Fantasia (1940) (The Signature Collection) - TBA

[Class316]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

If I were producing a new home video edition of Fantasia, I would present several different cuts of the film:
1. The 1940 Roadshow version as reconstructed in 2000 with the Corey Burton redub.
2. The 1947 reissue version with the surviving Deems Taylor audio.
3. The 1942 heavily recut 80 minute version (for kicks and grins - I would love to see a cutting continuity for this version)
4. The 1982 Irwin Kostal rescored version.
While I hate censorship, I would reluctantly go along with the Sunflower edits. If this were a niche release going out through the Warner Archive or Kino, you could probably get away with it, but with a mass market item I don't think you could without tempting the ire of the twitter outrage mob (most of whom have probably never seen the film, know little to nothing about it, and probably have no intention to ever watch it). However, I would include the uncensored footage in the supplemental features with all of the talking heads (Leonard Maltin, Whoopi Goldberg, etc.) to explain the segment and its historical context.

None of the above. The only correct answer is to use all available materials to restore the 1940 version (censored footage restored and all) as closely as possible.

Originally Posted by Logos14

I'd rather have the unaltered version, but how much does a black centaurette slave character add to the movie? What's "horrid" is Walt Disney's decision to combine a minstrel show stereotype with Beethoven.

It is up to each individual viewer to decide how much that character contributes.

However, without her who is rolling that carpet?

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

I have the VHS (which would be the same as the LD, I have that too but no player), and a clip which I believe is from one of the Wonderful World specials which has Sunflower intact. The audio just cuts around the part where several girls are prancing and the two clips never catch up like the DVD. Most of the other scenes just zoom in so you can't see her (except for the carpet scene where you can just see her tail if you look for it).

That's what I thought. So any fan restoration using the LD audio would need some DVD audio to complete it due to the way the LD was censored (in addition to the Deems dub where no Deems voice is available)