During the '50s, Walt used his studio as a backdrop for several episodes of the Disneyland TV series. "The Story of the Animated Drawing" traces the history of the medium, including re-creations of Emil Reynaud's Theatre Optique (1892-1900) and Winsor McCay's vaudeville routine with his landmark film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). "Tricks of Our Trade," which focuses on the creation of Sleeping Beauty, shows staged footage of four of the celebrated "Nine Old Men"--Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston--sketching. In the DVD bonus material, host Leonard Maltin traces the development of the studio facilities from a Los Angeles garage to its present location in Burbank. Maltin also chats with Disney legend Joe Grant, who cowrote the "Baby Weems" sequence in Reluctant Dragon. Recorded at the time of Grant's 94th birthday, the artist displays the sly wit that continues to inspire animators. (Unrated: Suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Great movie!   August 31, 2008

Walt Disney Treasures Part 5: Behind the Scenes at WDS   April 25, 2003

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Wow! This IS Behind the Scenes!!!   April 22, 2003
  4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Walt Disney Treasures Review 5: Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney Studios:Leonard Maltin has done it, again. He made in myopinion one of the most interesting. This may not be the greatest quality but it is perfect. Like all the other treasures, it opens with the Walt Disney Treasure Theater and intro with Leonard Maltin. When you get to the main menu, you should start at the "How Walt Disney Cartoons are Made." Here, you could choose to view it with a informational subtitle showing history about the short made in the 30s for Snow White. Leonard Maltin Introduces it as usual. After this, head over to the crown of the collection, the 1941 feature, "The Reluctant Dragon." Introduced by Leonard Maltin, this film was a compiltation of various cartoons including the one that gave the film its name. Slid in between it all was comedy footage of Robert Benchley taking a "Detour" of the studios. He looks for Walt and gets sidetracked as he visits the sound effects stage, a recording session with the voice of Donald Duck, visiting the Multiplane Camera, paint room, sees a storyboard for the short "Baby Weems, and sees the animator's desk of Ward Kimball and watches Goofy's "How to Ride a Horse." After this movie, take a peek at the the film, "A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios." This film was created for RKO to distribute Snow White. This was remade into "How Disney Cartoons are Made" and shown to the public. It is introduced by Leonard. Finally on disc one, take a look at a few bonus features. Go look at "Behind the Boards on Baby Weems" featurette, a "Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour" featurette, and a Reluctant Dragon Gallery. Disc 2 opens with an intro by Leonard. He then gets you prepared to watch the second half, the Behind the Scenes Disneyland Shows. The first one is the pioneering "The Story of the Animated Drawing." This show is in black and white and was the first of three shows Walt would make about animation. He talks about the history of animation with a remake of "Gertie the Dinosaur," a demo of "Koko the Clown," and early animation devices. It is introduced by Leonard. Second is "The Plausible Impossible." This show is in color and came after the show seen before. Walt talked about things that would be impossible in our world, but seem Plausible in animation. It is introduced by Leonard Maltin. Finally, the third show is "Tricks of Our Trade." This one is when Walt Disney shows tricks that he and his animators used to created special effects and easier ways to animate that other studios would never be able to do. It is introduced by Leonard Maltin. Final bonus features are, "Walt Disney Studios" gallery, a "Kem Weber Gallery," and "A Trip Through Walt Disney Studios" radio program. Considering all the things in the is limited edition set show's age, this is good quality. This is worthy of ten stars for content, and five for quality. Buy it before all 250,000 run out.

Also See:

Silly Symphonies
Mickey Mouse in Living Color
Disneyland USA
Davy Crockett
Mickey Mouse in Black and White
The Complete Goofy


Looking beyond the curtain   March 21, 2003
  8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Out of all the Disney Treasures releases, this will probably be the most overlooked. Sure, it doesn't have Mickey Mouse or Goofy or those wonderful Silly Symphonies. Instead, we get prehaps the best look into one of the most important studios in cinema history at its peak. The set is not the most entertaining, but it's the one set that shows the brillance of the House of Mouse (and shows what once was and lost now at Disney)


Disney Fans Will Want to Have This   March 11, 2003
  2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This little collection of curios found in the Disney vaults will likely not appeal to the average viewer or kiddie fan. But, for hard-core Disney buffs and people who are just interested in old documentaries, this is the thing for you.
On disc one, we get "The Reluctant Dragon," which was made as a quick cash-in in the early 1940s. It stars Robert Benchley, who goes on a self-guided tour of the Disney studio, meeting Walt Disney and seeing some very good cartoons (my favorite being "Baby Weems.") While an exploitation film at core, it's entertaining.
Disc one also contains two short documentaries about how Disney cartoons are made, which were produced as trailers for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
On disc two, we're treated to three episode's of Disney's "Disneyland" TV series, in which Walt would talk about a different aspect of his studio and filmmaking every week. The episodes are "The Story of Animated Drawing," "Tricks of Our Trade," and "The Plausible Implausible" (the best of the three).
The contents of this two-disc set are all presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Some of them look very grainy, and some of them look fairly good. Being such seldom remastered curios, a critique on picture quality is hardly relevant.
There are some extras as well that will appeal to Disney buffs. On disc one, there are some Leonard Maltin intros, Galleries from "Reluctant Dragon" and "Baby Weems," as well as "Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour.'
On disc two, there are more intros, another gallery, and a Tour of the Disney Studios radio show.
And finally, the set includes a booklet and a mini "Reluctant Dragon" poster.