As Walt Disney's fame grew during the 1930s, people wanted to know more about his studio and how the "Silly Symphonies" and Mickey Mouse shorts were created. Although Disney seldom allowed visitors, he periodically offered viewers peeks inside into the studio through the films in this collection. In 1937, Disney made
A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studios for his distributor, RKO, to help the marketing campaign for
Snow White. This in-house documentary was later reworked and released as a trailer for the studio's first feature as
How Walt Disney Cartoons Are Made. In 1941, humorist Robert Benchley toured the studio and chatted with the artists in
The Reluctant Dragon. But the film was released during a bitterly fought strike that belied its cheerful depiction of the studio.
During the '50s, Walt used his studio as a backdrop for several episodes of the Disneyland TV series. "The Story of the Animated Drawing" traces the history of the medium, including re-creations of Emil Reynaud's Théâtre Optique (1892-1900) and Winsor McCay's vaudeville routine with his landmark film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). "Tricks of Our Trade," which focuses on the creation of Sleeping Beauty, shows staged footage of four of the celebrated "Nine Old Men"--Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston--sketching. In the DVD bonus material, host Leonard Maltin traces the development of the studio facilities from a Los Angeles garage to its present location in Burbank. Maltin also chats with Disney legend Joe Grant, who cowrote the "Baby Weems" sequence in Reluctant Dragon. Recorded at the time of Grant's 94th birthday, the artist displays the sly wit that continues to inspire animators. (Unrated: Suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon
This volume goes inside the walls of the world’s most famous magic factory for an inside tour, via several "behind-the-scenes" films and television shows.
1 "Yeah, that is a lot of beef."
What a treat this is. While this Treasure is probably the least popular of the series, it contains some of the niftiest information I've seen regarding animation. You get the full release of The Reluctant Dragon here, which is huge because I'm positive it hasn't been released to purchase before. There have been VHS tapes for just the animated short of the same name, but it's only a small bit of what you get in the whole package. It's part of a behind the scenes look at the studio, starring the great Robert Benchley. His wife has him take his story- The Reluctant Dragon down to the studio to try and get an animated feature made out of it. Along the way, he gets distracted many times, and in doing so, we get to see some of Disney's techniques in how his cartoons are made. From the sound studio, to the paint shop, to the huge camera used in Fantasia, to even a glimpse at the voice of Donald Duck, to much more. It's an honor to see how everything was done at that time. Robert does a fantastic job of making the trip enjoyable, and not boring. Back then, it took hundreds of people to get one small project done, and watching this feature gave me a new respect for Disney.
It's a shame the company has lost the magic it once had. Walt seemed like a genuine nice guy. He really did care about making people happy, and trying new things in animation. And you can't blame Roy E. Disney for leaving the company, stating "they don't put their hearts into anything anymore". Though it's sad the company is going to be forgotten once Pixar's contract with them expires. Compare every feature Disney's put out since The Hunchback of Notre Dame to some before that point. They're almost all forgettable, save the Pixar ones. And with recent efforts like Home on the Range, are they even trying any more? The animation quality of that looked like one of their many direct-to-video sequels which seem to be their new trend.
Also on disc 1 are "A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studios" and "How Walt Disney Cartoons Are Made". They're both essentially the same program, with the second having a new narrator, some added dialogue, and clips from the premiere of Snow White. These were used as promotional bits to let people know what to expect soon. Leonard gives us a tour of the studio and well...*does halfway hand gesture* it's ok. It's not as in-depth as it could've been, but it was nice to see a few things not shown in any of the other programs. "Behind the Scenes on Baby Weems" is a quick interview with Joe Grand. Also included are photo galleries from The Reluctant Dragon and the Disney Studios.
On disc 2 we get 3 Disneyland TV broadcasts: "The Story of the Animated Drawing", "The Plausible Impossible" and "Tricks of Our Trade". While they're all very good, the best of the bunch is easily "The Story of the Animated Drawing". It's a thorough feature, going back over 100 years, showing us each step in the history of animation. I tell you, some of the guys in the late 1800's/early 1900's...they were geniuses. And if they could see how far animation's come since their time, it'd be overwhelming. Especially on how easy it is to make a cartoon now. From inventors using huge reels of film to project their short features on screen, to carnival sideshows using animation in their attractions. After watching this one, I almost hate all new forms of animation techniques. Using a computer to create huge CG worlds is nothing compared to what some of these guys went through just to give people something new to see.
There's also a rare Australian radio interview with some of the Disney crew and Walt. It's enjoyable, if a bit fake. The woman interviewing everyone has little personality, and the whole thing seems edited just to fit her responses. Never the less, they shed good information, including a little bit on Song of the South. Just hearing them talk about that is a tease since it's likely to not be rereleased ever again. C'mon Disney, that was how animation was done back then. You put can put out dozens of cartoons showing how you portrayed Asians and Germans, but African Americans is a no-no? I hope people keep petitioning to get Song of the South released again. The big fuss Disney's making over it makes it sound like it's just the most racist piece of film ever released. I saw some of it a few years ago and it was nothing but a happy family short. But Leonard's done a good job giving us these gems, and if anyone can get SotS for us, it's him.
There's also a gallery for Kem Webber's art. I couldn't find any Easter Eggs on either disc, so I doubt there are any.
If you see this Treasure laying around, get it. I got mine just a few weeks ago for the same price as the new Treasures amazingly. Since it's the least popular from the second wave released 2 years ago, some are still laying around I guess. But don't get these from Amazon's Used & New- most of the sellers say they're new, but are missing the tin. How do you just go and lose the tin for these? Obviously they're bootlegs. Good luck though. I'd place this right behind On the Front Lines as far as the total package goes.
2 Walt Disney Treasures Part 5: Behind the Scenes at WDS
Walt Disney Treasures Review 5: Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney Studios:Leonard Maltin has done it, again. He made in myopinion one of the most interesting. This may not be the greatest quality but it is perfect. Like all the other treasures, it opens with the Walt Disney Treasure Theater and intro with Leonard Maltin. When you get to the main menu, you should start at the "How Walt Disney Cartoons are Made." Here, you could choose to view it with a informational subtitle showing history about the short made in the 30s for Snow White. Leonard Maltin Introduces it as usual. After this, head over to the crown of the collection, the 1941 feature, "The Reluctant Dragon." Introduced by Leonard Maltin, this film was a compiltation of various cartoons including the one that gave the film its name. Slid in between it all was comedy footage of Robert Benchley taking a "Detour" of the studios. He looks for Walt and gets sidetracked as he visits the sound effects stage, a recording session with the voice of Donald Duck, visiting the Multiplane Camera, paint room, sees a storyboard for the short "Baby Weems, and sees the animator's desk of Ward Kimball and watches Goofy's "How to Ride a Horse." After this movie, take a peek at the the film, "A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios." This film was created for RKO to distribute Snow White. This was remade into "How Disney Cartoons are Made" and shown to the public. It is introduced by Leonard. Finally on disc one, take a look at a few bonus features. Go look at "Behind the Boards on Baby Weems" featurette, a "Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour" featurette, and a Reluctant Dragon Gallery. Disc 2 opens with an intro by Leonard. He then gets you prepared to watch the second half, the Behind the Scenes Disneyland Shows. The first one is the pioneering "The Story of the Animated Drawing." This show is in black and white and was the first of three shows Walt would make about animation. He talks about the history of animation with a remake of "Gertie the Dinosaur," a demo of "Koko the Clown," and early animation devices. It is introduced by Leonard. Second is "The Plausible Impossible." This show is in color and came after the show seen before. Walt talked about things that would be impossible in our world, but seem Plausible in animation. It is introduced by Leonard Maltin. Finally, the third show is "Tricks of Our Trade." This one is when Walt Disney shows tricks that he and his animators used to created special effects and easier ways to animate that other studios would never be able to do. It is introduced by Leonard Maltin. Final bonus features are, "Walt Disney Studios" gallery, a "Kem Weber Gallery," and "A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios" radio program. Considering all the things in the is limited edition set show's age, this is good quality. This is worthy of ten stars for content, and five for quality. Buy it before all 250,000 run out.
Also See:
Silly Symphonies
Mickey Mouse in Living Color
Disneyland USA
Davy Crockett
Mickey Mouse in Black and White
The Complete Goofy
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3 Wow! This IS Behind the Scenes!!!
Walt Disney Treasures Review 5: Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney Studios:Leonard Maltin has done it, again. He made in myopinion one of the most interesting. This may not be the greatest quality but it is perfect. Like all the other treasures, it opens with the Walt Disney Treasure Theater and intro with Leonard Maltin. When you get to the main menu, you should start at the "How Walt Disney Cartoons are Made." Here, you could choose to view it with a informational subtitle showing history about the short made in the 30s for Snow White. Leonard Maltin Introduces it as usual. After this, head over to the crown of the collection, the 1941 feature, "The Reluctant Dragon." Introduced by Leonard Maltin, this film was a compiltation of various cartoons including the one that gave the film its name. Slid in between it all was comedy footage of Robert Benchley taking a "Detour" of the studios. He looks for Walt and gets sidetracked as he visits the sound effects stage, a recording session with the voice of Donald Duck, visiting the Multiplane Camera, paint room, sees a storyboard for the short "Baby Weems, and sees the animator's desk of Ward Kimball and watches Goofy's "How to Ride a Horse." After this movie, take a peek at the the film, "A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios." This film was created for RKO to distribute Snow White. This was remade into "How Disney Cartoons are Made" and shown to the public. It is introduced by Leonard. Finally on disc one, take a look at a few bonus features. Go look at "Behind the Boards on Baby Weems" featurette, a "Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour" featurette, and a Reluctant Dragon Gallery. Disc 2 opens with an intro by Leonard. He then gets you prepared to watch the second half, the Behind the Scenes Disneyland Shows. The first one is the pioneering "The Story of the Animated Drawing." This show is in black and white and was the first of three shows Walt would make about animation. He talks about the history of animation with a remake of "Gertie the Dinosaur," a demo of "Koko the Clown," and early animation devices. It is introduced by Leonard. Second is "The Plausible Impossible." This show is in color and came after the show seen before. Walt talked about things that would be impossible in our world, but seem Plausible in animation. It is introduced by Leonard Maltin. Finally, the third show is "Tricks of Our Trade." This one is when Walt Disney shows tricks that he and his animators used to created special effects and easier ways to animate that other studios would never be able to do. It is introduced by Leonard Maltin. Final bonus features are, "Walt Disney Studios" gallery, a "Kem Weber Gallery," and "A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios" radio program. Considering all the things in the is limited edition set show's age, this is good quality. This is worthy of ten stars for content, and five for quality. Buy it before all 250,000 run out.
Also See:
Silly Symphonies
Mickey Mouse in Living Color
Disneyland USA
Davy Crockett
Mickey Mouse in Black and White
The Complete Goofy
4 Looking beyond the curtain
Out of all the Disney Treasures releases, this will probably be the most overlooked. Sure, it doesn't have Mickey Mouse or Goofy or those wonderful Silly Symphonies. Instead, we get prehaps the best look into one of the most important studios in cinema history at its peak. The set is not the most entertaining, but it's the one set that shows the brillance of the House of Mouse (and shows what once was and lost now at Disney)
5 Disney Fans Will Want to Have This
This little collection of curios found in the Disney vaults will likely not appeal to the average viewer or kiddie fan. But, for hard-core Disney buffs and people who are just interested in old documentaries, this is the thing for you.
On disc one, we get "The Reluctant Dragon," which was made as a quick cash-in in the early 1940s. It stars Robert Benchley, who goes on a self-guided tour of the Disney studio, meeting Walt Disney and seeing some very good cartoons (my favorite being "Baby Weems.") While an exploitation film at core, it's entertaining.
Disc one also contains two short documentaries about how Disney cartoons are made, which were produced as trailers for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
On disc two, we're treated to three episode's of Disney's "Disneyland" TV series, in which Walt would talk about a different aspect of his studio and filmmaking every week. The episodes are "The Story of Animated Drawing," "Tricks of Our Trade," and "The Plausible Implausible" (the best of the three).
The contents of this two-disc set are all presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Some of them look very grainy, and some of them look fairly good. Being such seldom remastered curios, a critique on picture quality is hardly relevant.
There are some extras as well that will appeal to Disney buffs. On disc one, there are some Leonard Maltin intros, Galleries from "Reluctant Dragon" and "Baby Weems," as well as "Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour.'
On disc two, there are more intros, another gallery, and a Tour of the Disney Studios radio show.
And finally, the set includes a booklet and a mini "Reluctant Dragon" poster.
6 Brilliant for Disney maniacs and animation maniacs.
As a student who is aspiring to become an animator, I found this DVD set to be very enjoyable. It shows light on classic techniques of Disney animation that has long since been replaced with more advanced techniques, and shows you some history of the Walt Disney Studios. The extras were pretty cool, and Leonard Maltin was a nice tour guide into the world of Disney, for it seemed that he was quite experienced in not only live action movies, but now animation. The one draw back I had against this set is the lack of chapter markers in any of the movies,the speed of the informational track (I couldn't read it because it was going too fast.) and the fact that you went back to the menu after you viewed a part of the disc. I also had wished that they would've taken a closer look into today's animation industry as well instead of just having Mr. Maltin standing near the street post.
7 Disney 101
The Walt Disney Treasure series is a mix of great cartoons and some more obscure material. This DVD fits into the "obscure material" category, and has only a few animated segments.
From a Disney and Animation fan's point of view, this is a near perfect DVD set. Tons of inside information, interviews and snippets with talented Disney animators and voice actors and every good thing are included in the various documentaries. I particularly enjoyed the history of animation sequence in "The Story Of The Animated Drawing" and the interview with the voice of Donald Duck. It is so strange to watch him talk in Donald's voice!
Much of the information is redundant, and the same sequences show up in a few of the documentaries. The film, "The Reluctant Dragon" is fun, and has the best animated sequences of the set. However, as a theatrical release film is leaves much to be desired. As always, Leonard Maltin supplies interesting commentary and insights for the series.
Definitely not for the casual fan. However, I am sure glad that Disney released this collection. Educational and fun.
8 Perfect for Disneyphiles and Animation Buffs
Once again, Disney is reaching into its vaults and releasing DVD collections of rarer material. This set focuses on behind the scenes footage showing the studio at work.
Disc One opens with "A Trip through the Walt Disney Studios." This was the first short of this kind Disney did. It also served as a promo to movie houses for Snow White. The optional pop-ups are interesting, and I loved getting a chance to see the first studio.
"How Walt Disney Cartoons are made" is a slight edit released to the general public to build excitement for Snow White. Both of these were included on last year's release of that movie.
The last item on the first disc is "The Reluctant Dragon." In it, Robert Benchley takes a tour while trying to find Walt to pitch a story idea. There are several fun animated sequences as well.
Disc Two is three episodes of Disneyland that break the animation process down further. This is the real meat of the set. They are a fun mix of explanation and clips from their movies and each end with a segment from Fantasia.
"The Story of the Animated Drawing" has a fascinating look at the history that lead up to Disney. I'd never realized some of what came before. This one is shown in black and white, but it still interesting to watch.
"The Plausible Impossible" focuses on story-telling in animation. It features the famous "Music in Your Soup" sequence that was cut from Snow White. This was the first time I'd seen it all the way through, and I'm shocked it was cut.
The last episode, "Tricks of Our Trade," focuses on things animators do to help them draw realistically. Not much I didn't know here, but still fun to watch.
Maybe it just takes repetition with me, but I'm finally getting a picture of how animation works, and I've watched shows like these numerous times. As always, Disney educates us in a fun manner and manages to promo some of his own projects as well.
The set is great for the collector and serious Disney fan. Leonard Maltin is an informed and enthusiastic host, as always. (I want his job!) The sound is adequate, but the picture could have used a touch up in spots. This is especially true on disc two when they are showing clips from their films. Still, it serves the purpose well. I also wish that they had included chapter breaks, especially in the 80 minute "Reluctant Dragon." But, the information is so good I don't really mind.
Any fan of animation will love getting to see how things are really done. I think I finally have a complete picture of all the work that goes into making a cartoon of any length. Well worth the money and time spent.
9 Great
This is the third set of DVD's in this series I have gotten and they are all great. It is really cool to see the behind the scenes footage of the old Disney studios.
10 Promotional Materials
Walt Disney was a master of self-promotion, and this 2-disc collection of film and television specials proves it. The highlight here is the seldom-seen 1941 feature _The Reluctant Dragon_, which offers an extended live-action tour of the Disney studio hosted by famed 1930s humorist Robert Benchley. Although the film offers a few animated segments to whet audience interest, it's essentially a full-length live-action commercial for future Disney products (including _Dumbo_, _Bambi_, and _Peter Pan_).
Motion picture audiences, who had to pay to get in the theater, didn't take too kindly to a puff piece masquerading as a feature film. As a result, "The Reluctant Dragon" opened to withering reviews and indifferent box office. But in about a decade's time, a new television audience, which got its entertainment for free, was more tolerant of this sort of thing. It's no surprise, then, that the rest of the vintage material here consists of Disney's television programs from the 1950s. Leonard Maltin also hosts a contemporary tour of today's Disney studio.
I found the video and audio transfers in this package lackluster at best; in particular, the short animated film "The Reluctant Dragon" (which forms the climax of Benchley's studio tour) is marred by specks, flickers, scratches and grain. The absence of chapter breaks within the 80-minute feature film or the hour-long television programs is also an annoyance.
Still, this is not a bad package from Der MausHaus, although it's designed to appeal to hard-core Disneyphiles rather than a mass audience.
11 A History of the Mouse House
This 2 disc DVD goes inside the walls of the world's most famous magic factory for an inside tour, via several "behind-the-scenes" films and television shows. Much of this material has been hotly anticipated by Disney fans for years as it has never been released before.
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE WALT DISNEY STUDIO - DISC ONE
* Welcome and Introduction by Film Historian Leonard Maltin
FEATURES AND SHORTS
*A Trip Through The Walt Disney Studio (Short, 1938)
*How Walt Disney Cartoons Are Made (Short, 1939)
*The Reluctant Dragon (Feature, 1941)
DISC ONE SUPPLEMENTAL FEATURES
* Video Feature: "Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour"
For his television programs, Walt Disney often invited viewers right onto the lot at his Studio in Burbank. In this new video element, Leonard Maltin uses Walt Disney's own television programs to create a unique tour around the Disney Studio lot, from 1954 to today.
* Behind The Boards On Baby Weems
A look at this uniquely animated section of Disney's The Reluctant Dragon
* The Reluctant Dragon Gallery
* Walt Disney Studios Gallery
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE WALT DISNEY STUDIO - DISC TWO
* Welcome and Introduction by Film Historian Leonard Maltin
TV EPISODES (47 min. each):
*The Story Of The Animated Drawing (TV Episode, 1955)
*The Plausible Impossible (TV Episode, 1956)
*Tricks of Our Trade (TV Episode, 1957)
DISC TWO SUPPLEMENTAL FEATURES
* Film Historian Leonard Maltin provides individual introductions to each feature
* Radio Program "Tour of the Disney Studio"
* Radio Program: "Tour of the Disney Studio" (1946) from the Walt Disney Productions Sound Department.
* Kem Webber Gallery: Through this thumbnail still gallery, you can see behind-the-scenes photos of the Disney Studios, as well as backstage peeks at the making of each of the films and programs featured in this compilation.
