In deference to the screen legend he created, an uncharacteristically sanguine Walt Disney was fond of remarking while surveying his animation empire, "Let's not ever forget that it all started with a mouse." Thanks to this sterling laser-disc collection of early animated shorts (the first in a series), the origins of both that pesky little guy Mickey and the now-famous Disney animation technique will never again be overlooked. This volume provides all the reminder one needs of Walt Disney's uncanny producing instincts and pioneering animation style. For instance, for his company's official debut, he risked releasing an early sound film, the rollicking Steamboat Willie (1928), which was smashingly successful.
It also shows the slow emergence of the definite characterizations of Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, and Pluto, among others, from the primitive and previously limiting "rubber hose" animation type. One of the most startling surprises of the collection is revealed in the two silent Mickey Mouse entries that were produced before Steamboat Willie, yet released after it with sound: The Gallopin' Gaucho (Mickey in a Douglas Fairbanks, swashbuckling role) and Plane Crazy (Mickey as Lucky Lindy). These show that Mickey Mouse was initially conceived as anything but the pleasant, amiable, and entirely likable little guy he became once superstardom (and iconic status) set in. Rather, he was a mischievous, slightly mean spirited, and rambunctious character not above pulling little pigs by their tails to make them "oink" in time to "Turkey in the Straw" or, in a slightly surprising (at least to today's audiences) and refreshingly naughty vein, lifting Minnie into the air by her delicate and dainty under-pants (that's right, Minnie has been with Mickey from the start, making them certainly the longest-running screen couple in film history). In retrospect, it is easy to see why animators began complaining in the mid-1930s, once Mickey became a screen role model, his behavior always above reproach. (After Mary Pickford, Mickey was perhaps the first star whose career was dramatically affected and shaped by the expectations and demands of the viewing audience.) If he was soon forced to become the nice, malleable straight man to the more outrageous antics of Donald and Goofy, these two early shorts offer entertaining proof of his more pesky and mischievous (not to mention irreverent) origins.
The five-disc collection includes a color segment specially produced for the 1932 Academy Awards that was presented for the first and only time before this video release at the Oscar[TM] dinner on 18 November 1932. It features Mickey leading a parade of animated caricatures of that year's Best Actor and Best Actress nominees. The collection's 35 shorts offer many rare treats, including The Chain Gang (1930), an early prison-film parody that marked Pluto's screen debut; Mickey's Orphans (1931), featuring Mickey and a group of rambunctious tots - the first of Mr. Mouse's films to be nominated for an Academy Award; the slightly surreal Mickey's Nightmare (1932), in which our hero Mickey dreams of a horrific married life, complete with Minnie and a pesky stork who deposits (quite literally) buckets of babies to the newlyweds' home; the ominous The Mad Doctor (1933), perhaps the first animated horror film played more for chills than laughs - in fact, it was so stark that British censors deemed it unsuitable for viewing by children; Mickey's Gala Premiere (1933), in which the mouse star attends the opening of one of his films, an early self-reflexive curiosity featuring caricatures of such popular 1930s stars as Laurel and Hardy and Greta Garbo; Gulliver Mickey (1934), wherein our star proves his literacy by appearing in an early cartoon adaptation of the novel with hilarious results; and The Dognapper (1934), featuring Donald and Pluto's girlfriend Fifi playing in support of Mickey - the ruthless villain Peg-Leg Pete, however, somehow manages to steal the show, as always! Donald's screen debut opposite Mickey in Orphan's Benefit (1934) is also included, a short so popular it was remade in 1941. Also featured are early appearances by Minnie, Dippy Dawg (soon to be re-christened Goofy), and such forgotten early Disney stars as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar, who never quite caught on with audiences and were soon discarded.
Twenty of the shorts, including the seminal Steamboat Willie, are augmented by story sketches that can be reviewed by applying the step-motion feature of the laser-disc player, a handy means of studying and appreciating the early productions. The collection is a chronicle of the animated art form and Mickey history in the making. It is decidedly a first-class offering, complete with a lavishly illustrated mini-history book/laser-disc guide, chapter stops for every short, bonus still story sketches, and overall crisp visual and audio quality. Well worth the purchase price, Mickey Mouse the Black and White Years, Volume 1 is a must for serious lovers of animation, Disney artistry, Mickey himself. My only complaint: What happened to the subsequent volumes? To date, the "Exclusive Archive Collection" tag has been applied solely to fancy, overhyped, and overpriced boxed sets of Disney animated classics - there have been no short program follow-ups. What about "Mickey Mouse: The Color Years," "Goofy the Formative Years," "Minnie Speaks Out," "Donald Quacks Up," and so forth? The possibilities are not only mind boggling but, as this classic laser-disc set so entertainingly proves, invaluable and indispensable as well. Seek out this volume in earnest, for no film fan, scholar, student, or university should be without it!
COPYRIGHT 1996 Heldref Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
