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DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies
In 1928, when Walt Disney's artists completed "The Skeleton Dance," the distributor of the Mickey Mouse shorts rejected the first "Silly Symphony" with a two-word telegram: "MORE MICE." Disney arranged to screen "Skeleton Dance" at the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles, where it received an enthusiastic response, and the series took off. Seven "Silly Symphonies" won Academy Awards, beginning with "Flowers and Trees." Disney used these musically themed shorts to train young artists and test new styles, effects, and technologies: every film represented an innovation of some sort. In "Three Little Pigs," characters who looked alike demonstrated different personalities through the way they moved. "The Old Mill" showcased the newly invented Multiplane camera. The Sugar Cookie Girl in "Cookie Carnival" was one of several female characters the artists created while learning to animate a believable heroine for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The well-chosen selections in this set demonstrate how quickly Disney advanced the art of animation during the '30s. Only eight years separate the crude black-and-white version of "The Ugly Duckling" (1931) from the moving Technicolor Oscar-winner of 1939. Over 60 years later, these films have lost none of their charm. The jazz-dancing insects in "Woodland Café," the wonderfully animated caricature of Mae West in "Who Killed Cock Robin," and the instrument-characters in "Music Land" remain as delightful as ever. Leonard Maltin makes a genial host, and two hidden cartoons include Walt's introductions from the old Disneyland program. --Charles Solomon
Review(s): DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies
missing Treasures!!!!
Whilst this is a lovely compilation of the Silly Symphonies series, there are many missing treasures, such as "Broken Toys", "Moth and the Flame" "Spring", "The Goddess of Spring" "Midnight in a Toyshop" "Autumn" etc. Out of the 70+ Silly Symphonies realeased, this DVD only holds a fraction!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope Disney releases the rest in another DVD! It's rather disappointing to have only a fraction of one's childhood "deemed worthy of releasing"!!
Where's the rest? Hidden also?
While I was extremely happy to view these cartoons again, including some that I've been trying to find for years, I couldn't help wondering "Where's the rest?" I had other silly symphony cartoons on VHS from the mid 80's, but they were not on this release. "Merbabies", "The Old China Shop", "The Moth and the Flame", etc. Why were these omitted, or is there a volume 2 to be released? For those looking for Lambert and Ferdinand, they are available on other DVD releases. So, why 3 stars? Seven (count 'em, 7) of the cartoons on this set are hidden. This is deplorable. I thought I had a defective copy when the list of cartoons did not match the menu. (The list IS inacurrate - Maltin's picks are messed up for disc 1) Finally I noticed that the cursor would sometimes end up in a weird place, so I clicked and...there was Walt himself. Seeing the original intros from the TV series was great, but what's the deal with the "Easter Eggs"? Stop playing games Disney Studios and release ALL of this material and keep it available (I had to purchase this DVD from an alternate source) and DON'T HIDE THE SELECTIONS!!!!
You will treasure this collection forever
This collection is absolutely charming. Unfortunately, it is now locked away in Disney's vault, but you can still get it second-hand if you're willing to pay a little more for it. I recommend getting it while you still can before they become too scarce!
This collection is perfect for children or adults. Disney fans will love it. My favorite is adorable Elmer Elephant. I promise you will not be disappointed with this! These are all truly precious little works of art. Nobody is too old to fall in love with these.
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During the mid-'30s, Mickey Mouse's fans ranged from the more than one million children who were members of the Mickey Mouse Club to Franklin Roosevelt, Mary Pickford, and the Nizam of Hyderabad; theater marquees announced "A Mickey Mouse Cartoon" with the feature titles. These wonderful shorts, many of which have never been released to the home market, remind viewers just how charming Mickey was before his popularity and role as a corporate symbol restricted his behavior. In these cartoons Mickey's personality was boyish, appealing, and slightly mischievous. The superb animation emphasizes that impish appeal. When Mickey dances with a deck of cards in "Thru the Mirror," he displays a stylish grace Fred Astaire might envy; in "Brave Little Tailor," his expressions and body... More Info about this DVD Director(s): David Hand DVD Release Date: Released the 04 December 2001 This item is currently not available.
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In these cartoons released between 1928 and 1935, Walt Disney created one of the icons of 20th-century culture. Disney's reputation was built on these early shorts, and the films shimmer with the energy of the young artists exploring the new medium of the sound cartoon. Watching the films in chronological order enables the viewer to see the remarkable progress Walt and his crew made in animation, storytelling, and acting in just seven years. The rambunctious, rubbery Mickey of "Plane Crazy" and "Steamboat Willie" quickly developed into the polished charmer of "Gulliver Mickey" and "Mickey's Orphans." More than 70 years after his debut, the black and white Mickey still displays the appeal that made him so popular during the '30s, when A Mickey Mouse Cartoon appeared on... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ub Iwerks DVD Release Date: Released the 03 December 2002 This item is currently not available.
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In Stand By Me (1986), one of the boys asks, "If Mickey is a mouse and Donald is a duck, what's Goofy?" The answer: he's a dog. Originally named Dippy Dawg, the Goof, as the animators called him, made his debut as an obnoxious hayseed in "Mickey's Revue" (1932). This generous collection includes 46 of the 48 shorts that starred Goofy between 1939 and 1961 (but none of the great Mickey-Donald-Goofy films from the mid-'30s). The "How to Ride a Horse" sequence in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) set the pattern for many of these cartoons. An elegant narrator (artist John Ployardt) explains a sport that Goofy attempts to demonstrate. The character that animator Art Babbitt described in a 1935 lecture (quoted in the DVD bonus material) as an easygoing dimbulb gave way to an... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jack Kinney DVD Release Date: Released the 03 December 2002 This item is currently not available.
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Although the book The Adventures of Mickey Mouse (1931) listed Donald Duck as one of Mickey's friends, he didn't appear on screen until the "Silly Symphony" "The Wise Little Hen," three years later. Donald's personality began to gel in "The Orphan's Benefit" (1934, on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White), when he threw his first temper tantrum. He began as dumpy-looking character with a long beak and thick legs, but was soon redesigned and made more appealing.
Donald's firecracker temper made him a favorite with audiences--and the Disney artists. By the late '30s/early '40s Mickey was no longer allowed to kick someone, break a window, or get into a really embarrassing situation. Donald was, and he did. If Donald encountered a mechanical device,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jack King DVD Release Date: Released the 18 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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By the time "The Barn Dance" (1928), the fourth Mickey Mouse short and the oldest film on this collection, was released, Mickey was well on his way to cartoon stardom. The viewer can see how quickly the Disney animators improved between "The Barn Dance" and "Mickey's Kangaroo" (1935, his last black-and-white film). The characters are so rubbery in "Barn Dance," that when Mickey steps on Minnie's foot, her leg stretches out on the floor. Mickey and Minnie look noticeably more solid by "Mickey's Mechanical Man" (1933). "Playful Pluto" (1934) offers the landmark sequence of Pluto trying to escape from sheet of fly paper: one of the first instances where an animated character actually seemed to think and react to his environment believably. But it's Pluto who gets the laughs--Mickey is... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 07 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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