Uncut "Clock Cleaners"???...

[Douglas Fir]

I was just curious if anyone knows whether or not the 1937 Mickey / Donald/ Goofy short "Clock Cleaners" is available uncut on DVD?

I believe that for whatever reason the version included in the Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 1 set was not the full version and if possible I would like to add the complete version to my collection!

Also are any of the other classic shorts (Silly Symphony, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, etc) featured on the Walt Disney Treasures sets cut in any way?

EDIT: I also just read this review regarding "Mickey's Christmas Carol from Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 2 over at Amazon:

I bought this DVD because it had my favorite cartoon of all time, "Mickey's Christmas Carol". I also have the VHS copy and was hoping I'd be able to do away with that one. But the VHS and DVD versions are NOT THE SAME, and the VHS version is better in some respects. The VHS is full-screen, and the DVD is widescreen. Why is this a problem? Because the top and bottom of the picture were cut off in order to create the wider picture. It's almost as if the DVD creators took the full-screen version, and just pasted a black bar over the picture at the top and bottom. In each frame on the DVD, there are features noticably absent. To compare the two, I played 15 seconds' worth of the VHS, followed by 15 seconds of the DVD, and so forth, and scrutinized each one. The slightly wider DVD picture is NOT WORTH having details cut off from the top & bottom of the picture. Do you like seeing Mickey's face with the tops of his ears missing? Neither do I; it gives me a headache. So many details, gone! I have seen the same thing done to all of my favorite movies on VHS that then came out on DVD widescreen. They all have been significantly chopped off at the top, as if every person was "scalped". Why, why, WHY? I will keep my VHS version of "Mickey's Christmas Carol" to view instead of this DVD version!

Any truth to that - or was it originally a full-frame animation that was letterboxed for theatrical distribution (hence they letterboxed it for the DVD to preserve that)? Is the version on Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse fullscreen?

[Jayden]

Mickey's Christmas Carol was originally shown in widescreen and was created with that intent, don't listen to these people who post on Amazon without taking the time to look up whether or not it's supposed to be fullscreen or widescreen

The Clock Cleaners on the Mickey Mouse set is about the best we'll get probably, even though the dialogue has been changed in one of the Donald scenes (I think that was the only change). Don't expect to see any other version anytime soon.

The only other place it is available on dvd is as part of one of the classic featurettes on the Alice in Wonderland: Masterpiece Collection DVD. This featurette is entitled "One Hour in Wonderland". However, it must be noted that while this version has the uncut Donald Dialogue, there are many scenes missing

[Douglas Fir]

Mickey's Christmas Carol was originally shown in widescreen and was created with that intent, don't listen to these people who post on Amazon without taking the time to look up whether or not it's supposed to be fullscreen or widescreen

It reminded me of the situation with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm which was animated in 4:3 as a DTV feature... but when it turned out as well as it did the studio changed their minds, letterboxed it and released it theatrically. It becomes more than apparent when watching the fullscreen version that the animators were doing a 4:3 movie as the letterboxed widescreen version often completely ruins the composition of certain shots (thus becoming one of those rare occurences of the fullscreen being more desirable, at least in my eyes, than the widescreen version!).

The Clock Cleaners on the Mickey Mouse set is about the best we'll get probably, even though the dialogue has been changed in one of the Donald scenes (I think that was the only change). Don't expect to see any other version anytime soon.

The only other place it is available on dvd is as part of one of the classic featurettes on the Alice in Wonderland: Masterpiece Collection DVD. This featurette is entitled "One Hour in Wonderland". However, it must be noted that while this version has the uncut Donald Dialogue, there are many scenes missing

I thought I'd read that the fight with the stork was still edited? I didn't even realise the dialogue had changed too! Was it the infamous "Says you" line (that supposedly sounded like f*** you)?

[Jayden]

That is correct, the "Says Who?" (I believe it was) was edited, and (I firmly believe) accidently used on MMLC2. As I said in my previous post, the dialogue is still intact on the Alice DVD, as is the fight with the stork. However, the Alice DVD is missing other scenes (I can't remember exactly what right now). Your best bet in this situation is to obtain a copy of both DVDs

[ramapith]

There are two lines that were censored.
In the original version of the scene, the final lines were as follows:

Donald to spring: Says you!
Spring to Donald: Say I!
Donald to spring: I'll bust you, you doggone snake in the grass!

This became

Donald to spring: Aw, nuts! [line taken from ON ICE]
Spring to Donald: Say I!
Donald to spring: [unintelligible computerized mix of quacking]

Really shameful. The edits aren't even done well; you can hear Pluto barking in the dubbed line from ON ICE and more than one voice quacking at once in the computerized mix.

[Douglas Fir]

There are two lines that were censored.
In the original version of the scene, the final lines were as follows:

Donald to spring: Says you!
Spring to Donald: Say I!
Donald to spring: I'll bust you, you doggone snake in the grass!

This became

Donald to spring: Aw, nuts! [line taken from ON ICE]
Spring to Donald: Say I!
Donald to spring: [unintelligible computerized mix of quacking]

Really shameful. The edits aren't even done well; you can hear Pluto barking in the dubbed line from ON ICE and more than one voice quacking at once in the computerized mix.

That does suck!

I just remembered that the Three Little Pigs on Silly Symphonies was edited too (the scene with the wolf wearing the jewish caricature mask)... if I remember rightly the original version was featured in some of the worldwide releases of the Silly Symphonies Treasures set - does anyone know which countries got the unedited version?

[Jayden]

The unedited part of the Three Pigs is included when Leonard Maltin is talking about the short in the extras. While it isn't in full on the R1 set, this was more than enough to satisfy my curiousity on the issue.

Anyways, as I have said before, I think that the edits were mistakenly left in Clock Cleaners much the same way that Castaway was missing a small scene.

[Wonderlicious]

I just remembered that the Three Little Pigs on Silly Symphonies was edited too (the scene with the wolf wearing the jewish caricature mask)... if I remember rightly the original version was featured in some of the worldwide releases of the Silly Symphonies Treasures set - does anyone know which countries got the unedited version?

The UK edition of the Silly Symphonies set has the unedited version of The Three Little Pigs. And I should add that only the Region 1 edition of Alice has the TV special, not the UK Region 2 DVD.

As for Mickey's Christmas Carol...I think that there my be a chance that the version on video is unmatted. The featurette may have been made in the Academy Ratio and then simply matted down for theatrical exhibition, as as the webmaster wrote on the Aspect Ratio page;

"So are these seven films compromised on DVD? Are these DVDs the much-loathed Pan & Scan? Well, the answer seems to be no. Through 1981, Disney Feature Animation was creating their animated films in the familiar 1.37:1 ratio. By the 1960s, many theaters apparently did not have the capabilities to exhibit 1.37:1 films in their proper ratio, so these were matted down normally to a 1.75:1 ratio. Essentially, the animation frames were cropped on top and bottom for widescreen viewing. Now the animators who were creating these films in the Academy Ratio must have known this and safe-guarded the frame so that it would be suitable to view with a small portion on the top and bottom of the frame hidden, for theatrical display. The video releases for these films all displayed the full frame of animation, as created by the Animation Department. The DVD releases do the same, and since the DVDs provide the films in their original aspect ratio they were animated for, there is nothing to complain about. These titles have been called into questions by several DVD and animation enthusiasts, without much in the way of a definitive answer. Sources for information on the ratios of these films are hard to come by, and those that exist rely upon what is submitted by any individual, whether they know or are guessing. It is my belief that these fullscreen DVD releases are entirely acceptable, from what I have read, what I have seen, and Disney's method of releasing animated films on DVD."

[Douglas Fir]

The UK edition of the Silly Symphonies set has the unedited version of The Three Little Pigs.

That will teach me to buy the Region 1 versions! If I can find one I may try and get a cheap one here in the UK (eBay here I come)!

And thanks for all the info on Mickey's Christmas Carol - I noticed it's also being included in an upcoming Holiday DVD so I may I get it just to do a comparison (if I do I'll post the results here!).

[Class316]

I have on DVD the un cut clock cleaners. It is copied from the Jap LD.

[Razor Roman]

I don't know if it changes anyone's minds on the 3 Little Pigs edit, but that one was supposedly ordered by Walt himself, in response to the whole Holocaust thing going on at the time ...