Watching all the Disney films from the very beginning

[Gr8WideSomewher]

Day 6: Bambi (1942)



Definitely my favourite of the early ones - We really haven't watched this one since the nineties so we were both very surprised by how good it is.

The most obvious highlight is the artistry of this film - you could pause it at any moment and have a gorgeous work of art to hang on your wall. Being a fan of impressionist painting I love the style they've gone for to portray the backgrounds, which are very evocative and use a lovely colour palette. I also really appreciate the time and detail that went into the characters in the foreground and things like Bambi's movement. I'm actually not sure if, apart from the lion king, there has been such a gorgeous Disney animated film - which is pretty amazing considering it's 1942 and we've got another 76 years of Disney animated films to get through.

I'd also forgotten how delightful some of the characters in this movie were; in particular Thumper! They must have realised they'd struck gold when they found the kid who voices Thumper - he has so much personality. Other characters who surprised me were Bambi's mother and father. I'd pretty much forgotten he even had a father, but both parents are actually quite interesting characters and I found myself wanting to know more about their relationship.

The music in Bambi is nice but not very memorable. It's a bit safe and there's no standout song really. I feel like they needed a dark, mournful song for after Bambi's mum dies. Spoilers lol

The next few films are all firsts for us, including films produced during WW2 and Disney's contribution to the propaganda effort...

[Tiggerific2018]

Originally Posted by Gr8WideSomewher

Day 5: Dumbo (1941)



I still find this film almost too painful to watch - I know it's supposed to be one of the more light-hearted ones and was a big success for Walt at the time, but it is so sad from about five minutes in until five minutes before the end. And the payoff of Dumbo realising his flying powers and being reunited with his mum isn't enough to make up for it. He needs to escape the circus!

The animation does not seem to be as strong as Fantasia but Dumbo is a great example of how to give human emotions to animal characters - you really feel for him because he is so fully realised as a character.

I don't find any of the circus bits funny or entertaining - they seem quite dark to me as well. It's quite a difficult thing for them to balance in the film - to suggest heavily that animal cruelty is wrong, but also to try and get us to laugh at animal cruelty.

The pink elephants sequence is baffling - only word for it. Again they're treading that line between menacing and funny - an odd choice for a children's film. Some of the editing and transitions are amazing, but the sequence is definitely too long considering it adds nothing to the story. Apparently, they were experimenting with Cubism! Why 'pink elephants' though? Why not build the sequence around 'flying elephants' being a weird thing to see when you're drunk? It is interesting that we tend to think of Disney as 'safe', 'fluffy' and somewhat 'conservative' and not one of these early films is.

The crows are really great. I do have problems with the choice to have the lead crow played by a white guy and have him definitely impersonating black musicians, but in general I don't find them racist. They're enormously charismatic and the only ones that believe in Dumbo and help him find his flying powers. Plus their song is easily the best in the whole movie - whoever wrote that song was having as much fun with language as the crows seem to be having singing it.

Next up, Bambi!

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Dumbo was released at about the same time (4 years before) Walt Disney worked with Dali, so I think the pink elephants were a way of trying to see if surrealism would work in animated films. That’s my take, anyway!

I’m really enjoying your reviews, as I’m currently rewatching all the animated films in preparation for our upcoming holiday.

[Gr8WideSomewher]

Originally Posted by Tiggerific2018

Dumbo was released at about the same time (4 years before) Walt Disney worked with Dali, so I think the pink elephants were a way of trying to see if surrealism would work in animated films. That’s my take, anyway!

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Oooh interesting! You can definitely see that influence in some of weird and creepy ways elephants change into other things during the song. I'm still not entirely convinced by it though. It seems like they could have used Dali-influenced visuals in a way that was more relevant to the story they were trying to tell; rather than it coming completely out of nowhere.

Originally Posted by Tiggerific2018

I’m really enjoying your reviews, as I’m currently rewatching all the animated films in preparation for our upcoming holiday.

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That's cool. It's quite an undertaking to watch them all isn't it? We're kind of doing the same thing as we've got a DLP trip booked at the end of October and we'd like to be finished by then. I don't think we will be though.

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by Gr8WideSomewher

There are a few movies on the list that aren't even on Disney Life and I think we're going to have to search Youtube and other places to find them. For example, I'm pretty sure Disney denies all knowledge of Song of the South so that one's going to be a challenge! But we're going to give it a good go.

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I believe that Disney have NEVER released Song of the South in any media format in the USA due to it's extremely controversial content.

It was released in other countries by them though.

[Gr8WideSomewher]

Originally Posted by scooby99

I believe that Disney have NEVER released Song of the South in any media format in the USA due to it's extremely controversial content.

It was released in other countries by them though.

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I believe you're right. Not to be controversial but I think it might be time to release it. They could release a dvd along with commentary from historians and proper discussion of why it's so controversial. It seems better to face up to your history than just to pretend it never existed.

[Gr8WideSomewher]

Day 7: Saludos Amigos (1942)



We'd never watched this one before (never even heard of it), but we thought it wasn't great. Again it's episodic so some sequences are naturally better than others, but none of them is particularly memorable.

It doesn't seem to be able to get past being a film-to-educate-the-public-about-South-America. Nowadays, as with movies like Moana, Disney 'educates' us about other cultures by weaving them into a story, but back then they seemed to think the only way was to hold things up one by one and say 'This is a thing. This thing is from Peru. Here's some images of people using the thing etc.'

Donald's new pal Jose Carioca is a cool dude and really deserves a proper movie/tv series to show off what a fun character he is - particularly when not dragged down by Donald, who doesn't manage to be anything other than annoying in this movie.

The best sequence is the one with Pedro the little aeroplane. It includes some of the best animation (the animation in this movie is a bit disappointing considering what they were doing with Bambi at the time and considering the beauty of the landscapes they had to work with) and Pedro is a cute character.

All in all I'd say if you never see this one your Disney education won't seriously suffer!

[mickeyspal]

I did this a few years ago it really makes you appreciate the work that went into making them. I have quite a large collection most of them on video but they still work . Some have a wobbly bit at the top because the tracking is a bit off. But as they are all nearly 30 years old that's not bad going

[Gr8WideSomewher]

Originally Posted by mickeyspal

I did this a few years ago it really makes you appreciate the work that went into making them. I have quite a large collection most of them on video but they still work . Some have a wobbly bit at the top because the tracking is a bit off. But as they are all nearly 30 years old that's not bad going

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On video? I remember having to adjust the tracking - I think I might be old

vhs tapes were always sturdier than dvds so I'm not surprised they still work.

[YLL]

Following this!

[StorybookCircus]

Where did you find the obscure older movies to watch?
Following this, it’s definitely something I’d like to do in the future!