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Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald - Volume 4
R1 - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (20th January 2009). |
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The Show
 Even though Mickey Mouse is the official face of Disney’s franchise, his more jealous and awkward counterpart Donald has proven able to maintain franchises and be just as endearing. With the signature quacky voice patented by Clarence Nash, Donald has carved out his own spot in Disney’s animated kingdom, popping up in imitation in songs like “Disco Duck” (and by Nash in Disney’s response “Macho Duck”) or even getting his identical triplet nephews their own show in “Ducktales” (1987-1990) when he goes to join the Navy and put his sailor outfit to good use. This fourth collection of Donald Duck shorts focuses on his run in the decade between 1951 and 1961, including a collection of shorts featuring many of Donald’s mishaps and adventures. For the most part, unlike Mickey, Donald is more of a cantankerous screw up, constantly feuding with those around him while trying to get some menial task completed. In the shorts in this, collection Donald frequently feuds with various guest characters and Disney regulars while he’s up to some job or even scheme. Throughout the collection Donald battles Chip and Dale over everything from popcorn to peanuts, deals with his nephew’s mischief, fights some frisky horses and tries to steal honey from bees and much more. All of the shorts are well put together and restored, none of them run longer than 10 minutes and serve as a great archive of the character, showing off some of his earlier history even featuring some shorts produced for 3-D like “Working For Peanuts” which has a good amount of 3-D gags. It’s almost better that the 3-D isn’t there as the gags become a bit more comical when things that usually don’t fly at the screen mysteriously do, but a good grouping of shorts none the less. It’s a little incredible yet saddening the amount of work that went into these shorts, at least in comparison to some of Disney’s Direct-to-DVD products. I’m not sure whether to blame that on the change in times or just Disney becoming so powerful that it just doesn’t need to care as much any more, but either way the quality of the shorts is good. Overall it’s a nice collection of animated shorts featuring Donald Duck and a good effort by Disney’s DVD staff to not only collect a group of animated shorts that probably won’t be seen anywhere else, but importantly they are well transferred. The set even includes the classic “Donald In Mathmagic Land” special that I can remember from elementary and high school math classes from days when teachers either didn’t feel like talking or we had a substitute, giving eerie yet comical flashbacks. Here’s a summary of the shorts included on the 2 disc set: - “Dude Duck” (1951) - “Corn Chips” (1951) - “Test Pilot Donald” (1951) - “Lucky Number” (1951) - “Out of Scale” (1951) - “Bee On Guard” (1951) - “Donald Applecore” (1952) - “Let’s Stick Together” (1952) - “Trick or Treat” (1952) - “Don’s Fountain of Youth” (1953) - “The New Neighbor” (1953) - “Working for Peanuts” (1953) - “Canvas Back Duck” (1953) - “Uncle Donald’s Ants” (1952) - “Rugged Bear” (1953) - “Donald’s Diary” (1954) - “Dragon Around” (1954) - “Grin and Bear It” (1954) - “The Flying Squirrel” (1954) - “Grand Canyonscope” (1954) - “Bearly Asleep” (1955) - “Beezy Bear” (1955) - “Up A Tree” (1955) - “Chips Ahoy” (1956) - “How to Have An Accident In the Home” (1956) - “Donald in Mathmagic Land” (1959) - “Donald And The Wheel” (1961) - “The Litterbug” (1961) - “Spare The Rod” (1954) - “No Hunting” (1955) - “How To Have An Accident At Work” (1959)
Video
Most are presented in 1.33:1, though the DVD is anamorphic and there are a few in 2.35:1 widescreen such as “Beezy Bear” or “Grand Canyonscope” as they were originally produced in cinemascope widescreen for theatres. Thankfully none of the shorts are shoddily digitized and overall are well restored as there are no problems with pixilation and the animation lines are crisp and clear.
Audio
Presented in a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, the audio is clear and clean, all of the balance is good and for the most part the shorts sound as they were intended. Optional subtitles are included in English only.
Extras
The set comes equipped with a fair amount of extras including introductions, two audio commentaries a handful of additional short films, two featurettes and bonus trailers, all described below. DISC ONE: First, the introduction with Leonard Maltin runs for 3 minutes and 29 seconds. Maltin talks about the popularity of Donald Duck and the costs of producing the Donald Duck shorts, which continued at the quality Disney desired even past the Mickey Mouse featurettes. He also goes into the history and competition between film and television for audience, as well as summarizing the special features coming up on the disc. Next is the audio commentary track on the short “Working for Peanuts” with animation historian Jerry Beck and film critic Leonard Maltin. These two discuss the short in terms of it’s history and the 3-D effects originally used in the film, even though it’s not presented in 3-D. there’s some interesting discussion of the varied aspects of the production, including the backgrounds and the film’s showing history. It’s an interesting commentary that talks through the brief short film, though it feels like there could have been more commentaries on other shorts considering how brief they are. “Donald Goes to Press” runs for 12 minutes and 48 seconds. This featurette deals with the history of Disney comic strips, focusing on Donald’s rising popularity first in the Disney daily comic strip featuring Donald Duck, into his own Comic book. A very interesting featurette that goes in depth about the comics and their creators, most of which became incredibly famous in their own right such as Scrooge McDuck, Gyro Gearloose, Huey, Dewey and Louie, and the varied other characters that would all make appearances in “Ducktales” (1987) or other Disney affiliates. “The Unseen Donald Duck: Trouble Shooters” runs for 10 minutes and 13 seconds. In this featurette, Leonard Maltin and a Disney animator explain the storyboarding process in promoting and creating an animated short, going through a storyboarding presentation for an unused Donald Duck short. It’s an interesting look at the process and a fun look at an unproduced Donald Duck short, though it’s a little amazing how much work goes in to the storyboards for an animated feature in terms of detail, some of them are even colored so well they could be stills from an actual short. There's a bonus trailer for the usual "Disney DVD and Blu-ray" start-up spot which runs for 52 seconds. DISC TWO: Introduction with Leonard Maltin runs for 3 minutes and 13 seconds. Maltin talks about his personal identification with Donald Duck as a child, talking about the evolution of Donald Duck as a character, but mostly focusing on the different voice actors who appear in the different shorts. A good look at some of the unsung heroes of animation, Maltin does a good job of briefly going through the actors and promoting the rest of the features. There’s a section of special short films included under the “Mousworks Cartoons” label which were produced long after the shorts included on the disc and feature more of a modern look at the Donald Duck character. It’s interesting to see the difference between the newer and older shorts, especially in terms of the feel of these newer shorts compared with the filmic weight of older shorts. Here’s a listing of the shorts included: - “Bird Brained Donald” runs for 7 minutes and 32 seconds. - “Donald and The Big Nut” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Donald’s Charmed Date” runs for 4 minutes and 37 seconds. - “Donald’s Dinner Date” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Donald’s Failed Fourth” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Donald’s Rocket Ruckus” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Donald’s Shell Shots” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Donald’s Valentine Dollar” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Music Store Donald” runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds. - “Survival of the Woodchucks” runs for 6 minutes and 3 seconds. Finally is the second audio commentary on the short “Grand Canyonscope” with animation historian Jerry Beck and film critic Leonard Maltin. This short also runs in the (then) newly created Cinemascope, shown in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Maltin and Beck talk about this new format, the jokes and range it gave the animators. It’s an interesting discussion of the new format, though the mention of the expanded sound options that the cinemascope format is unfortunate considering it’ still in 2.0 stereo sound. There's anther bonus trailer for the usual "Disney DVD and Blu-ray" start-up spot which runs for 52 seconds.
Packaging
This 2-disc set is packaged in a deluxe amaray case housed in a silver tin case.
Overall
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