Q: Recently I have become very interested in the behind-the-scenes of The Black Cauldron and have come across sources that say there were 12 minutes of film that were cut out of the film at the last minute due to some of the scenes being too scary. Can you give me detailed information about all of these scenes, please?
Mitchell, Roseville, California
A: You can find discussions of some of the cut scenes on the Internet. The production of The Black Cauldron was troubled, and its release was scheduled just about the time that Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg came to the Studio. After seeing an early version of the film, which had been started under the previous Studio administration, Katzenberg had definite ideas on what would improve it, so he was the one who ordered the cuts. Many of them concerned the scary “Cauldron Born,” the army of zombie-like creatures brought forth by the Horned King.
Dave Smith