Heigh Ho

You think you know everything about the movies of your childhood. We saw them 40 times because our parents would put the cassette tape in the VCR for us so that we would leave them alone. If you are wondering "What is a VCR?", You missed the age of stone. The ones that make you appreciate extra features on Blu-ray. Once upon a time I had to wait for years and sweat through hours of mixing three VHS copies with 2 VCRs to get a tape that would approach the content of a DVD, only without the quality image : the goal was to have the complete film, with a trailer tagged to it or, in the best cases, a documentary about the film.

You're being cheated people : quite often, the films you liked (and others) are altered from one release to another. Different formats, outtakes, censored scenes ... Each time a different product. Check out the "alternate versions" section in the l'IMDB (my bible), if you don't believe me.

For this first entry, I'd like to begin with "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs". Yeah, I'm 31 and I watch Snow White.

To save costs or just for rythm, several scenes of the film ended up on the cutting room floor at a different stage of completion. Some have become famous and are copied from one DVD/Blu-ray edition to the next. The soup sequence, for instance. Others are shorter but completed like the one where the hag mixes her brew with a giant bone. Probably too scary for children at the time.


All these sequences are available on the excellent Blu-ray disc (the first home video release that restores the original 1937 RKO credits).
As is customary in animation, the bulk of the dialogue and songs were recorded before the scenes were animated. These songs are also famous in the music industry for being the first soundtrack record released ever. Before that the promotional records released as tie-ins with films were studio re-recordings.

What is the purpose of listening to old 78 rpm with mediocre quality when everything has been released on CD?
There is at least one point of interest : these discs were obviously released before the final mix was completed. And at least two short scenes with full orchestrations are included and have, to my knowledge, never surfaced again since.

Everyone knows the film, everyone has heard the song of the dwarfs coming back home from the mine, right ? Heigh Ho Heigh Ho... The second time you hear it (when the dawrfs approach the house at night), there is a whistled verse not included in the first. Didn't the transition from the moment Dopey hangs his key on the wall and the dwarfs are already far away walking in line strike you as weird both visually and musically? It did to me.
The reason is between these two shots, a 20 second sequence was planned and deleted.

Also, our friend Sneezy had his shot at singing between Happy and Bashful's verses. I guess he wasn't considered a good enough singer and got the weakest link treatment. But he can still be heard on the soundtrack. He is a little gross though : "The minute after I was born, I didn't have a nightie, so 'tied my whiskers 'round my leg, they used them for a die...dee" Classy, hey ?

That's all for today folks !