note: do not bother to watch the American release DVD of this. for some reason with a few of the harder to find live action classics from Disney like 'Gnomemobile' or 'One of Our Dinosuars is Missing', the DVD transfers offered on the American disc are inferior transfer. they looked like Disney transfered them from VHS or something. the region 2 DVD releases from England are, for some reason, a far superior transfer and look like they were transfered from film and not VHS. don't know why you should have to go to a foreign market to get the best quality from an American studio, but this seems pretty typical of the failure by the Disney co. to adequately showcase it's live action classics from the studio's golden age.
all that tech talk aside,'Blackbeard's Ghost' has always been one of my favorite live action Disney fantasies. and definitely one of the studio's best comedies ranking with 'The Absentminded Professor' and 'One of our Dinosuars is Missing'. with the (shall i say it?) stellar acting combination of Ustinov and Jones, 'Blackbeard' plays out like a Diney/fantasy version of Neil Simon's the 'Odd Couple'. and if you are partial to Disney and slapstick, possibly a lot funnier.
the performances by Ustinov and Jones are decidedly a focal point that drives the film and gives it it's most weighty substance. the performances, especially Ustinov's, are inspired and sharp witted. they come off as sort of lunatic fringe, counterparts to Matthau and Lemmon, but with a lot more testosteroned, highly charged, craziness. Ustinov and Jones performances are much more "over the top" than Matthau's or Lemmon's, but as charged up as their performances get, they are restrained and controlled with lots of character insight that makes the two protagonist seem like human beings and not nuttily drawn cartoons which could have easily have happened with all the buffoonery.
even though cartoonish, the characters are developed with some psychological insights. insights very similar to Simon's 'Odd Couple' play. one is uptight and repressed, the other is gregarious and lacking any moral conscience and a slob. also much like the 'Odd Couple', this is a take on the age old saying "you can't keep two bulls in one pen". a testimonial satire on the difficulties in the male relationship and of male dominance assertion. the compatibility between the two is aggravated by their extreme differences. one is a square, the other a pirate, one is living, one is dead, etc. of course in true Disney fashion, they learn to come to terms with their differences and work together.
it's also interesting to note that for a film that is over forty years old (God. forty years. i saw this at the movies when it first came out), the gimmicks and FX are still true today as ever. in many respects, the mechanical effects are even more inspired in an age that relies on CGI for everything. Peter Ellenshaw's beautiful matte composites look even better and more painted art than the monochromatic CGI composites of today.
classic Disney doesn't get much better than this. and it is certainly better than a lot of the bland, under-whelming fare, offered by the Disney channel TV movies of today.
all that tech talk aside,'Blackbeard's Ghost' has always been one of my favorite live action Disney fantasies. and definitely one of the studio's best comedies ranking with 'The Absentminded Professor' and 'One of our Dinosuars is Missing'. with the (shall i say it?) stellar acting combination of Ustinov and Jones, 'Blackbeard' plays out like a Diney/fantasy version of Neil Simon's the 'Odd Couple'. and if you are partial to Disney and slapstick, possibly a lot funnier.
the performances by Ustinov and Jones are decidedly a focal point that drives the film and gives it it's most weighty substance. the performances, especially Ustinov's, are inspired and sharp witted. they come off as sort of lunatic fringe, counterparts to Matthau and Lemmon, but with a lot more testosteroned, highly charged, craziness. Ustinov and Jones performances are much more "over the top" than Matthau's or Lemmon's, but as charged up as their performances get, they are restrained and controlled with lots of character insight that makes the two protagonist seem like human beings and not nuttily drawn cartoons which could have easily have happened with all the buffoonery.
even though cartoonish, the characters are developed with some psychological insights. insights very similar to Simon's 'Odd Couple' play. one is uptight and repressed, the other is gregarious and lacking any moral conscience and a slob. also much like the 'Odd Couple', this is a take on the age old saying "you can't keep two bulls in one pen". a testimonial satire on the difficulties in the male relationship and of male dominance assertion. the compatibility between the two is aggravated by their extreme differences. one is a square, the other a pirate, one is living, one is dead, etc. of course in true Disney fashion, they learn to come to terms with their differences and work together.
it's also interesting to note that for a film that is over forty years old (God. forty years. i saw this at the movies when it first came out), the gimmicks and FX are still true today as ever. in many respects, the mechanical effects are even more inspired in an age that relies on CGI for everything. Peter Ellenshaw's beautiful matte composites look even better and more painted art than the monochromatic CGI composites of today.
classic Disney doesn't get much better than this. and it is certainly better than a lot of the bland, under-whelming fare, offered by the Disney channel TV movies of today.