thanks for taking such time and care to such a great end result. I've seen other attempts to meld the Sunflower footage and the current DVD, but you undoubtedly have the best VHS copy I've ever seen of these brief scenes. Some years ago I went to a screening of Fantasia at the L.A, County Art Museum, which was touted as being "complete and uncut" for a presumably more "sophisticated arts crowd," but it was merely Disney's latest issue, with the interminable and embarrassing Deems Taylor talkathons between segments lovingly restored (the original soundtrack of the previously shortened Taylor narration - about half was cut in the '60s - was dubbed by a voice-alike actor. I actually prefer the newly-conducted digitally re-recorded version of the '80s where Taylor was cut entirely but which pretty much followed Stokowski's conducting). This museum screening was only complete in that frame blowups are used (terribly) to throw Sunflower out of view, and she was weirdly and damagingly digitized out of the next movement where she's responsible for Bacchus' tumbling down into the vat. Since the 1967 release these scenes were cut completely, playing hell with the music, so it was something to at least fix that, but it would have been so much better in every way if Disney had honestly faced its past and let the sequence stand a it was presented in 1940. If they had done that, I'd be less disgusted with the expanded dubbed Deems Taylor stupidities. But you've done a great job with your own restoration, so again, many thanks!
8:56 pm
Is there any way to get the full scene in full DVD (VHSRip) quality? I'd love to have an archive copy.
Btw, for those looking for Song of the South, the BBC broadcasted it several years back.
The straight up PAL recording is available as is a fairly good NTSC restoration built from it.
Take a look over at the forums for OriginalTrilogy.com.
4:42 am
I'm glad Sunflower was removed. Most blacks would be. I find it interesting how the resurgence of showcasing Blacks in the invisible subservient role has made a comeback, what with the ever popular Mad Men and now Pan Am. But I understand why it wouldn't bother others who are not historically connected to such things. I could care less about unflattering Jewish depictions.
1:53 am
You have done a really good job with the Fantasia segment. The only problem is that a couple of scenes have switched place around the third censored clip. That's most likely because the 2000 DVD had a couple of scenes out of order. Apart from that it looks really good, and it's nice for people to be able to see how Fantasia was meant to be seen.
As others have mentioned previously I would also very much like to see a restored original version of Three Little Pigs. In fact, just a 5 second audio clip of the original non-censored audio of the scene in question would be enough, as the original video version is readily available on several region 2 DVDs.
10:03 pm
Wonderful video! Is there any way to get the original video? I think that some parts of the edited DVD haven't been removed on your video. I'm talking about the female centaurus' parade that replace the close up of the centaurus helped by Sunflower. The beginning of the second time of the parade is still on your video. Another point that I wanted to see in the original video is the end of the last censored part that you fade into the DVD video. I would like to listen to the music in order to understand how they have edited it and try to restore it from the beginning using the image of the last DVD. So, I would like to ask you if you could send me the mpeg file or the VOB files of your unedited DVD in order to try this restoration! I assure you that the image quality will not be reduced because I use programs that transfer raw data for the rest of the movie. My mail is ybulbu@yahoo.gr. Thanks a lot!
6:37 am
Thanks!
I've downloaded your clip, rip my Fantasia DVD, combine this two together and volia! now I have uncensored version in my collection! :)
10:58 am
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