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Walt Disney Treasures: Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (16th January 2009). |
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The Show
 In recent years the swashbuckler has mostly disappeared. Despite a few appearances in the newer "Zorro" films (1998 & 2005) or in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy (2003-2007), the Robin Hood’s, Zorro’s and general Errol Flynn type characters have vanished from popular cinema; a far cry from their immense popularity in the early days of film as well as the 1950’s and a bit into the 60’s. During these later years Disney was well known for these swashbuckler types, most notably the “Zorro” (1957-1959) television series. One of their less well known swashbuckler type characters was the darker “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh” (1964) which originally aired on “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” (1954-1990). The story of this smuggler, swashbuckler and boarderline anti-hero plays out almost as an Anglo Zorro. By day The Scarecrow (Patrick McGoohan) is Dr. Syn, a well respected preacher in Romney Marsh who helps his people by raising their spirits, but by night he becomes “The Scarecrow” who takes from the king to give to the poor residents of Romney Marsh, or simply helps to smuggle goods to evade the king’s taxation. In these adventures Dr. Syn helps to hide some men who would be captured and tried under sedition for trying to evade the King’s taxation, as well as an American who talks of freedom for the colonies. Much of this plot is fairly standard fare, you expect the hero to get away with the crimes that help the people, always escaping the eye of the governor, king, or whomever seeks to stop him. Each episode has some sort of evasion, maybe a gunfight or two as well as a good deal of horse riding and gallivanting you would associate with this type of character. It’s a great representation of the feel and story of the Disney swashbuckler features, healthily family friendly while featuring some sort of intrigue or deception necessary to keep the character going smoothly, all without killing anyone. Perhaps the most remarkable part of the feature is the casting, importantly the casting of McGoohan who would later become more famous from the “Dangerman” (1964-1966) TV series (also known as “Secret Agent” in the United States) or as the mysterious Number 6 in the brilliant series “The Prisoner” (1967-1968). Here as Dr. Syn, McGoohan plays with a similar sort of calm intelligence and wit as Number 6, but with slightly less ability. His Scarecrow is a wonderfully different portrayal, taking on a very deeper, scratchy voice and odd laugh that turn him into a believably different character, wearing a great looking mask that moves well with his face to conceal his identity much better than simply a pair of glasses. Overall the series is fairly melodramatic in it’s proportions, it’s a nice adventure representative of the time, but the real brightspot is McGoohan who is an impressive actor in just about any role he appears in and tragically has passed away within the past 24 hours (at the time of writing this review). The miniseries plays out a little long as the three episodes run about 50 minutes each, the feature film is a bit easier to deal with as it’s been shortened to an hour and a half run time but doesn’t really give as much depth as the miniseries (even though there’s a lot of loose ends in the miniseries itself). It’s a good set and good restoration of a Disney miniseries that displays the talents of the great Patrick McGoohan, though otherwise is fairly mediocre. On disc one there are the three episodes of the original miniseries, Airing on Febuary 9, 16 and 23 of 1964. Disc two features the feature film “Dr. Syn alias The Scarecrow.”
Video
Though the series originally aired in 1.33:1 fullscreen format normal for television, “The Scarecrow” was filmed in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen and has been restored and re-presented on this 2-disc set. The renewed aspect ratio and the film’s quality of transfer are great, maintaining the feel of the 60’s Disney films and adventures with some superior quality, most of the colors come trough well and only in a couple of early night scenes does the film’s clarity become questionable, though this is more a problem of the original scheme more so than the transfer.
Audio
The audio is presented in two formats, the original English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono sound and a Dolby Digital 5.1 re-mastered track. For the purposes of this review I’ve listened to both tracks, and while both are well preserved and restored, the newer 5.1 track doesn’t feel quite as natural as the original English Mono (which has been incredibly well restored in it’s own right), though the 5.1 track sounds good in it’s own right, it feels a little too manipulated to achieve the 5.1 effect. The sound of the mono track seems more fitting based on the audio and the overall feel of the film and sounds great in it’s own right as all the levels are properly balanced and the good score comes through clearly. Optional English Subtitles are also included.
Extras
This set includes two introductions, three featurettes and bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: Introduction with Leonard Maltin runs for 2 minutes and 43 seconds. Maltin gives a brief introduction to the renewed aspect ratio of “Dr. Syn” that was originally filmed in 1.66:1, giving credit to the re-mastering crew in putting together the renewed features. An interesting discussion of the aspects of Disney’s DVD production crew. “Walt Disney TV Introductions In Widescreen” run for 4 minutes and 27 seconds. This featurette is simply a compilation of the Walt Disney introductions before each episode, but presented in the 1.66:1 widescreen that the rest of the feature is presented in. A nice featurette in terms of restoration, however it’s odd that they were put as a separate special featurette rather than with the actual programs. “Dr. Syn: The History of The Legend” runs for 16 minutes and 13 seconds. This featurette deals with the legend of Dr. Syn, talking with historians, like Disney historian Bryan Sibley, along with writers and others who go through the history of the novelization of Dr. Syn, as well as talking with the recently deceased Patrick McGoohan. A nice featurette about this Disney adaptation and the character who was the basis for this character, the interviews all do a good job of establishing the character and going behind the scenes based on photos, storyboards and stories from McGoohan. There’s also a start-up bonus trailer for "Disney DVD and Blu-ray" which runs 52 seconds. DISC TWO: Introduction with Leonard Maltin runs for 3 minutes and 8 seconds. Maltin talks about the feature length restoration of the film, discussing the other two versions of the film not produced by Disney and what makes this miniseries and film so distinct. Maltin does a good job of talking about the distinction between the miniseries and the film, as well as giving an interesting history of the actors within the production. “Walt Disney: from Burbank to London” runs for 11 minutes and 39 seconds. This final featurette deals with Walt Disney’s travel to England to produce films following the second world war, discussing the financial and personal reasons the Disney company expanded into London along with Disney’s obsession with Live action films. An interesting look at the expansion of Disney into live action films, each f the interviewees has a good part of the story to add making for brief but interesting look at Disney’s expansion. Again, there’s a start-up bonus trailer for "Disney DVD and Blu-ray" which runs 52 seconds.
Packaging
This 2-disc set is packaged in a deluxe amaray case housed in a silver tin case.
Overall
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