MovieChat Forums > Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956) Discussion > Release in dvd wide screen

Release in dvd wide screen

posted 14 years ago by digitalnow-1
4 replies | jump to latest

Fess Parker was a much underrated thespian. He recently passed away. He was the star of WESTWARD HO,THE WAGONS. This was a beautiful Cinemascope presentation many years ago, many years ago. Disney released a pan and scan version on vhs many years later. It was a travesty, you missed loads of information on right and left hand side of screen. They also edited out some songs performed by Fess Parker. The company then edited down the film in two parts and presented it on their tv series. The market is there for a wide screen dvd, for us oldtimers who saw the Cinemascope version, our children and grandchildren who are waiting to see this film released in all its splendor in wide screen dvd. It also would be a fitting tribute to Fess Parker, a stalwart actor in many Walt Disney films.

[–] prjdean 14 years ago

I absolutely agree --- it was a beautifully photographed western -- and it had Marty and all those mouseketeers on the big screen--

I did not realize the vhs was edited -- Disney is notorious for this kind of thing-- maybe there is some politically incorrect aspect to the film which is keeping it from a wide screen release.

[–] narnia4 13 years ago

I'm a big Fess Parker fan and was looking for his movies I don't already own, I was disappointed to see that it wasn't available on dvd. I recently looked again and saw that it's available on Amazon marketplace and on eBay. What puzzled me was that it appears to be released by Disney, but there wasn't much as far as specifications go.

From what I can gather it's a "Wonderful World of Disney Exclusive", only available if you're a part of some sort of Disney Movie Club (which I googled but I didn't see this movie as one of the rare movies listed). I've seen it listed from 17-25 dollars anyway. I'm not sure which version it is, I'm guessing the version that's already on VHS.

[–] prjdean 13 years ago

and it isnt widescreen ---

so pretty much worthless -- edited and panned and scanned!

[–] brainard61 9 years ago

The DVD of "Westward Ho" is complete, with the song "Wringle Wrangle" included,
but is pan and scan. The reason the old VHS (and Disney Channel showings) were
edited, is because they used the 2-part TV showing as the source of the transfer,
with the titles from the theatrical version added to the beginning. The TV
version cut "Wringle Wrangle" for time.
Now if they'd only do a widescreen version.

Enjoy!