I'm in there with the "pickys" ha ha...it's tough when a movie gets "messed around" with a bit, to try and find a "definitive" version...there's the one you remember seeing, then the one the "director intended," then the one that tries to please everyone, then the "definitive definitive" version...I'm thinking here of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Or maybe "Bednobs And Broomsticks." After awhile there just ISN'T a "definitive" version and it drives people like me INSANE! Ha ha ha.
For my money the "sunrise" ending is really effective but also a little creepy, particularly on DVD where it just immediately cuts to the obnoxious DVD menu. Like...can't we just revel in the glow a moment or so, like in the theaters? When they showed the film in 1990 in theaters the credits gave you some "breathing" space to get ready to greet the outside world again. But I don't think it was as effective.
But a real problem for me (as with Bednobs And Broomsticks) is the dubbing and addition of sound effects. It makes it really hard for me to watch the DVD version, actually. They did a pretty good job of dubbing Deems' voice, but it's an obvious dub job any way you slice it, it just doesn't "fit." Deems' original voice had a certain "1940's recording" timbre and cadence to it and there was a constant "hiss" on the soundtrack--you hear it when Mickey makes his appearance to say hello. There's only so much sweetening you could do to a track from 1940, and so it DOESN'T sound like "1940" with the new dubbed track, which creates a weird conundrum. Further, the longer monologues contain a lot of superfluous information that drags things out a bit. I don't know that anything is "missing" in the shorter version and it feels more authentic...but that's how I "always" saw it (and I've seen this movie a lot).
I'm used to seeing the version without the 'racist content,' and it really is just 3 quick appearances I believe, so I won't touch that issue.
I was just thinking last night, "Sorcerer's Apprentice" looks flawless, like they did a "dustbusting" pass on it (probably for the sequel, so it would fit in better, which it did--actually blew all the others away, of course)...by contrast the Pastoral looks like someone ran it through a garbage disposal, although the fact that it's so bright doesn't help.
But even THAT doesn't bother me so much as the over-foley they did on the musicians setting up. I admit I personally have a problem with things being over-foleyed anyway, so I have a bias, but it really draws me out to hear all the scuffing and plucking and scritching going on in the introduction, micro-scopic sounds that are not audible in such an isolated way in the "real world." It pulls me out of the movie. It sounds like a lot of work went into foleying all those plucks and scuffs when what would work best is what you hear in most of the film--the authentic hiss and sound-break of the 1940's soundtrack. After the first track you don't hear all that clicking and clutter again every time a new piece starts, so it's pretty obvious if you're listening for it or, like me, just can't ignore it. I wish I could ignore it but I can't. It just reminds me of the downside of the great technology that was used to restore this film to its sumptuous current state; you can take it too far and kinda ruin it by imposing a "modern thumbprint" on it that probably shouldn't be there.
Just my two cents.
Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backwards! This is their kingdom!
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