Old Yeller: 2 Movie Collection: Old Yeller (DVD)
Special Edition,,Savage Sam
APPROX. 0 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 0 - MPA RATING: G
" Of all the boy-and-his-dog movies Hollywood's ever made, Old Yeller remains among the best, if not THE best, of the lot.
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Kids may be impressed by the adventure in "Savage Sam," but most adults will probably find it as clichéd and routine as I did. Even the background music is reminiscent of old B-grade Westerns of the thirties and forties. Be that as it may, the evil Apaches kidnap the three young people, with their intent, apparently, to turn Travis into a slave, Lisbeth into a squaw, and Arliss into an Indian. Good luck getting Arliss to stand still long enough to turn him into anything but a squalling brat.
The bulk of the movie involves Travis's escape and his attempts to team up with Uncle Beck and some other settlers to rescue Lisbeth and Arliss.
"Savage Sam" is shameless in its stereotypes, most of the Native Americans savages, most of the white men ruthless and vengeful, and Uncle Beck stalwart and sage. So, where does that leave the dog Sam, the titular hero of the piece? He's usually lost in the proceedings, but, as you would expect, he comes into his own during the climactic daring rescue. I'd have left them all to their fates. Final assessment: 4/10.
Think of this double feature as "Old Yeller" with a free hanger-on.
Video:
Given the forty-plus years of "Old Yeller," the video presentation is pretty decent. The anamorphic widescreen presentation measures a ratio approximately 1.74:1 across my television, with acceptable image clarity and delineation. OK, the picture is very slightly blurred, and there is a small degree of grain in the background, but it's not much. Colors are reasonably realistic, too, fairly natural. Light and dark contrasts are well handled, but there is some small dulling of detail in shadowy areas.
You would expect that "Savage Sam," a half dozen years newer, would be the better looking of the two films, but for reasons known only to Disney the studio chose to present it in fullscreen only. I cannot tell if they used the original camera negative size or if this is a pan-and-scan cropping of the original widescreen, but the result looks not unlike a typical television cable broadcast. It's not really any worse for wear than "Old Yeller," but its size blows up minor deficiencies to larger, more noticeable proportions.
Personally, I would rather that the studio had transferred the two movies to separate discs in widescreen at the highest possible bit rate, thereby ensuring a better, sharper picture in deeper colors. Instead, the two films are crammed together on the same disc and transferred at an ordinary bit rate. Apparently, Disney executives didn't think their young target audience would care about such things as ultimate picture quality or widescreen vs. fullscreen. The studio may be making a mistake if they don't think youngsters are more savvy to such things these days.
Audio:
Disney remixed the sound on both movies in Dolby Digital 5.1, and it comes off a little better than the video. Actually, it's pretty good, again considering the age involved. "Savage Sam," especially, has a good front-channel stereo presence, and it is remarkably smooth, quiet, and wide ranging. There's a touch of musical ambience reinforcement in the surrounds, but in the title tune for "Savage Sam" there's too much musical information directed to the rear.
Extras:
Disc one contains the widescreen transfer of "Old Yeller" and the fullscreen transfer of "Savage Sam."
Needless to say, there's not much beyond that on the first disc. There are fourteen scene selections for "Old Yeller" and thirteen for "Savage Sam," with a chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at four other Disney releases; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages for "Old Yeller," and English-only for "Savage Sam"; plus French subtitles for "Savage Sam" and English captions for both.
Disc two contains a few items of interest that already appeared in the previous "Old Yeller" special edition. The first thing is an original theatrical animated short, "Bone Trouble," starring Pluto. The next is a thirty-six-minute documentary, "Old Yeller: Remembering a Classic," featuring interviews with various members of the cast and crew of "Old Yeller." Then, there is fifteen minutes worth of conversation with actor Tommy Kirk, wherein he reminisces about the filmmaking. A two-minute montage on Disney "Dogs" is next, cute but hardly noteworthy. "Lost Treasures: Ranch of the Golden Oak" is a seven-minute film on the location used for shooting.
Finally, there's a Production Archive containing a load of additional material. Here, you'll find a production gallery, a picture gallery, an advertising gallery with posters, lobby cards, trailers, TV and radio spots, various merchandise, and such. There is also a seven-minute tribute to author Fred Gipson; a set of radio archives; a fifty-two minute segment of television's "Disneyland" devoted to dogs called "The Best Doggone Dog in the World"; a collection of audio archives; and a Disney studio album.
Parting Thoughts:
Of all the boy-and-his-dog movies Hollywood's ever made, "Old Yeller" remains among the best, if not THE best, of the lot. Well, maybe "A Boy and His Dog" comes close. Just kidding. But where do you think the title of that sci-fi cult classic came from if not from a tearjerker like "Old Yeller"? Is "Old Yeller" really the best dog movie ever made? I don't know; everybody has a personal favorite. But I warmly recommend this one to all those folks who want to relive a sweet recollection of their childhood or to those who have children of their own and don't want to deprive them of the same warmhearted experience. As for the sequel, "Savage Sam," well, perhaps the less said, the better.
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