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DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White
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 theater marquees with the feature titles, and his fans included Franklin Roosevelt, Mary Pickford, George V of England, the Nizam of Hyderabad--and the more than one million children who joined the first Mickey Mouse Club.
Although it's fun to look at the old sketches and pencil tests, the high point of the supplementary material is the discussion host Leonard Maltin conducts with Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, the last surviving members of the justly celebrated "Nine Old Men" of Disney animation. Thomas and Johnston were nearly 90 at the time of the interview, but their enthusiasm for their work, for Mickey, and for the man who made it all possible remains undimmed. (Unrated; suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon
Review(s): DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White
UNBELEIVABLE
The best of the B&W days otherwise known as Mickey's Golden Age. STEAMBOAT WILLIE, PLANE CRAZY, MICKEY'S SERVICE STATION. It's all there. Only one problem: they should have released B&W Volume 1 and Volume 2 with proper chronology in place.
Very minor.
Not PC? Who cares?
Pretty good stuff for classic animation fans. These cartoons are relatively plotless, but full of funny gags expounded on various situtations.
In particular, I enjoyed BLUE RHYTHM which has Mickey and crew rocking out (or perhaps "Jazzing out" is more time-appropriate) to the "St. Louis Blues." It's clear that Uncle Walt was a big jazz fan. The first three MM cartoons STEAMBOAT WILLIE, PLANE CRAZY (I like where Mickey tries to kiss Minnie and she resists on the plane-that sly dog!), and GALLOPING GAUCHO are real knee slappers, as are MICKEY'S REVUE, THE KARNIVAL KID, and THE CHAIN GANG.
Yeah, these toons have their moments of political incorrectness. BIG DEAL! The generation of SOUTH PARK, THE SIMPSONS, and LIQUID SWIM, (not even people familiar with TOM & JERRY or the LOONEY TUNES, in fact) et. al. will not be shocked, warped, or traumatized by anything here. Some animal cruelty (by a mouse, at that, but as in LOONEY TUNES it's too offbeat to take seriously as opposed to live-action) abound in Steamboat Willie, and gags involving outhouses, bodily functions, Minnnie's panties, cow udders, drunkenness, et cetera abound elsewhere, but who hasn't seen this kind of thing before? What child who has ever gone out to play isn't aware of such things?
To the crybaby sissy critics who feel that these cartoons are oh-so traumatic for the kiddies and (gasp) so terribly disgusting-go watch Barney and the New Zoo Revue with your raggedy ann dolls! Everyone else, get some cold drinks, put this in the DVD and have a REAL larf!
Disney Rarities
I love Mickey Mouse in Black and White DVD. I watch it all the time. If you love this item I have a suprise for you. On December 6th a new tresuare called Disney Rarities released among the fifth wave will be released. The new tresuare will contain at least a few of the seried before Mickey Mosue. This will not contain Oswald because the rights to Oswald belong to Universal. This will contain all the Laugh O Grams and the Laffets plus sopme Alice comedies. It will also contain Donald in Mathmagical Land.
Related DVD's Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White
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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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 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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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... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Burt Gillett DVD Release Date: Released the 04 December 2001 This item is currently not available.
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By 1939, when the earliest films in this collection were made, Mickey Mouse was the most famous cartoon character in the world. The unsuccessful hunter in "The Pointer" (1939) and the irrepressible magician in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1940) rank among his finest performances. In both films, he sparkles with vitality. But as Mickey grew more popular, more restrictions were placed on what he could do, and the character grew dull. Those restrictions become obvious when the viewer compares these films with the shorts on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color. In "Mickey's Birthday Party" (1942), he clowns and stumbles through a comic dance routine, but it feels like he's working for the laughs. In 1936, when a more impish Mickey danced with a deck of cards in "Thru... More Info about this DVD Director(s): George Scribner DVD Release Date: Released the 18 May 2004 This item is currently not available.
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