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DVD The Great Locomotive Chase
Disney's Great Locomotive Chase relates a true Civil War story about the Andrews Raiders, a team of 22 Union spies. In 1862 they snatched a train out from under the normally watchful eyes of Confederate troops based near Atlanta in a daredevil attempt to wreck the track and bridges of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. It was a high-stakes operation with a huge payoff. If they succeeded, they would effectively win the war; if they were caught, they were sure to be hanged. This 1956 feature shores up the suspense of the scheme masterfully. We watch, transfixed, as the relentless Confederate train conductor, William Fuller (played by the all-business Jeffrey Hunter) roars through a bevy of Southern stations hot on the heels of his hijacked locomotive. Will James Andrews (Fess Parker), leader of the Raiders, outrun him? History buffs won't need to keep watching for long, but they'll want to anyway--the portrayal of the Raiders' gumption and against-all-odds heroics pushes the basest, most human of audience buttons. It's not that The Great Locomotive Chase is a simple but well-done film about good vs. evil. Instead, it explores both sides' motives and draws gentle conclusions about honor, and it does so at an invigoratingly high clip. In that way, it's a movie worth sharing with kids 8 and older--there's no blood and only a sprinkling of violence here, but as with all war stories, tragedy plays a prominent role. --Tammy La Gorce
Walt Disney loved trains. He took the "Andrews Raiders" incident from the Civil War (that involved Union spies hijacking a Confederate train) and turned it into a movie. It has it's inaccuracies, but overall it gives you an idea of what really happened. What really makes this movie is that Disney contacted the B&O train museum in Baltimore, and borrowed some of their period locomotives and equipment. Portraying the hijacked locomotive "The General" is the "William Mason" from the museum. She's a fine lady of a locomotive, who appeared not only in this movie, but the recent flop "The Wild Wild West" as "the Wanderer". Fess Parker gives his usual wooden and stilted performance as Andrews, and being a Disney film there's singing (but no dancing) in the movie. But Jeffrey Hunter does a great job as Fuller, the Confederate conductor of the hijacked train. Most men would have been alarmed as they watched their train pull away without the regular crew, but how many would run after it like Fuller did? And run and run, commandeering a rail car and 3 locomotives before finally catching up with the stolen train. Hunter captures the determination of this man who is the single reason the plan of the Andrews Raiders failed.
Great for train and civil war buffs
The Making: This motion picture was made during Walt Disney's passion period for trains. Walt participated personally in the filming, being onsite (if only so that he could run the locomotives!). The Story A stirring and true story, the movie accurately depicts a team of Union soldiers sneak behind enemy lines. Their objective: steal a locomotive and steam north, burning bridges and tearing up track and telegraph lines behind them. Led by Andrews, they do not count on a relentless pursuit by the conductor of the stolen train (played by Jeff Hunter.) Fess Parker is fine as the spy-leader Andrews, and the cast is well rounded out. Plenty of live locomotive action (great care was taken on the detail of the steam era) this is also a rousing Adventure story. Joe Foss
The surviving members of the Union team were the first recipients of the Medal of Honor.
Excellent Film, Disappointing DVD
Read the other reviews for a plot synopsis. Be aware that this film is presented in "Letterbox" widescreen, not anamorphic (although the menu pages & even the copyright warning page are anamorphic widescreen). The picture quality is mediocre, as is the sound. I thought that Disney (who released the original film to the theaters in 1956) would treat this film with some respect, but alas, as seems to be happening with all major studios' DVD releases now, they appear to be taking the cheapest way out. The film is a very good historical action piece that deserves better, especially from Disney. I just hope they treat the upcoming Davey Crockett release better.
World War II transformed the Disney Studio. Although nearly one-third of the artists had been drafted, production quintupled, up to 95% of it for military and government uses. Some of the films included in On the Front Lines have not been seen since their initial release; others were never shown to the general public. Anticipating the importance of animated training films, Disney produced the studio's first educational film, "Four Methods of Flush Riveting" (1941), using limited animation to train riveters at Lockheed. Decades later, "Four Methods" and the excerpts from military training films remain models of how to present information clearly and concisely.
Lemuel Siddons is a musician (but studying to be a lawyer) with a travelling band around the early 1930s. The bus makes a brief stop in a small town called Hickory, a charming middle-America kind of place, and Lem makes a fateful decision to stay. He ends up volunteering to be the Boy Scout leader, impressing the sweet and beautiful Vida in the process. As a selfless Scout leader he touches the lives of the boys in the town down through the years and influences them for the better, particularly young Kurt Russell.
One of my favorite movies of all time, one I like to put on every once in a while when I need a great inspiring kind of movie. Fred MacMurray plays the role so wonderfully, and I'm reminded of kind Scoutmasters I had when growing up. But it's not just a great... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred MacMurray - Vera Miles Director(s): Norman Tokar DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This film has indeed been formatted to widescreen via a process called "soft matte". What's soft matte, you ask? In simplistic terms, they put plates (black bars) on screen to block out the top and bottom of the picture of the original film, in order to create a widescreen presentation. So the original prints are in the original 1:37.1 ratio. They soft matted this film in order to create an anamorphic presentation. So in other words, yes, it's fake widescreen. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Robert Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 04 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This is another great Family movie made by Disney. It is hard to find good, safe, clean and fun and entertaining movies made anymore. One has to look back to the good Old Disney Classics to find these type of movies.
This movie has a boat load of morals taught thru out the film. It is a comedy, an action, a romance and family flick packaged together.
Before man ventured into space, Walt Disney took the nation there. This set of the Walt Disney Treasures consists of "Science Factual" shows that aired mostly in the 1950s. On the first disc, Ward Kimball, one of the company's ace animators, directs three 50-minute segments on space travel dealing with space flight, going to the moon, and going to Mars. A combination of lecture (by the tops in the field, including lead rocket designer Dr. Werner von Braun), animation, live-action segments, and models, the three segments are still relevant as they effortlessly teach such elements as why rockets are in stages, what is gravitational force, orbiting, air pressure, and even the psychological effects on the mind. It is impressive how easily these Tomorrowland features entertain... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ward Kimball DVD Release Date: Released the 18 May 2004 This item is currently not available.
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