Killing Dumbo (The Blu) (1 Viewer)

[Kyrsten Brad]

Well folks, I’ve been following the Disney and SOTS threads with aplomb and thought I’d put this up there as some advice.
Since Disney appears determined to pretty much cleanse Dumbo (1941) of any “controversial” elements via alteration or outright censorship (most notably the Crows song), this might be a good time now to head for eBay (and maybe Etsy) and purchase a copy of the 2011 release Blu-ray. The Dumbo we’ve known & lived over the years is probably going out of print to be replaced with The Mouse’s “sanitized” version.
Personally I just watched the crows sequence and honestly I’ve been wondering how this most important part of the film could be called racist (other than one crow being named Jim). In fact the crows struck me more as being “cool cats” with their singing much like Louis Armstrong’s band appeared in the film The Glenn Miller Story (1953) which I’ve just watched & admired.
So folks, head over to eBay now, find a decent copy & buy it before the prices start going...

Continue reading...

 

[David Norman]

Well folks, I’ve been following the Disney and SOTS threads with aplomb and thought I’d put this up there as some advice.

Since Disney appears determined to pretty much cleanse Dumbo (1941) of any “controversial” elements via alteration or outright censorship (most notably the Crows song), this might be a good time now to head for eBay (and maybe Etsy) and purchase a copy of the 2011 release Blu-ray. The Dumbo we’ve known & lived over the years is probably going out of print to be replaced with The Mouse’s “sanitized” version.

Personally I just watched the crows sequence and honestly I’ve been wondering how this most important part of the film could be called racist (other than one crow being named Jim). In fact the crows struck me more as being “cool cats” with their singing much like Louis Armstrong’s band appeared in the film The Glenn Miller Story (1953) which I’ve just watched & admired.

So folks, head over to eBay now, find a decent copy & buy it before the prices start going thru the roof for a HD copy of the complete original.

Not that I'm buying into the Cleansing anyway. I'm still waiting to hear a single word from a Disney person with a Name and Title.

It's not OOP and it's generally not expensive $15 at BBY without any discounts I swear I've seen it used at Big Lots or Dollar Store for a few dollars used disc. Maybe grab it $6-8 with a DMC 60% off

OTOH -- I think I have the VHS, DVD 60th Anniversary, Bluray 70th and 75th anniversary (I wonder if I missed the 65th somehow). Worse comes to worst I'll buy up a couple Region B locked UK editions just to be safe when they have another 2 for $15. Maybe the B Lock will prevent the Disney Bot from jumping into my disc and making it act like Mr Phelps MI tapes.


Maybe I'll grab one of the 70th Premium Editions which always looked pretty cool anyway for $16

 

[ahollis]

Still available on Amazon, Blu-Ray and DVD.

 

[David Norman]

Still available on Amazon, Blu-Ray and DVD.

And everywhere else.

I haven't quite figured out is this was meant to be general Satire messing with the panicky rabbits or not, but Dumbo hasn't been OOP since the mid 80's on some sort of Home Video (or 4)-- and it's not now.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I'd take the whole thing as a rumor until Disney+ begins and we see that the film has been altered.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Not that I'm buying into the Cleansing anyway. I'm still waiting to hear a single word from a Disney person with a Name and Title.

It's not OOP and it's generally not expensive $15 at BBY without any discounts I swear I've seen it used at Big Lots or Dollar Store for a few dollars used disc. Maybe grab it $6-8 with a DMC 60% off

OTOH -- I think I have the VHS, DVD 60th Anniversary, Bluray 70th and 75th anniversary (I wonder if I missed the 65th somehow). Worse comes to worst I'll buy up a couple Region B locked UK editions just to be safe when they have another 2 for $15. Maybe the B Lock will prevent the Disney Bot from jumping into my disc and making it act like Mr Phelps MI tapes.


Maybe I'll grab one of the 70th Premium Editions which always looked pretty cool anyway for $16

I hope you are right and I am wrong!!

 

[darkrock17]

Which Dumbo is the best to get? I don't currently own it on either DVD or Blu; just the 80's VHS.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

OK, Brad here (AKA the real Dumbo) wondering why the dickens I could not find the Dumbo title a few days ago when I searched both Amazon and DMC. It is now showing up on both sites.

I still think something is afoot here. But time shall tell.

This Hollywood Reporter Article tells the tale.

 

[David Norman]

OK, Brad here (AKA the real Dumbo) wondering why the dickens I could not find the Dumbo title a few days ago when I searched both Amazon and DMC. It is now showing up on both sites.

I still think something is afoot here. But time shall tell.

This Hollywood Reporter Article tells the tale.

No that;s still just a re-tweeting of the BoardWalk Times blogger who quoted nobody. I'm waiting for any Disney Person to actually give it a grain of weight. I don't recognize the original report, reporter, nor name of the site. That story has been reposted constantly from the Chromosomal Eve and not a single person I've read yet has a response from a Disney employee -- not even a mail room employee. Is Boardwalk Times and Elizabeth Pfeiffer a source that should be believed - nothing so far indicates they have any inside information on this or anything else? It's a BT "EXclusive" with no meat on the sandwich for now from someone who basically posts puff pieces on Orlando Happenings (Digital Keys Come to DisneyWorld, Filmmaker to make Docu on Ducks, History of Tomorrowland).

No source was mentioned in the original post -- basically just "The Walt Disney Company has declined to comment at this time." It's certainly possible it might be true in some form, Disney if floating a trial balloon to gather the wind direction, or a blogger who took one fact and added their own spin to gain several million hits. Elizabeth Pfeiffer might well have some sort of inside information, but so far they're just letting her twist in the wind

I love her response in the comments
"Hi there! I’d prefer to keep my sources confidential, but we have been confirmed by multiple news sites such as the Hollywood Reporter, Screenrant, and Inside the Magic."
The confirmation appears to be " they sited me in their article reporting my article"
https://medium.com/@elizabethpfeif/...urce=responses---------0---------------------

 

[David Norman]

Which Dumbo is the best to get? I don't currently own it on either DVD or Blu; just the 80's VHS.

I don;t think there's any advantage to the DVD, The 70 and 75th Blurays are excellent. The 75th is a DMC Exclusive adding a Digital copy and different cover though otherwise it's identical. if they're going to edit the digital them unless you download it and hide it away then there's not much advantage to it other than uniqueness

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Good analysis. Guess now we'll wait for Disney to confirm or deny any of this (and SOTS as well).

 

[Worth]

They've already cleansed it visually - the blu-ray looks nothing like film, just like all the Disney animated movies.

 

[David Norman]

I guess it's different, but I think the BD is gorgeous. Colors, contrast, details are superb to me, but looks like a cel based presentation rather than film print, but there seems be virtually no DNR/EE artifacting. they lost the grain without losing anything else

Would it better if they had left the film grain intact and left it looking like film-- maybe or at least different, but at least this appears to done correctly for what they wanted to do and not like the sledgehammer versions done later

The 60th Anniversary DVD is there as well for those that can stand to watch it

 

[Todd Erwin]

You will likely always be able to watch that scene in Steven Spielberg's 1941.

 

[David Norman]

And for those seriously looking to buy Dumbo cheaply

THe 70th Anniversary BD/DVD combo is <$9 at Walmart and Amazon and anyplace that Pricematches those folks

Also a bunch of other Disney titles
Alice in Wonderland
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Rescuers 2 pack
Hunchback 2 Pack
Robin Hood
etc

 

[Radioman970]

thanks for the heads up. ebay has a lot of these. mine was $12 just now.

I'm torn up between the movie looking old and looking new. it's fun looking for places where the cell is lifted up from the background, like you see in Flintstones and Loony Tunes cartoons. kind of like Wallace & Gromits, with fingerprints in the clay sharp enough to use as evidence to get those guys arrested for something.

 

[Radioman970]

I guess it's different, but I think the BD is gorgeous. Colors, contrast, details are superb to me, but looks like a cel based presentation rather than film print, but there seems be virtually no DNR/EE artifacting. they lost the grain without losing anything else

Would it better if they had left the film grain intact and left it looking like film-- maybe or at least different, but at least this appears to done correctly for what they wanted to do and not like the sledgehammer versions done later

The 60th Anniversary DVD is there as well for those that can stand to watch it

I actually think this is impossible. but I might be wrong. still, i like what they did too. I watched peter pan recently and have no complaints about how it looked. I have the first dvd of Alice in Wonderland, and now the blu ray. haven't watched it yet but I think it will be night and day. the dvd look faded with muted color. hated how it looked. the blu ray looks vibrant in pictures.

 

[David Norman]

I actually think this is impossible. but I might be wrong. still, i like what they did too. I watched peter pan recently and have no complaints about how it looked. I have the first dvd of Alice in Wonderland, and now the blu ray. haven't watched it yet but I think it will be night and day. the dvd look faded with muted color. hated how it looked. the blu ray looks vibrant in pictures.

I guess it depends on how they did it, but I do think it's feasible since my eyes are telling me it is. I guess do they lose 70 years of accumulated rust and gained a whole lot in return -- color, contrast, detail, black level.
Whatever/However they did, this wasn't the same result they ended up with Sword in the Stone

 

[John Sparks]

Well, I've read the posts and I still don't know what's going on. Is any edition of DUMBO edited? If there isn't, which one is available?

 

[ahollis]

None are edited yet. There is just a none verified report that the streaming version will be edited. The live action Dumbo did not have the crow scene nor did it have the scene where Dumbo gets drunk and sees pink elephants, however there is a scene in the new movie where pink elephants are blown bubbles as part of the show.