A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : TOON TIME : Guess We Couldn’t Call the Makeover a Nose Job, Huh?

When Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” opened in February, 1940, Saturday Review critic Thomas Burton praised Disney as an “artist of astringent perfection who mixes his colors into the right proportions of wit, fantasy, art and texture.”

When the film opens in its seventh reissue on June 26, viewers will have the chance to see its colors and contrasts at “the standards set by Walt Disney himself,” according to studio spokesmen. Disney’s second and, arguably, most technically perfect animated feature has been extensively restored, as “Fantasia” was before its 50th anniversary re-release in 1990.

Restoration supervisor Pete Comandini of YCM Labs explains that his team reinforced splices and repaired tears in the original nitrate camera negative. Dirt or dust particles that remained after the film had been chemically cleaned were physically removed from the individual frames with a razor blade. Comandini, who has overseen work on most of the Disney films of the ‘30s and ‘40s, says “Pinocchio” was easier to restore than “Fantasia.”

“ ‘Fantasia’ was very fatiguing because there was so much of it: There were only 10 reels of ‘Pinocchio,’ and the material wasn’t in such bad shape. ‘Fantasia’ had been used for a lot of promotional material over the years--TV shows, trailers, etc.--and all that handling did a lot of damage to it. Most labs are not set up to deal with something that shrunken or brittle.”

After cleaning, a new master positive was struck using a “liquid gate” contact printer that removes superficial scratches and abrasions: YCM received a technical Academy Award for the process earlier this year.

While Comandini was at work on the visuals, a crew at the Disney sound department headed by re-recording mixer Terry Porter and chief engineer Steve Boze were preserving and repairing the soundtrack. The original magnetic composite tracks were given a “sonic bath” to remove surface noise and correct the equalization for modern playback equipment. The monaural tracks were then converted to Dolby Stereo.

The restored film will be screened in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. New prints shown elsewhere will have special black masking to ensure the image appears in the correct proportions, even when shown in the modern 1.85 format.

Industry observers will be watching the box-office tallies with special interest: “Pinocchio” is the first film to receive a major theatrical re-release after appearing on videocassette. “Pinocchio” became the first of the classic Disney features to be issued on cassette in July, 1985. Eight months later, the studio stopped making cassettes, and the film went out of circulation as the stock in video stores was exhausted.

“It’s our belief that ‘Pinocchio’ is an evergreen that will continue to entertain families for generations to come,” says Dick Cook, president, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. “The restoration process has brought the film back to its original beauty, and we think it will be a big hit for families this summer. There’s something about the communal effect of watching a film on a big screen with an audience in a darkened theatre that really makes you suspend disbelief: Something magical happens, and each new generation should be able to enjoy that experience.”