OT ... Bambi ... Widescreen?

[Villain Dude]

Greetings,

Was Bambi released in the Widescreen Format? I can located only the Fullscreen version via brick & motar and online.... Thanks in advance!

Enjoy life,

Chuck

 

[jerm]

Bambi was released as it was when it came out in the theaters. Back then they did not have widescreen or fullscreen. I am sure someone can post the aspect ratio for its first release. But no there is not widescreen because it was never made that way.

J

 

[Zarpman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Lady and the Tramp the first of the Disney feature-length animated films to be produced in widescreen? I faintly remember that before the concept of pan & scan, they shot this twice, once with the closer-to-4:3 ratio.

Or maybe I'm making this up?

I just remember this because back when Disney started releasing movies on DVD, I went to buy Pinocchio and could only find a full-frame version. I did a little digging to find that it isn't necessarily a full-frame version, but rather preserved in the original aspect ratio.

 

[adimike]

Hey, there...

Lady And The Tramp was animated for both 2:35 to 1 and 1:33 to 1 [for those theaters not yet equipped for widescreen].

The CAV Laserdisc contained both versions.

As far as I know, there is a 2-disc special edition of LADY AND THE TRAMP coming out in 2006., and it should contain both versions.

As an aside, there is a 2 CD Peggy Lee CD called CLASSICS AND COLLECTABLES that was released a couple of years ago, and it contains all of her own recordings of material from LADY AND THE TRAMP, including a couple of discarded songs.

You can find more detail at www.peggylee.com

Lady is special to me because it came out the year I was born.

Adrian

Disc One

1. Mr. Wonderful
2. He's a Tramp
3. Black Coffee
4. Lover
5. Where Can I Go Without You?
6. This Is a Very Special Day
7. Sing a Rainbow
8. Just One of Those Things
9. Johnny Guitar
10. The Siamese Cat Song
11. The Moon Came Up With a Great Idea Last Night (with Bing Crosby)
12. Apples, Peaches and Cherries
13. (Sorry Baby) You Let My Love Get Cold*
14. Sans Souci
15. La La Lu
16. I Hear the Music Now
17. Oh! No! Please Don't Go*
18. How Bitter, My Sweet
19. I Don't Know Enough About You
20. It Never Entered My Mind
21. Ooh, That Kiss*
22. Bella Notte
23. I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now
24. Sisters
25. I've Grown Accustomed to His Face
26. Peace on Earth/Silent Night

Disc Two

1. I Still Get a Thrill (Thinking of You)
2. The Tavern*
3. It Must Be So (with The Mills Brothers)
4. That's What a Woman Is For
5. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong*
6. Never Mind*
7. Me
8. How Strange
9. Merry Go Runaround (with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope)
10. Wrong Joe*
11. The Night Holds No Fear for the Lover
12. Summer Vacation*
13. Go You Where You Go
14. Straight Ahead* (with The Mills Brothers)
15. The Gypsy With Fire in His Shoes*
16. Pablo Pasablo*
17. Little Jack Frost, Get Lost (with Bing Crosby)
18. I Belong to You
19. It's Because We're in Love* (with Jimmy Rowles)
20. Singing ('Cause He Wants to Sing)*
21. That Fellow's a Friend of Man*
22. Old Trusty*
23. Jim Dear*
24. What Is a Baby?
25. Mr. Magoo Does the Cha-Cha-Cha* (with Jim Backus)
26. Three Cheers for Mr. Magoo* (with Jim Backus)

 

[Ghost Host]

Widescreen formats were largely a reaction (over-reaction?) to the arrival of television and its perceived threat to the movie market. Ergo, you don't really see its arrival until the 1950s.

 

[DonitoLeCanard]

"The Robe" was the first film in CinemaScope, released in 1953.

20th Century-Fox's CinemaScope was their answer to Cinerama, a 3-camera, 3-projector process which could only be shown in specially renovated theaters.

CinemaScope used an anamorphic lens instead of the three camera process.

"This is Cinerama" was released in 1952, an era when the "bigger is better" concept (hype) hoped to lure movie goers back into theaters and away from their new television sets.

"This is Cinerama" was recently revived in LA at the Cinerama Dome. It's essentially a spectacular travelogue.

20th soon leased CinemaScope to other studios. Disney shot "Lady" and "20,000 Leagues" in 'Scope. Later it was replaced by Panavision and other wide-screen processes. "Sleeping Beauty" was shot in Technirama.

Disney's first 'Scope short was the delightful "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom". They had previously shot "Melody" in 3-D, the polaroid glasses process CinemaScope soon replaced.

Most of these '50s processes also used stereophonic sound, and Disney had hoped to record "Bambi" in Fantasound, his pioneering early '40s stereo process which he had developed for "Fantasia".

But because "Fantasia" was not originally a box-office success Fantasound was not used in "Bambi".

 

[brianfreno]

Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

[DonitoLeCanard]

You're welcome. I'm a big wide-screen fan.

I forgot to mention that Disney also shot a Donald Duck in CinemaScope, "Grand CanyonScope". It's on the "20,000 Leagues" DVD and is a great cartoon, one of funniest of the late period Duck toons.

Also, "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom" is shown in a letter-boxed version on the "Fantasia 2000" DVD (and is probably the most charming and entertaining thing on that disc).

It also makes great and amusing use of the original CinemaScope 4-track stereo efx, and features a great title song and wonderful and amusing orchestral arrangements.

Also, if you watch the "Toot" credits carefully you will see that they slightly spill off the edge of the image, giving an idea of just how wide the first CinemaScope films actually were.