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DVD Features
- “My Dad, Walt Disney” – interview with Walt’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller
- “I Captured the King of the Leprechauns” TV episode
- “Disneyland USA at Radio City Music Hall” – Rare featurette
- “Working With Walt” featurette
- Production art galleries
- Packaged in a collectible tin
- 8-page booklet with notes
- Color photo card
- Serialized certificate of authenticity, 65,000 unit run
- ASIN: B000ICM5RG
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DVD Features
- “Silly Symphonies Rediscovered” featurette
- “Animators at Play” featurette
- Art galleries
- Commentary on select shorts
- Packaged in a collectible tin
- 8-page booklet with notes
- Color photo card
- Serialized certificate of authenticity, 65,000 unit run
- ASIN: B000ICM5R6
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DVD Features
- “Master Class: Bone Trouble” with Randy Cartwright
- “Master Class: Hawaiian Holiday” with Andreas Deja
- Deconstruction of “Pluto’s Judgement Day”
- Pencil Tests on “Pluto’s Judgement Day”
- Art galleries
- Packaged in a collectible tin
- 8-page booklet with notes
- Color photo card
- Serialized certificate of authenticity, 65,000 unit run
- ASIN: B000ICM5QM
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DVD Features
- “From Dixon to Disney” featurette
- “The Hardy Boys Unmasked” featurette
- Production galleries
- Packaged in a collectible tin
- 8-page booklet with notes
- Color photo card
- Serialized certificate of authenticity, 65,000 unit run
- ASIN: B000ICM5S0
The Collections
Since 2001, Leonard Maltin and Disney have now released six waves of Walt Disney Treasures, and it never ceases to surprise me at how much I enjoy watching these sets. I remember thinking after the first few waves, “Wow, those were really cool, but where can they go from here for next time?” Needless to say, Wave 6 continues to deliver the goods, and Maltin’s infectious enthusiasm and appreciation for the material and its history makes the sets that much more fun to watch. This wave covers a wide variety of topics, including some more classic Disneyland history, a bunch more Pluto and Silly Symphony shorts, and a very entertaining collection of Hardy Boys shorts from the Mickey Mouse Club.
For Disneyland fans, like myself, the must-buy set from this wave is definitely Your Host Walt Disney, and that is even before I get to the goodies. This two-disc set contains four episodes of Walt’s Disneyland TV show as well as a kinescope of the Kodak Presents Disneyland ’59 television show, which has not been publicly shown since its television debut. These shows are still a bunch of fun to watch, and my two older boys (8 and 5 years old) also enjoyed watching how Walt introduced the TV audience to classic attractions like the Haunted Mansion, the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Monorail, the Submarines, and the Matterhorn. The kinescope is a fascinating look at the classic Walt publicity engine and how he used the television medium to both entertain and publicize Disneyland in a way that only Walt could.
One of my particularly favorite episodes is “Where Do Stories Come From?” featuring a wonderful segment on Walt’s backyard model railroad, the Carolwood Pacific, and his engine the Lilly Belle. This segment also has a couple of great pieces on Ollie Johnston’s backyard model railroad and Ward Kimball’s full-size narrow gauge “backyard” railroad, Grizzly Flats. I was actually trying to multitask while watching this episode, but as soon as this segment started, I was simply transfixed watching Walt, Ward, Ollie, and their buddies play with the toys that provided the dream kernel for Disneyland. Seeing Walt and his studio buddies having fun like this is a bit rare on film, but it sure makes you appreciate how they all worked hard, played hard, and everything they did went right back into their stories and films.
It is hard to beat a collection of shows like this or the previous Disneyland, U.S.A. Treasures set, yet these shows are still just a small portion of the classic TV shows in the Disney vault. I do have to admit, though, that the one and only down side to this set and the Disneyland, U.S.A. set is that the identical, edited, 45-minute version of the Disneyland Tenth Anniversary Show appears on both sets. This show straddles both areas that these two sets focus on, so I can sort of see why it would appear twice. One set focuses on Walt’s hosting performances, which he does throughout the anniversary show, and the other set focuses on the history of Disneyland, which is the focus of the content of the anniversary show. However, I still wish they could have picked another show in its entirety to showcase Walt’s hosting abilities while minimizing or eliminating the overlap. Regardless, both sets are excellent in their own right with that one exception.
The Hardy Boys is also another very enjoyable set, particularly for my 8-year-old, who has started reading the classic Hardy Boys mystery books. Included in this set is the complete Mickey Mouse Club episode that first introduced this daily serial short to young TV audiences, and then the rest of the set is the remaining 19 episodes of the complete The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure serial. Besides having to watch the opening over and over, which gets a bit old after the second or third viewing, it was a lot of fun to be able to watch the whole story unfold through each episode. You can also see how each episode was carefully constructed to encourage viewers to return the following day to see what was happening to Frank and Joe. I was impressed by how much mystery, intrigue, and tension they were able to pack into these 12 minute shorts, but as a whole, they play as a fun story that even my rather picky 8-year-old enjoyed. In fact, during the first episode, he asked, “Dad, can you make it color?” I told him, “No, but just keep watching for another episode,” and then he sat watching every episode after that without a peep. Ah, another victory for “story is king.”
Finally, the follow-up volumes of the Silly Symphonies and Pluto animated shorts are pretty much along the lines of what you’d expect, based on the initial volumes. The second Silly Symphonies volume covers the years 1929 to 1938. Many of these shorts, though, are rather unknown and very rare, and many of these have not been seen in their entirety since their theatrical runs.
As for Pluto, the second volume covers 1947 to 1951, and has favorites such as, “Rescue Dog” and “Bone Bandit.” In addition to the “normal” shorts, each set contains shorts “From the Vault,” which are basically shorts that require some historical perspective to understand where they are coming from. Most have something to do with racial stereotypes or behaviors that were accepted decades ago but are now considered culturally insensitive. Maltin does his usually classy job of putting the proper historical light on the films and uses these as an opportunity for discussion rather than keep them stashed away.
The Goodies
So, now that we have covered the cake, let’s move on to the icing.
I already said that my must-have set from this wave is Your Host Walt Disney, but the bonus material makes this set all that much better. There is a wonderful and touching 21-minute interview between Maltin and Walt’s daughter Diane Disney Miller called, “My Dad, Walt Disney.” It provides a number of humorous and heartfelt comments and stories about what it was like to have Walt Disney as a father, as well as a lot of interesting Disneyland and Studio history. A definite must-see. Then, there is the 48-minute episode of the Walt Disney Presents TV series called, “I Captured the King of the Leprechauns,” which features a rare glimpse of Walt acting as himself throughout this fictional research trip for Irish folklore. While on this trip, Walt is introduced to a character named Darby O’Gill who in turn introduces Walt to the King of the Leprechauns, and this ultimately serves as the audience’s introduction to the feature film, Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
Yet another cool piece of history unearthed from the Disney vaults is “Disneyland USA at Radio City Music Hall.” This six-minute CinemaScope film was part of a 1962 stage show put on at Radio City Music Hall, and it features Walt on screen interacting with Mickey Mouse on the stage. Also not to be missed is a nine-minute featurette that intertwines video clips of Walt along with contemporary interviews with a several folks that worked with Walt over the years as young TV and film stars, such as Tommy Cole (Mouseketeer), Cheryl Holdridge (Mouseketeer), Tommy Sands (Babes in Toyland), Marge Champion (live action model for Snow White), and others. It is a very interesting look at how Walt interacted with his young talent at the time that so many things were happening around the Studio.
On the Hardy Boys set, there are only a couple of goodies, but they nicely round out the set and help viewers understand where the Hardy Boys books came from as well as how the show was developed. The first is a 13-minute featurette called, “From Dixon to Disney,” and this traces the history of the books through the production and end of the show. The second item is a 19-minute featurette called, “The Hardy Boys Unmasked.” This is an interview between Maltin and Tim Considine (Frank Hardy) and Tommy Kirk (Joe Hardy). It is an interesting trip back in time to hear them reminiscing about how it was to work and play on the Disney Studio as the Hardy Boys. Both of these together make a very nice compliment to the serial on the set.
The Silly Symphonies set has a whole bunch of goodies that are well worth watching, particularly for those of us that enjoy animation history. The first is a 14-minute featurette called “Silly Symphonies Rediscovered,” which features several animation and film historians discussing the history, background, and achievements of the Silly Symphonies. It provides a very nice overview of how Disney used these animated shorts as a test ground for most of the advancements that lead up to Walt pushing animation into feature films. It is a fascinating featurette, and it certainly makes you appreciate the important place these shorts play in the history of not only Disney but the art of animation itself.
Another very interesting goodie on this set is a six-minute film clip called “Animators at Play.” This piece of film shows Walt and a bunch of his animators playing baseball in a dirt lot near the old Hyperion studio. During the film, Maltin provides a commentary and lists some of the players. It is an amazing glimpse at how the animators blew off steam during lunch time, even when their boss was around. Very cool stuff.
On top of those two great goodies, there are a bunch of commentaries spread across the discs (eight of the 21 shorts on Disc 1; six of the 17 shorts on Disc 2). These are provided by the animation and film historians, including Maltin on some of them, and they definitely help to provide additional historical information on these shorts.
Finally, the Pluto set has a few goodies well worth watching. I have always enjoyed Pluto shorts because so much of the humor and emotion is relayed non-verbally, which heightens the necessity for superb animation skills. Two of my favorite goodies out of all four of these sets are the “Master Class” segments, which couples two classic Pluto shorts with two of Disney’s best animators. The first is “Bone Trouble” with Randy Cartwright, and the second is “Hawaiian Holiday” (which is not on this set, incidentally) with Andreas Deja. They are both really interesting discussions about the style and art of animation, and both Cartwright and Deja do an admirable job of providing an expert eye for the viewer. Also included in the set is a “deconstruction,” a video blend of storyboards, pencil tests, and full animation, of “Pluto’s Judgement Day” as well as the entire pencil test. Finally, while not staring Pluto but rather his periodic nemesis, Figaro, the set contains the only three shorts made starring this mischievous little cat.
The Video, Audio, and Interface
Across the board, the video, audio, and interface are all in line with previous releases, and there is not much to say other than they are perfectly acceptable given the age of the source material and its intended purpose. The video transfers are the best we’ll probably get for some of this material, and you will see signs of age. The audio is mono or stereo at best, but it is all clear and reasonably clean. And, the interface is basically static menu screens with musical accompaniment. However, none of that is really the driver here. It is the rare content that really matters, and it will look, sound, and play just fine on any home theater system.
The Final Evaluation
What more can I say? For Disney fans and collectors, all of these sets offer unique opportunities to own significant pieces of Disney animation, television, and theme park history. If you have any of the previous Treasures, you know the quality and type of content that these releases contain, and these will make perfect additions to your library.
