Gulliver's Travels (animated Fleischer) in blu-ray shock!

[ichabod]

Who saw this coming?

Yes the public domain 1938 Fleischer animated feature that was meant to rival Snow White is on its way to blu-ray next March.

http://classicflix.blogspot.com/2008/11 ... u-ray.html

[Escapay]

Yay! I love Gulliver's Travels! Looks like I'll pick it up with Pinocchio on March 10!

I wonder what Koch will do about the transfer, perhaps they can restore/remaster from the original negatives or high-quality film prints. The transfer from the WinStar DVD is really quite good and according to the back of the box, took two years to restore, with several Disney people as part of the project. Still, that was 10 years ago and I'm sure the a/v can be improved again. Judging by the runtime listed (76 min), it'll retain Gabby's "All's Well" song (and the scene in which he first discovers Gulliver), which for some reason (copyright on "All's Well"?), is sometimes cut out of several PD releases.

I'm hoping Koch will include supplements, such as a documentary about Fleischer Studios, a documentary about the making of the film, concept and storyboard art, production photos, perhaps even the original live-action footage that was later rotoscoped for Gulliver. And, of course, the theatrical trailer and the eight "Gabby" cartoons (1940-1941).

BTW, iccy, there's a Gulliver's Travels thread here.

albert

[Elladorine]

Wow, i just might be picking this up then! I've only seen some pretty bad prints of it many years ago back in the good old VHS days (I didn't realize or expect that the Winstar DVD would be any good).

Once when I picked up a VHS at the store they actually had the wrong Gulliver's Travels movie inside. The case listed and descibed the 1938 movie, the actual animation was produced by another studio decades later!

[my chicken is infected]

So THAT'S why the Winstar release is OOP now...

I might like to pick up the new SD DVD version if I hear good things about it. I've got a couple of surprisingly good PD versions of it right now. I've got the Diamond Entertainment DVD, which through research I've found is basically a $1 copy of the OOP Image Entertainment DVD. I've also got a "restored" GoodTimes Video DVD which punches up the color a little, cleans up the print a little, and adds some not-too-distracting sound effects to create a stereo soundtrack. The Winstar DVD is likely tons better, but not bad. It was $2.50, more than your typical PD DVD, so yes.

[Escapay]

So...widescreen... (according to Koch's site it's 1.78:1)

And the supplements are the same as the WinStar DVD: the vintage "The Making of a Cartoon" documentary and two "Gabby" cartoons (though which two is unknown, WinStar had "King for a Day" and "Swing Cleaning"). The WinStar actually had more as there was a brief photo gallery montage (a news article, some concept art, then b&w stills from the movie) and a restoration demo (of a "Superman" cartoon).

Where's the trailer? Where's the art galleries or any surviving live-action rotoscope footage or photos? Where's the making-of documentary and animation historian commentary? Where's the definitive documentary about Fleischer Studios? At the very least, where are the other six Gabby cartoons (bad as they are)?

ETA: Okay, we can scratch off "definitive documentary about Fleischer Studios", I had forgotten there's a good documentary on Popeye the Sailor, Volume Two all about the Fleischers, titled "Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story". Hmm, perhaps Koch could licence that out from Warner?

albert

[my chicken is infected]

Widescreen? EXCUSE ME?

[Jules]

Widescreen? EXCUSE ME?

AND, they intend to market it towards classic cartoon aficionados and collectors.

Fat chance getting those interested, Koch.

[Mickeyfan1990]

There could be 2 explanations:

1. Probably a misprint/mistake
2. Maybe there was secretly a widescreen version made and know one knew about it except Fleischer Studios. Don' forget widescreen excisted way back in the 1920's. Look it up on Wikipedia.

Still, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Escapay]

There could be 2 explanations:

1. Probably a misprint/mistake

I don't think it's a misprint, otherwise it's a misprint across the board as it's on the official site, the press release, etc. Given that Koch usually knows their stuff, they'd have caught it by now.

2. Maybe there was secretly a widescreen version made and know one knew about it except Fleischer Studios.

Highly doubtful. The film took two years to make and was something of a rush job, I doubt they'd secretly make a widescreen version, as that format was experimental and nowhere near mainstream.

Don't forget widescreen excisted way back in the 1920's.

Even so, that only refers to live-action widescreen. IIRC, animated widescreen was not done until the 1950s.

If they are presenting a "widescreen" version, I think it's likely a matte job, similar to the "widescreen" version of 1951's A Christmas Carol that VCI released a couple years ago. It's done simply to make a 1.37:1 picture magically fit into a 1.78:1 frame, at the expense of image lost. In other words, a bastardization of what the animators intended. And no, this is not like Disney's case of matting 1.37:1 animated films to 1.75:1 presentations in the 60s/70s/80s. This was animated and framed for 1.37:1, the others weren't.

albert

[my chicken is infected]

I'm hoping they're simply going to pillarbox the 1.33/1.37:1 image inside a 16:9 frame with black bars on the side, but I highly doubt it. (And if they DID do this, I hope it's like most DVD menus, which are 16:9 but encoded so that on a 4:3 TV, the sides are cut off. That way the black bars won't show up and it'll still be OAR. But again, I highly doubt it.)

[Escapay]

I'm hoping they're simply going to pillarbox the 1.33/1.37:1 image inside a 16:9 frame with black bars on the side, but I highly doubt it. (And if they DID do this, I hope it's like most DVD menus, which are 16:9 but encoded so that on a 4:3 TV, the sides are cut off. That way the black bars won't show up and it'll still be OAR. But again, I highly doubt it.)

I hadn't thought of that. Hopefully that's what Koch meant when they said it'd be in widescreen. On standard TVs it means the entire thing will be windowboxed, but that's not a big deal (if anything, it's better due to overscan).

albert

[my chicken is infected]

Actually, 16:9 video CAN be formatted so that the sides are lopped off on a 4:3 TV. That's how most DVD menus are - they're 16:9, but when viewed on a 4:3 TV, you only see the center square. And the Pinocchio Platinum Edition trailer is a 4:3 image pillarboxed in a 16:9 frame, but when watching it on my 4:3 TV, the sides are cut off and the video fills up my TV screen.

[Escapay]

Actually, 16:9 video CAN be formatted so that the sides are lopped off on a 4:3 TV. That's how most DVD menus are - they're 16:9, but when viewed on a 4:3 TV, you only see the center square. And the Pinocchio Platinum Edition trailer is a 4:3 image pillarboxed in a 16:9 frame, but when watching it on my 4:3 TV, the sides are cut off and the video fills up my TV screen.

Yeah, sorry, I kinda spaced out when I wrote my last reply. The making-of documentary on the Anchor Bay disc of Supergirl is pillarboxed 16:9 that becomes 4:3 on standard tvs, I don't know why I forgot about that.

albert

[2099net]

Yeah, sorry, I kinda spaced out when I wrote my last reply.

That what watching Skins does to fragile little minds, 'Berto, it warps them. Save yourself!

[my chicken is infected]

Someone actually sent me a DVD-R of the Limited Edition of Supergirl, but I kinda can't bring myself to watch the making-of. If they'd done it with DVD Shrink and used the tricks I've learned to improve video quality when compressed a lot, it'd be different, but it's like bad YouTube video quality. (The feature itself, however, looks good, but I've not watched the International version. I watched the Director's Cut or whatever. Awesomely bad movie, BTW. )

I really hope that's how GT is presented. It'll be nice for there to be a really good HQ version out there, as opposed to all the shitty $1 releases. (The only decent $1 version I can think of is the one from Diamond Entertainment, which steals Image Entertainment's transfer. They even stole the trailer from it, except that instead of putting it separately on the disc, it's just tacked onto the end of the movie, and you can't even get to it with chapter skip. Well you can, but only the last couple of seconds. I also have the "Max Fleischer Digitally Restored Classic Collection" release from GoodTimes, which cost me $2.50 at K-Fart. It's not restored like, likely, Winstar's was or this one will be, but they definitely cleaned the print up a little, punched up the color, and added some not-too-distracting sound effects to make the audio 2.0 stereo. Pretty much the best of four DVD versions I own - the other ones include a horrid double-feature disc from PC Treasures that includes The Little Princess, and the last one is the one that comes in Mill Creek Entertainment's Family Classics 50 Movie Pack.)

[Mickeyfan1990]

You want to keep Gulliver's Travels in it's OAR, then contact Koch at:

VideoSales@kochent.com

Every e-mail counts!

[Mickeyfan1990]

This is what I got from the Vice President of Koch via email:

"January 5, 2009: The March 2009 KOCH Vision release of Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels on Blu-ray (and on standard-def DVD) has been restored and re-mastered from the original source 35mm film by North Hampton Partners, the same company that received universal acclaim for their restoration work on the 60th Anniversary Edition DVD ten years ago. These talented individuals have gone back to the same source materials and used the best technology available to present the film in a manner consistent with today’s standards. This ambitious process included the decision to enhance the film, frame-by-frame, for 16x9 – so that it could be fully appreciated and enjoyed on HD televisions. North Hampton Partners firmly believes that their efforts have resulted in the best version of Gulliver’s Travels ever available to the consumer market.



KOCH Vision is extremely proud to release these newly restored editions and stands behind them 100%. We kindly ask that you reserve your opinions until you have had the opportunity to personally experience these new editions of Gulliver’s Travels for yourself."

Now granted this is some good news, there's nothing on the film's OAR.

You can contact the vice president about the new Gulliver's Travels release at:
dan.gurlitz@kochent.com

[Escapay]

This ambitious process included the decision to enhance the film, frame-by-frame, for 16x9

If it means they matted it, then

If it means they decided to draw in extra information on the sides to make 1.33:1 become 1.78:1, then

If it means they simply authored the DVD so that it's pillarboxed 1.78:1, then

albert

[Jules]

Good news everyone!

Via Animated Views (scroll down)

http://animated-views.com/

Howsabout some new releases: we’ve a little more on the mysterious Koch Vision debut of Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels on March 10, which promises an anamorphic widescreen presentation. Seeing as the film was made way back in 1939 (the second American animated feature only to Snow White in fact), this should be a big no-no, and details on the title have been scarce. But we’ve some confirmation from Koch: the disc will contain the 77 minute feature in both a widescreen format (“digitally restored and re-mastered from the original source 35mm film and enhanced for 16×9 - allowing you to see more picture than ever before!”) and the original 1.33:1 ratio, with sound in newly remixed 5.1, 2.0 and original mono formats.

So, apparently, we will be able to view the 1939 film as intended, though the widescreen option remains an intriguing curio and is sure to be eye-opening or a travesty. We’ll find out on March 10, when the film comes to DVD (pricing TBA at either $12.98 or $14.98) and Blu-ray Disc ($17.98-19.98). In all respects the details seem to mirror WinStar’s 60th Anniversary Edition that came out a few years ago and I have to wonder if the same basic transfer isn’t being rehashed: extras will bundle in the same, and often-seen, The Making Of A Popeye Cartoon peek inside the Fleischer Studio of the time, and two of the eight spin-off cartoons featuring town crier Gabby: as yet not confirmed, but I’d be surprised if they weren’t King For A Day and Swing Cleaning.

[Jules]

It's disgraceful that such important news doesn't get one stinking reply in 24 hours. I'm summoning Max Fleischer's ghost to haunt all of you (and that means you, Albert)!!