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.

The 'Robin Hood' Promo/Sales Tape!

An individual who goes by eyeh8nbc on YouTube has uploaded the contents of something I, and many of you all, have been looking for, for years...

A Classics Logo on a European Tape!

For a while, I had always thought that Disney didn't opt to use the animated Classics Diamond intro - in any form, be it the 1984 logo or the Sorcerer Mickey logo and its variants - on videotapes distributed outside of North America...

The print diamond logo would only be seen on a select few European tapes here and there, and some Australian releases as well. While the diamond was used on Japanese packaging, I am not sure if Japanese "Classics" Disney VHS tapes opened with the animated intros.

But it was clear, based on the tons of European Disney VHS openings on YouTube, that the 1986 Walt Disney Home Video logo was the go-to intro for videocassettes. The Classics logo was never used, and if it ever did show up, it was tacked onto a preview. On some 1992 UK releases, the Classics logo is tacked onto a Great Mouse Detective preview, but this doesn't contain Sorcerer Mickey at the beginning. Other than that, nowhere else...

However, the Finnish VHS of Lady and the Tramp from around 1990 or 1991 opens with the Classics logo. A fellow collector Matthew H. found this earlier today...

  Walt Disney kotivideo mainos (kaunotar ja kulkuri) 1990-1991 from WaldDupsFIN on Vimeo.
Thanks to Finnish Vimeo user WaldDupsFin, you can watch this opening and some other Finnish VHS openings...

The Case of 'The Jungle Book' Demo Tape and Other Things...

Two years ago, my Disney VHS collector friend Aubrey got a copy of the demo VHS of The Jungle Book. The one that was made to promote the film's Classics release, the video debut of the 1967 classic...

Today's Rarity: 'Rescuers Down Under' Intermission

As many Disney fans know, when moviegoers saw The Rescuers Down Under in theaters during the holiday season of 1990, the sequel to the studio's 1977 classic came with quite the bonus...