WALT DISNEY TREASURES:
DR. SYN: THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH
DVD release date: November 11, 2008

On the southern coast of England, there’s a legend people tell… Scarecrow! Prior to its DVD announcement I’ve received numerous emails from fans wanting to know if I had heard if “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh” was scheduled to be released. Well, it’s here and better than you probably imagined!

Thanks to this DVD set, I’ve gotten a tremendous education about “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.” I actually wasn’t aware that this “Wonderful World of Color” miniseries was also released theatrically, but somewhat differently than the television version.

It turns out there was always the thought that “The Scarecrow” would be edited together for theatrical release. As a result, the entire film was shot in widescreen even though it was intended for television. The television version is presented on disc 1 of this Treasures set, but for the first time ever it is shown in widescreen, better than it has ever been seen on TV before. So when I said that this version was better than you probably imagined, I wasn’t kidding!

The audio is also better than you might have imagined, as the entire soundtrack has been re-mastered in 5.1 surround sound! Respectably, Disney also restored the original monaural track for, as Leonard Maltin describes it, “the purists.”

So you’ve got a much better picture and a much better audio track than when it was originally on television, with technologies that didn’t even exist during the original airing in 1964.

The second disc features the theatrical version “The Scarecrow” entitled “Dr. Syn alias The Scarecrow.”

Here’s a big switch from tradition… the television version actually has more footage than the film version! This, of course, is due to the fact that it was not created to be a movie, but primarily to be episodes of a television program.

While fans of the movie can enjoy “Dr. Syn” exactly as it was presented in the theatres, those extended parts of the television program are being seen in widescreen for the first time ever.

It turns out that the WALT DISNEY TV INTRODUCTIONS were also shot IN WIDESCREEN so they are presented as a bonus feature disc 1.

The other bonus feature on disc 1 is DR. SYN: THE HISTORY OF THE LEGEND, a sixteen minute quite informative piece about the history of Dr. Syn, including the original book and its sequels, going back to how and why the author came up with the concept. There’s also plenty of history regarding the Disney version, too with insight from historians and those who worked on the film including Dr. Syn himself. Patrick McGoohan. Real fascinating finds are packed into this featurette!

Disc 2 hosts the featurette WALT DISNEY: FROM BURBANK TO LONDON is an eleven minute featurette focusing on Disney’s participation in live action films. It’s a fascinating tale that includes stories from why Walt decided to shoot his films in England to why he had Disney Legend Peter Ellenshaw create masterpiece matte paintings for his films. In addition interesting speakers including Director Ken Annikin who worked with Walt on many films, this bonus feature is filled with wonderful rare photos and film footage! Enjoy this video clip of this bonus feature

As always on the Disney Treasures discs, the sets are topped off with great introductions by Leonard Maltin who never ceases to amaze me on his knowledge of Disney and Hollywood history!  Enjoy this video clip of Leonard Maltin