RKO Opening Credits

[bennyb98]

I have a question about the RKO opening title cards on Disney movies. Are they all included on the DVD releases?

I know that Alice in Wonderland and Snow White include the RKO logo while Bambi does not.

Does any one know if the others will be released with the RKO logo?

Also, was a title card always used or did Disney ever use the "radio tower" beeping RKO opening??

THANKS

[Isidour]

pardon me because my ignorance, but what do you mean with RKO?

[goofystitch]

I don't have the answer to the complete list, but did the replacing of the logo on Bambi bother anybody else? They put the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo where it used to be, but to time it right with the music, it is sped up and in my opinion looks rediculous and out of place. I really hope they stop doing this. It kind of makes it loose it's aged feel in the begining of the movie. It picks up again shortly, but it doesn't look right.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

pardon me because my ignorance, but what do you mean with RKO?

It's the logo that is used at the beginning of almost all of the Pre-Walt Disney films.

I don't mind the change! Even though the logo came bit fast, I like the castle instead of a RKO!

[Disneykid]

I have a question about the RKO opening title cards on Disney movies. Are they all included on the DVD releases?

I know that Alice in Wonderland and Snow White include the RKO logo while Bambi does not.

Does any one know if the others will be released with the RKO logo?

Also, was a title card always used or did Disney ever use the "radio tower" beeping RKO opening??

THANKS

From what I know, they've always used a custom title card for RKO that matched the movie's credits. I'm not exactly sure why some Disney films contain the RKO opening and some don't. Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan both have theirs intact (in bringing back the opening for Peter Pan, they also ended up bringing back a couple of seconds of score that hadn't been heard in years thanks to the editing out of the card). I know the reason Snow White didn't include them was because they had been lost, and new ones were made specifically for the DVD as supplements. Perhaps this is the reason why Bambi doesn't have it. I'm really hoping Cinderella has its RKO opening restored because on the VHS version, there's this obnoxious jump in music from "Walt Disney Presents" to the film's logo. Even the picture transition is handled awkwardly. If they managed to bring the logo back for Alice and Peter, I don't see why can't do the same for Cinderella.

I agree that the opening of Bambi is a little odd. On the old VHS, the castle doesn't even show up. We see a black screen for a couple of seconds before fading into "Walt Disney Presents." I like opening all Disney movies with the castle, but they should've just played the castle opening with the usual "When You Wish Upon a Star" motiff, then fade to black for a few seconds as the score starts like the VHS did. While we're nitpicking opening logos and credits, I have to admit that it's always bothered me that Alice in Wonderland never ends with the Walt Disney Pictures logo. All other Disney films do except that one, even the Walt-era ones.

[MickeyMousePal]

It did bother me too.

[Isidour]

Ohhh, so that is...
Thanks Timon & Pumbaa fan n_n

neee, it didn´t bother me because as I said before, what matters is the movie and that´s all

[Wonderlicious]

While we're nitpicking opening logos and credits, I have to admit that it's always bothered me that Alice in Wonderland never ends with the Walt Disney Pictures logo. All other Disney films do except that one, even the Walt-era ones.

No need to worry; the digitally restored version of Pinocchio available in the <stroke>glorified Gold Collection edition</stroke> special edition available in Region 2 doesn't have the Sleeping Beauty castle at the start and end with the "When you wish upon a star" motif, which is fairly ironic considering that Pinocchio is the movie that the song comes from.

[deathie mouse]

pardon me because of my ignorance, but what do you mean with RKO?

Apart from the answer about the title cards, in case you don't know, RKO was another studio. Some famous pictures from it (i think. ) are King Kong and Citizen Kane.

In this case Disney had a distribution deal with RKO. A modern variation of this is Pixar distributed by Disney.

When time passes and deals expire or companies buy/merge/sell fillm libraries they usually change the title card. Like if Disney sold the Pixar films to Dreamworks and they substituted the opening credits/logos blah bleh blih bloh bluh t?

The original title card/logo opening of a movie is important cus first it is history and second the opening sequence may have been made/designed/timed/tinted/coloured/soundtracked with it in mind, so changing it changes the "feel" of the opening. And sometimes that opening "feel" might set the whole mood for what comes after (Think of the opening of The Matrix, ALIEN or STAR WARS) (Which has been out of synch since they changed the credit scroll Episodically )
etc etc blah blah umm.. hi.

[Disney 181]

I don't have the answer to the complete list, but did the replacing of the logo on Bambi bother anybody else?

I was kind of bothered with it. i think it woukda been great to have the full blue castle Disney logo and then let the film start as it was originally. when its a movie thats really old and special like Bambi, i like to see as much of the original footage as possible. why would they feel it's so necessary to hide any reference to RKO?

[mvealf]

All of Disney's movies up through Peter Pan originally had the RKO opening. Then Walt got his own distributing company called Buena Vista. He went back and replaced all of the RKO openings on his films with his personal logo of Buena Vista. The original video releases simply removed the openings, which in many cases contained a piece of music. It wasn't until recently that they went back and restored the original RKO openings. Here is the one from Bambi, preserved in it's original form on laserdisc.<p><img border="0" src="http://www.geocities.com/disney_laserdi ... MBIRKO.JPG" width="346" height="241"></p>

[anger is pointless]

so that rko logo is on the new bambi dvd right

i never knew about that rko logo being taken off till i read your post

how come they never just release the movie the way it was when it first appeared in theatures

[mvealf]

so that rko logo is on the new bambi dvd right

i never knew about that rko logo being taken off till i read your post

how come they never just release the movie the way it was when it first appeared in theatures

No, the DVD removed the RKO logo for some odd reason. Since Walt was the one to take it off in the 50's, they had to be restored for the recent releases.

[Disneykid]

That's very odd. Disney made an effort to restore Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan's RKO cards, so I don't get why they left off Bambi's. As I said earlier, I hope they restore Cinderella's because in that film's case, a piece of score is missing, and the opening cards don't even fade in - they just suddenly pop out at you randomly. At least Bambi had its score intact.

[bennyb98]

Thanks for the info!

I do too hope that they put the RKO logo on Cinderella, for me personally it makes me feel as if I’m back in the 50s when it first came out and seeing the magic for the first time, like audience back then saw it.

Also, does anyone know if Dumbo has its opening cards in tact on the 60th Anniversary DVD?

[drnilescrane]

Can I deviate OT for a second:

Does anybody else here agree that the '85 logo desperately needs to be jazzed up a little bit? I wouldn't mind if the they used the remixed 'When You Wish Upon a Star' that was on Runaway Brain mixed with a different camera angle (Looking up maybe...) and slightly different colors.

[Isidour]

you mean the star flying above Cinderela´s castle, with blue background and after a flash of light appears the Diseny title?

Why change it? is perfect like it is.

´bout the logos, maybe when they removed all this logos the first parts were missed and maybe now they´ll be unable to be found and put on their original place

[Joe Carioca]

Can I deviate OT for a second:

Does anybody else here agree that the '85 logo desperately needs to be jazzed up a little bit? I wouldn't mind if the they used the remixed 'When You Wish Upon a Star' that was on Runaway Brain mixed with a different camera angle (Looking up maybe...) and slightly different colors.

Well, it actually has received a bit of an update with the version that has shown up with "Dinosaur", "Brother Bear" and the special edition of "Lilo & Stitch". And the "Wish Upon a Star" theme is rarely used nowadays. I think it made its last appearance in "Hercules".

[Wonderlicious]

Can I deviate OT for a second:

Does anybody else here agree that the '85 logo desperately needs to be jazzed up a little bit? I wouldn't mind if the they used the remixed 'When You Wish Upon a Star' that was on Runaway Brain mixed with a different camera angle (Looking up maybe...) and slightly different colors.

They have started to do that with a number of new (and old) movies; if you watch Brother Bear, Pirates of the Carribean or the DVD release of The Lion King (that had the original castle in blue in the original cut), you'll notice that the castle is not blue and white...



...but a more mysterious orange castle against a spooky dark background:



And let's not forget the Pizar rendered Sleeping Beauty castle for Toy Story etc!

Also, as discussed in this old thread, they have jazzed up the logo depending on some of the movies...

[Disney-Fan]

I think it made its last appearance in "Hercules".

Close. I believe Mulan was it's last appearance with the music and all. Tarzan has the blue opening but it blends in later on.