What is accurate?

these are just some of the differences between two DVDs of the same movie

I have always wanted to write about the use of color in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). To make sure that I am analyzing the most accurate version I superficially compared the newly restored DVD (2008, PAL, RC2) to my old DVD from 2000 (the Regional Code 2 version of the 1999 NTSC transfer). Having compared earlier Platinum Editions with their older standard counterparts in the past I expected a lot of issues regarding color accuracy. Although the 2008 version not only looks cleaner but clearly superior, a few issues I’ve always had with the Disney approach of restoring pictures to “never-before-seen” beauty immediately came to my mind again. Since I didn’t want to incorporate these general thoughts about color accuracy and updates to historical works into my analysis, I will deal with it in a separate essay.

The Platinum DVD release has already triggered a lot of analysis of animation and storytelling by the likes of Hans Perk, Mark Mayerson and Michael Sporn who are far more qualified than I. As I certainly cannot provide any revealing inside information, my interest lies in analyzing what ended up on the screen and how that affects me as a spectator.

It certainly helps to have some background information so I hope to find out more about Dave Bossert’s and Walt Peregoy’s work.

I would be grateful if someone could provide me with historical facts that may clarify reasons for some of the incomprehensible differences between the two DVD versions. Please feel free to leave me some comments on this.

So before digging deeper into color schemes I will point out the main differences between the two releases in a few posts.

Note: I don’t consider the inferior DVD to be marginal because this was the only version of the film most people have seen within the last eight years.