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DVD Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines
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.
Many of the wartime entertainment shorts are largely propaganda. Donald's nightmare of working on a Nazi assembly line in "Der Fuehrer's Face" is still hilarious slapstick. The grimmer "Education for Death" and "Chicken Little" have aged less gracefully. Disney's oddest wartime project was Victory Through Air Power (1943), a live action/animation feature based on Major Alex de Seversky's controversial book that called for the adoption of long-range bombers. By the time it was finished, air power was a reality.
Front Lines also includes several health films made for the Office of Inter-American Affairs, and bond-buying shorts for Canada that reuse animation from Snow White and "Three Little Pigs." This collection of genuine rarities is a must-have for anyone interested in the history of animation, the Disney Studio, or America during WWII. (Rated G, suitable for ages 10 and older: violence, ethnic stereotypes, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
Review(s): DVD Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines
Great Collection -- A **Correction** for VICTORY THRU AIR POWER
This is a great DVD set and merits all of the kudos in the other reviews.
I'd like to chime in, however, to point out an error in Leonard Maltin's introduction to the "Behind the Scenes" segment for VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER.
It is clear if you look carefully, that this behind the scenes footage is from *screen tests* of de Seversky and NOT from the actual production of the film itself.
For one thing, the set is different. The set on the "behind the scenes" footage is clearly a couple of hastily built flats and the suggestion of a window-- exactly the sort of quick and dirty set which would have been built for a screen test.
Secondly, the set decoration is completely different. In the "behind the scenes" footage there is a large trophy cup, for one thing, that does not appear in the final film. In the "behind the scenes" footage there is no window *behind* de Seversky, and the wall treatments are completely different.
Next, if you look at the slates, the cinematographer (seen with light meter) is clearly trying out different lenses and f/stop combinations -- this would not have been done on the actual film itself; those decisions are made during testing.
Also, they are clearly experimenting with the use of the globe (as would have been done in the testing stage, NOT during final shooting).
There are other indications, too....
SO: suffice it to say that this is NOT really "behind the scenes" on VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER, but is actually behind the scenes of the VICTORY screen test phase.
It's pretty amazing that they got this wrong, but perhaps it takes a filmmaker to actually notice these things. Just thought I'd pass it along.
Of course this is a minor point in such an amazing DVD set. However, since VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER is one of the most compelling reasons to buy the set (it's really an amazing piece of work, from many perspectives), I thought that VICTORY fans would want to know.
After finally being able to see VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER, I'm quite a fan of it myself!
Disney Dons Dogtags
Disney Dons Dogtags, as many collectors know, is the name of a stunning volume chronicling the many military insignia and plane nose designs and unit patches that the Disney studio, like other animation houses, designed during world war II. However, the full contribution of the studio to the war effort cannot be appreciated without viewing the amazing "Victory Through Air Power," which, when RKO studios refused to release it, Disney released through United Artists.
"victory Through Air Power" is in every way a propaganda film, but in an earlier sense of propagating an idea, without the connotations of disinformation that the word came to entail. Walt pulled out the stops in this feature-length film based on his belief in the book of the same name by Russian expatriate Major Alexander de Seversky, which supported the controversial theories of General Billy Mitchell. Reading history backwards, this push from Disney is the single most significant element in leading to the creation of a separate Air Force distinct from the Army Air Corps. Walt took his argument (or rather Seversky's) to the people: that advances in land-based air power would render no portion of the globe immune from air attack, and the only way the allies could win the war was by adopting this strategy.
This absolutely fascinating docudrama takes on vital meaning when seen in the context of its theatrical release, when victory over the axis was by no means certain and everyday America's traditional means of warfare saw defeat. The effect of this documentary was arguably second only to John F. Kennedy's book that convinced America to back Britain and enter the war.
You also get twelve Donald and Pluto shorts, along with the influential "The New Spirit," and "The Spirit of '43," which urged Americans to buy bonds and pay taxes on time. The hygeine films made for South America are of minor historical interest (and have been sold separately to collectors for some time), but you also get the most significant anti-Nazi 'toons, "Reason and Emotion" and "Education for Death." Since animators dealt in caricature, there are some anti-Japanese stereotypes, but they weren't meant to be generically anti-Asian, since China was our friend. Rounding out the package are three training films, some presented with the National Film Board of Canada, later the source of innovative and inventive animation, and three relevant, topical interviews. All of which makes this a can't miss deal recollecting the days when Disney donned dogtags.
Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines
In my opinion this is not just another Walt Disney Cartoon Sampler. It is a true and important historical document related on second World War. As a historian and friend of cartoons this DVD will be under my personal top ten documents!
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