Cinderella (1965) receiving 50th Anniversary DVD 9/9/2014

I've actually still never seen this version. I love the soundtrack CD though.

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This is my favorite version. Looking forward to it!

I wish they'd do this with Carol Burnett's "Once Upon a Mattress" television performance (not the most recent one where she played the Queen).

^ We're heading into the 50th Anniversary. Lots of movies do it a little early for promotion. 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Pinocchio's first Blu-ray releases celebrated their 50th and 70th anniversaries respectively even though they were released a year early. 'The Wizard of Oz' began celebrating its 75th Anniversary in Fall 2013 even though it was released in 1939.

Updated On: 7/18/14 at 10:39 PM

I posted this a few weeks ago on another thread. You can pre-order on Amazon now

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JHH1ZN8/?tag=dickvandykesh-20

http://shoutbroadway.com

I would love a remastered release of the Mary Martin Peter Pan. It's been out of print for ages

This version always leaves me conflicted.

On the one hand, it is the version I grew up with and I have very strong memories of watching it when I was VERY young (I'm talking three or four), so it holds a place in my heart. On the other, everytime I rewatch it, I am left with the sense that none of it is very good. The last time I watched this was when I was laid up with a dislocated knee, waiting for the doctor to give me a diagnosis and terrified that I was going to have to quit a show (I didn't have to, thank God). I felt intensely nostalgic and looked this one up on youtube. And as soon as it was done, I said "okay, I'm going to watch the OTHER TV versions to remind myself why I like this show."

Lesley Ann Warren would become a wonderful actress but she is really green here, strident in her acting and shrill in her singing. She is lovely, and she can dance but, just like in Victor-Victoria, there's no competing with Julie Andrews. :) The rest of the cast range from dull to less dull, but that's mostly the fault of whoever took all the wit and actual jokes out of Hammerstein's script. It's badly shot, badly designed and badly paced.

I hate to be so negative about this, but between the sparkling performances and snarky wit of the 1954 version, and the beautifully-shot, well-performed and more often-than-not well written 90s version, this one just gets left out in the cold. I invite debate.

Updated On: 7/9/14 at 01:22 AM

best12bars - you are very correct. The special was shot on quad video tape (although it was re-transferred to another media when the original DVD came out) and everything possible was done to digitally deal with 'ringing' and other video 'artifacts' typical of video from that era. But had it been released on Blu-Ray the HD would have MAGNIFIED those inherent defects rather than showcasing a beautiful show. Even a film Kinescope of a live TV show can look better in HD, as can shows shot on film to begin with, such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Love Lucy.

So while Blu-Ray would have been groovy, it wouldn't have done the special justice. Sort of like shooting certain film stars thru a silk stocking filter as Harry Stradling famously did - the end result is better than the raw goods.

It's still a gorgeous transfer and I think everyone will be very pleased.

oh, and NTSC video is 525 lines.

Updated On: 7/9/14 at 09:33 AM

ddenoff2 --- my appologies. When I was writing above, I was mixing my comments about lines with pixels.

525 scan lines, yes.

In pixels (I worked in digital video on 200 films and TV shows) ...

NTSC video = 720x486 pixels
NTSC D1 (DVD) = 720x480 pixels
PAL video = 720x576 pixels
Square pixels = 720x540

All standard def for broadcast.

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The Amazon.com price just dropped to $14.99

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Having done this musical in high school and seen many other professional productions, including the Broadway production, I always wondered why the step-family did not sing "A Lovely Night" with Cinderella in this version, even though they sing "Where You're Driving Through the Moonlight" with her. It always made sense for Cinderella to sing "A Lovely Night" with them and it seemed strange that she's singing the lyrics "a finer night you know you'll never see" to herself rather than her stepsisters and stepmother. I assumed it was because Jo Van Fleet had never done a musical before and they thought it was better that she only sang a little bit in this show. It also might have been because they wanted to show off Warren's ballet skills, which were beautiful.

Though because only the black and white kinescope of the Julie Andrew version exists restoring the color would be akin to Ted Turner and his "let's colorize all the old films" craze. I would be curious, though, how many color photographs or design sketches and renderings might still be in existence somewhere to serve as a guide if somebody did undertake the project, or would it have to all be from memory and guesswork?