A Slight Difference

Fellow Disney VHS collector MrServoRetro recently uploaded the opening to the French-Canadian version of the 1988 Cinderella VHS...

As we all know, the North American copies open with a trailer for Oliver & Company, the original Sorcerer Mickey Classics logo with the gradient background, and then the film starts with the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures castle logo in place of a Buena Vista or RKO title card.

It's obvious that this print of the feature film was ripped from from the film's 1987 theatrical re-release prints, as mid-to-late 80s/early 90s re-releases of Disney classics plastered the then-new WDP logo over the RKO/Buena Vista cards.

Now, on the American VHS, the WDP castle logo has its familiar music... On the French-Canadian edition, however...


Isn't that something? I wonder if that's how Americans saw the film in theaters in 1987... Either way, I like it better, because you at least get the full original opening fanfare even if the RKO/Buena Vista card isn't there...

Of course, in 1995, the Masterpiece Edition LaserDisc would restore the RKO card with the music intact. The VHS, for some weird reason, uses the 1950s Buena Vista logo instead. The DVD, released in 2005, got it wrong by using a short version of the WDP logo with the original music. The 2012 Blu-ray finally got it right, using the RKO and the original music.