Home Video

More U.S. Disney Videos Are On The Way. Disney has released three original made-for-video titles. Madeline: Lost In Paris appeared on August 3. Featuring the voice talents of Jason Alexander, Lauren Bacall, and Christopher Plummer, the story is based on characters that first appeared in the Madeline book series by Ludwig Bemelmans. In Lost In Paris, Madeline and her eleven school friends get immersed in an evil plot to steal Madeline's inheritance. Belle's Tales Of Friendship and Hercules: Zero To Hero were both released on August 17. Belle's Tales Of Friendship, Disney's third sequel to 1992's Beauty And The Beast, features a live-action Belle and animated segments in which Belle's memories and fantasies express the theme of friends helping friends. Hercules: Zero To Hero, a full-length feature, tells the story of Hercules' childhood. Disney's 1986 theatrical feature, The Great Mouse Detective, which features mice in Sherlock Holmes-type roles, was re-released on video on August 31. Disney's Doug's 1st Movie, which was originally intended to be a straight-to-video release, but was released theatrically after the success of The Rugrats Movie, will finally show up on home video in the U.S. on September 17.

Wallace & Gromit And Bugs Bunny Return! Warner Bros. Home Video is re-releasing the feature length The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, a collection of Looney Tunes by Friz Freleng. It includes the following Bugs Bunny shorts: Knighty Knight Bugs, Sahara Hare, Roman Legion Hare, High Diving Hare, Hare Trimmed, Show Biz Bugs, Wild And Wooly Hare, And The Unmentionables, as well as Catty Cornered (Tweety & Sylvester), Golden Yeggs (Daffy Duck), and The Three Little Bops. (Note: Some films may not be complete.) Also from Warner Bros. is Bugs Bunny: Big Top Bunny which includes Big Top Bunny, Tortoise Beats Hare, Water, Water, Every Hare, Rabbit Rampage, Abominable Snow Rabbit, Rabbit's Kin, Foxy By Proxy, Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid, My Bunny Lies Over The Sea, and Baton Bunny. (Abominable Snow Rabbit, Big Top Bunny, and Rabbit's Kin have previously only been available in the US on laserdisc; and Foxy By Proxy and Rabbit Rampage have previously only been available on laserdisc in Japan.) Both Bugs Bunny videos are due to be released in the US on October 26. We previously announced the Wallace & Gromit: The First Three Adventures DVD in last month's news, but here is an update on the features it will include. Besides the shorts A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, the DVD will include director Nick Park's earliest animated works, The Rat And The Beanstalk and Walter Goes Fishing. It will also include screen-tests of Nick Park's film school work including Dog Test and A Grand Day Out. Plus, it will include an excerpt from The Wrong Trousers "making of" featurette, which was shown in the US after the PBS telecast of The Wrong Trousers several years ago, and a Wallace & Gromit Christmas interstitial created for BBC Television. The previous release date of September 7 has been changed to September 28.

Beany And Cecil Come To DVD. Image Entertainment is releasing Bob Clampett's Beany And Cecil: The Special Edition DVD on October 12, 1999 in the US. Created by Robert Clampett, Beany And Cecil, about the adventures of a sea sick sea serpent and his pal, Beany, began as a live broadcast puppet show, Time For Beany, in the 1950s, before being re-done as an animated series in the early 1960s. There was also a brief revival for Saturday morning television in the 1980s. The DVD will include a dozen of the original Beany and Cecil cartoons from 1962, including The Monstrous Monster, Beany And The Boo Birds, So What And The Seven What Nots, Super Cecil, Spots Off A Leopard, The Wildman Of Wildsville, Beanyland, The Mad Isle Of Madhattan, Cecil Meets The Singing Dinosaur, Dirty Pool, DJ The DJ and There's No Such Thing As A Sea Serpent. The DVD will also include a huge amount of bonus material, including: the original Matty's Funnies (the show during which Beany And Cecil cartoons were first shown) opening in color, and a couple of the original Matty's Funnies bumpers; four full episodes of Time For Beany that have not been seen since their original airing fifty years ago; additional unique clips from Time For Beany; a full episode of Thunderbolt The Wondercolt; a musical number from The Willy The Wolf Show; a fund-raiser promotional film featuring the Mr. Peepers Wolf puppet and a sexy live-action little Red Riding Hood; backstage and home movies from Time For Beany and Thunderbolt; Bob Clampett's first television interview; and other early home movies. It will also include a section called "The Lost Work," which will include ten projects Clampett developed, but never released to the public. These projects span fifty years from the 1930s through the 1970s, and include work with Sheriff John, June Foray, Paul Frees, Edgar Bergen; tests for a 3D Beany and Cecil Puppet Feature in the early 1950s; live-action heads on cartoon bodies featuring Judy Canova, Billy Gilbert, Verna Felton, and the voice of Mel Blanc. There is also an audio oral history from Bob Clampett speaking about his career that was edited by Milt Gray, and an audio commentary from Stan Freberg, who, with Daws Butler, did the voices on Time For Beany, talking in depth about the experience of working on Time For Beany, and a commentary from Walker Edmiston talking about Beany and his work on Thunderbolt and Willy The Wolf. There is also a story session recording of a very special Time For Beany episode where Bob Clampett and staff create a satire of the McCarthy hearings. There are even over 550 stills! The disc's producer, Rob Clampett, Jr., also promises some surprises. All this for only US$29.99 suggested retail.