Young Dumbo shows off his fantastic flying skills.
The year was 1941. Walt Disney Productions was banking, quite literally, on its fourth film, Dumbo, a tale of a young elephant whose larger-than-life ears create a sizeable stir among both his fellow traveling circus performers and audiences worldwide. At just 64 minutes, the movie was both the shortest and least expensive produced by the Studio.
Fortunately, Dumbo not only turned a profit—the first Disney film to do so since Snow White in 1937—but charmed critics, as well. Dumbo won the 1941 Academy Award® for Original Musical Score, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for “Baby Mine” and took home the Best Animation Design award at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. Since its release, Dumbo has stolen the hearts of generation after generation, and can today be found on countless consumer products and the ever-popular Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction at Disney parks around the world. And now, in celebration of the beloved classic’s 70th anniversary, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released Dumbo for the first time on dazzling Blu-ray.
The Casey Jr. Circus Train prepares to transport the circus animals to their next performance location.
To prepare for Dumbo‘s Blu-ray debut, the Walt Disney Animation Studios restoration team spent countless hours restoring the film to its original glory. “We want to represent what the filmmakers and Walt’s original intention was,” Sara Duran-Singer, senior vice president, Worldwide Post Production, Walt Disney Studios, says of the restoration team’s artistic vision for each film they tackle. “We debate what we should clean up. It kind of sets the guideline.” And with Dumbo, the team did just that—each frame was preserved based on the presumed artistic intent of the filmmakers. “We spent nearly seven months working on the restoration and preservation of Dumbo,” Dave Bossert, creative director, Special Projects, Walt Disney Animation Studios, explains. “There are 275,352 frames of negatives for Dumbo that were scanned.” By scanning the original negatives, the restoration team was able to uncover how the movie was always supposed to look. “The image is a lot sharper, and the colors are truer,” Sara says of the final product. “They are the real colors that were captured. So it really is what the filmmakers intended.”
Timothy Q. Mouse poses for his 70th anniversary Blu-ray debut, which is now available.
The end result is striking—a triumph of art and heart. Dumbo‘s crisp lines, clear colors and elegant water-painted backdrops truly stun like never before. And in addition to the remarkable visuals and pristine sound, the new Blu-ray comes with bonus features—deleted scenes and songs, art galleries, audio commentary, interactive games and more—that offer never-before-seen insight into the making of the movie. Needless to say, we’re all ears.
To learn more about Dumbo‘s 70th anniversary—and find out about never-before-seen treasures uncovered during the restoration!—pick up the Winter 2011 issue of Disney twenty-three magazine, which hits stands November 8.
By D23′s Sarah Smith.
