You might have heard a rumour once about something naughty involving a certain bishop in a certain Disney cartoon. That rumour was debunked ages ago, but apparently it still makes the rounds and has been known to get Disney into trouble now and then … so, now, reports Jim Hill, for the film’s DVD release this coming Tuesday, Disney has gone the extra mile and removed the apparently-but-not-really naughty something in question.
The purist in me objects to this, of course, and would rather see this film in its original form, knobby knees and all — just as I would rather see, say, the original version of the anthology Melody Time (1948), before Pecos Bill’s cigarette was digitally removed.
Then again, I grew up watching the 1950s version of The Three Little Pigs (1933), which replaced an ethnic stereotype with something more generic and less offensive — and I think it was good that I grew up with the version that I did. FWIW, I didn’t even know that the more offensive version existed until Leonard Maltin mentioned it on a DVD that came out five years ago.
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