Treasure Island

History and Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland

Year Released: 1950
Michael's Movie Grade:B+

                                                      History
Treasure Island was the first Disney film, not to feature any animation. While Disney had made 2 live action films earlier, both of those films had some animation in them. In fact Walt had originally thought of doing this film as an animated feature, but he quickly realized he did not need any animation.

Disney films had be doing quite well in Britain, but the government did not allow the money they made over there to be spent in the U.S. Partly because of this Walt decided to make some of his studio's live action films over in Britain. So this entire film was shot over in Britain. However this brought a unique problem. Disney live action regular Bobby Driscoll was cast to play Jim Hawkins. However he could only get a three month work permit in Britain. So all of his scenes had to be shot first, and out of order. His main co-actor would be British actor Robert Newton, and he would do something quite important with his role as Long John Silver. He is often credited with creating the stereotypical pirate speech for this film. So anyone who has jokingly talked like a pirate has this film to thank.

As Disney had not yet found a regular live action director, this film again would be directed by someone who had never worked at Disney before or after. This director would be a man named Byron Haskin. Bryon Haskin had previously worked not only as a director (I Walk Alone), but also as a cinematographer (Across the Pacific, Black Fury), and a special effects man (The Roaring Twenties, All This and Heaven Too, High Sierra). As you can see from this he had already worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, on some great movies before this film. He would later direct a sequel film to Treasure Island, called Long John Silver, released 5 years later. Interestingly this film would not be made at Disney but for Treasure Island Pictures Pty. Ltd., a studio that made only that one film. It would also star Robert Newton as Long John Silver. Because this movie was being filmed in Britain, Walt would have less to do with this this film than ever before. Because of this Haskin had more freedom than any Disney director had before him had (except of course Walt on some of the shorts he directed himself).

Treasure Island while not one of Disney's greatest hits, did make money at the box office. The critics did pan it for taking to many liberates with the novel, but today it is considered one of the closet adaptions of the book.

                                                             Review
Possibly the best film adaption of Treasure Island. While it does lag at times, it is filled with enough truly excellent moments to more than make up for that.

Treasure Island features many moments full of great film making. F.A. Young's cinematography and the work of all those who worked on the sets are particularly great, and add much to nearly every scene. Haskin was a great choice for director. What really makes this film work is the seriousness and intensity the material is treated with. While there is nothing inappropriate for kids, there are quite a few scenes that can be quite shocking and intense, that may surprise those who just view Disney films as just sugar coated escapism. These scenes are completely gripping and would alone make this film worth watching.

Just as great is the film versions of Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver. These characters are extremely vivid and memorable, and often steal the scenes they are in. These great characterizations are achieved though both Lawrence Edward Watkin's script and the performances of Bobby Driscoll and Robert Newton. Unfortunately though the other characters are not as memorable as these two, and often times feel underdeveloped. While not boring we never feel like we truly know them.

Overall this is a great adaption of Treasure Island, and a great film in it's own right. A very well made film and a great beginning for Disney films without animation.

                                                    Film Credits

Director: Bryon Haskin

Based on the book by Robert Louis Stevenson

Writer: Lawrence Edward Watkin

Cast: Bobby Driscoll (Jim Hawkins), Robert Newton (Long John Silver), Basil Sydney (Captain Smollett), Walter Fitzgerald (Squire Trelawney), Denis O'Dea (Dr. Livesy), Finlay Currie (Capt. Billy Bones), Ralph Truman (George Merry), Geoffrey Keen (Israel Hands), Geoffrey Wilkinson (Ben Gunn), John Laurie (Blind Pew), Francis De Wolff (Black Dog), David Davies (Mr. Arrow), John Gregson (Redruth), Andrew Blackett (Gray), William Devlin (Morgan), Howard Douglas (Williams), Harry Locke (Haggott), Sam Kydd (Cady), Stephen Jack (Job), Harold Jamieson (Scully), Diarmuid Kelly (Bolen), Reginald Drummond (Vane), Gordon Mulholland (Durgin), Patrick Troughton (Roach), Jim O'Brady (Wolfe), Chris Adcock (Pike), Tom Lucas (Upson), Leo Phillips (Spotts), Eddie Moran (Bart), Bob Head (Tardy), Ken Buckle (Joyce), Paddy Brannigan (Hunter), Jack Arrow (Norton), Freddy Clark (Bray)

Producers: Perce Pearce, Walt Disney, Herbert Smith

Music: Clifton Parker

Cinematography: F. A. Young

Editor: Alan Jaggs

Production Design: Thomas N. Morahan

Costume Design: Sheila Graham

Casting: Maude Spector

Assistant Directors: Mark Evans, George Fowler, Gordon Heaver, Pat MacDonnell, David W. Orton

Makeup Department: Tony Sforzini, Vivienne Walker, R.L. Alexander, Olga Angelinetta, Gladys Atkinson, Sarah Beber, Gene Beck, Frances Dobson, Betty Dymore, Vera Franklin, Eddie Knight, Ann Morley, Alice Piper, Nora Ridgeway, Geoffrey Rodway, Grace Spellacey, Pearl Tipaldi, Sidney Turner, Joan White, Joyce Wood

Production Managers: Douglas Peirce, Fred Leahy

Art Department: Len Banks, W. Evans, R.H. Gillard, Bert Jempson, Norman Lloyd, Basil Mannin, Bill Nason, Bert Norman, M. Quick, J. Ralph, Fred Richards, W. Searle, George Smith, F. Stannard, Pat Ward, R. Wingfield, Wally Young

Sound Department: Kenneth Heeley-Ray, Geoffrey Daniels, Peter Davies, David Hildyard, Anthony J. Kay, Jack Locke, Austin Partridge

Camera Department: L. Cave-Chinn, Skeets Kelly, Stanley W. Sayer, Harry Baker, Frank Bellingham, Tom Gardner, Arthur Ibbetson, Bob Kindred, Frank Kingston, William Leach, Don Lewis, George Pink , Derek Whitehurst

Costume Department: Fred Birch, Bert Brown, Fred Pridmore

Assistant Editors: Dennis Gurney, Dennis Sawyer, Charles Squires

                                            Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043067/?ref_=rvi_tt
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/2009/12/treasure-island-1950.html
The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin

-Michael J. Ruhland

Cinderella

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland













Year Released:1950
Michael's Movie Grade: A-

                                                          History
Cinderella was one of the most important films for Disney. This film remarked the return to a feature length animated story as apposed to a package film. This would be one of the greatest risks Disney would ever take. If Cinderella did not do well at the box office, than the studio would have gone bankrupt, and the Disney company would not exist today. The amount of money used to make Cinderella was staggeringly more than any of the package films or their previous two mostly live action films. Especially considering the financial failure of Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi, this is a risk no other Hollywood studio would have made.

The choice for the source material was a simple one. Cinderella was in fact Walt's favorite fairy tale. In fact this 1950 version was not the first time Walt Disney had worked on a film version of Cinderella. In 1922 Walt directed a short cartoon version of Cinderella entitled Cinderella. There is very few similarities between the two films however.

The source material was also chosen because Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had been the biggest hit the studio had had up to this time, so it was decided that a romantic fairy tale about a princess having her dreams come true would be a good idea for a return to animated feature length stories for Disney.

Cinderella plays another important role in Disney history, it was the first film that all of Disney's Nine Old Men worked on, Disney's Nine Old Men were Ward Kimball, John Lounsbery, Marc Davis, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnson, Les Clark, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reithman, and Milt Kahl. These were who Walt Disney personally considered the best Disney animators, and men who he felt he could put his complete trust in. Though they had all been at Disney for a while, and all have done some very important work, Cinderella marks the first time they had a worked on the same film. This is mainly due to often times multiple features would be worked on at once, so different animators were assigned different characters. As with earlier Disney feature length animated stories supervising animators would be cast by character. For instance in this film, Marc Davis and Eric Larson would be the supervising animators for Cinderella herself, Ward Kimball and John Lounsbery would be the supervising animators for the mice, along with Lucifer the cat and Bruno the dog, Milt Kahl would be in charge of the Fairy Godmother, the prince, the king and the duke, Frank Thomas would be in charge of the evil stepmother, Ollie Johnson for the ugly stepsisters, and so forth. The directing team for Cinderella was made up of Disney regulars Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, and Clyde Geronimi, who would return as the directors for Disney's next animated feature, Alice in Wonderland.

Though it had been used in earlier animated Disney films, Cinderella used much more live action reference then Disney has ever used before in an animated film. It is estimated 90% of the movie was first shot in live action before the animation begun. This was done to not only get the animation done quicker, but also cheaper, because the animators would not need to animate as many different drafts of one scene.

Like in Snow White the studio could not find a way to make the prince that interesting, because of this his part in the film was shortened, and a few scenes that revolved around him were cut from the final film.

Cinderella was just the hit Disney needed at this time, a big one. It caused a sensation and audiences had renewed the excitement they felt for Snow White. No Disney film had made as much money since Snow White, 13 years earlier. Disney was now back in the game of making animated feature length stories, something of course the studio still does to this day.

                                                                Review
Cinderella is simply a very lovely film. It is full of great film making, and great animation, but most of all it is very charming, and a great feel good movie.

The animation in the film is simply top notch. I have a particular fondness for Ward Kimball and John Lounsburry's work on Lucifer the cat. His facial expressions are simply hilarious, and bring an energy and likability to a character that could have easily been bland and one note. The scene where he is looking for Gus under the tea cups, features some of the funniest animation to ever be in a Disney film.

The film making in Cinderella is simply fantastic. The scene where Cinderella sings Sing Sweet Nightingale features some very impressive filmmaking and it ranks among one of the greatest scenes in Disney history.  The scene where Cinderella is locked in her room, brings us echos of Hitchcock, and does so brilliantly. As well the dress tearing scene marks not only one of Disney's most emotional moments, but is brilliantly staged. I could go on but this film is full of brilliant little touches that enhance the movie a lot.

However this film has some faults as well. With apologies to voices artists James McDonald,  Clint McCauley, Helen Seibert, June Sullivan, and Lucille Williams, the mice's voices can be annoying at times, and their song number is not that great. Also though an improvement over the prince in Snow White, the prince is still a bland character. However with how great the rest of the film is it is easy to forgive these minor faults.

 Overall this is simply a very lovely film, that is full of charm and beauty. 



                                                            Film Credits

Directors: Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi

Based off the original story by Charles Perrault.

Written By: Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Homer Brightman, Ken Anderson, Erdman Penner, Winston Hibler, Harry Reeves, Joe Rinaldi

Voices: Ilene Woods (Cinderella), Eleanor Audley (Lady Tremaine), Verna Felton (Fairy Godmother), Luis Van Rooten (King, Grand Duke), James Macdonald (Gus, Jaq, Bruno), June Foray (Lucifer), William Phipps (Prince Charming), Mike Douglas (Prince Charming (Singing Voice)), Don Barclay (Doorman), Rhoda Williams (Drizella, Tremaine), Lucille Bliss (Anastasia Tremaine), Lucille Williams (Perla), Clint McCauley (Mice), Betty Lou Gerson (Narrator), Helen Seibert (Mouse), June Sullivan (Mouse)

Producer: Walt Disney

Production Supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen

Editor: Donald Halliday

Music: Paul J. Smith, Oliver Wallace

Songwriters: Mack David, Jerry Livingston, Al Hoffman

Assistant Directors: Mike Holoboff, Larry Lansburgh, Ted Sebern

Sound Department: Robert O. Cook, C.O. Slyfield, Harold J. Steck

Effects Animators: George Rowley, Josh Meador, Jack Boyd

Special Effects: Ub Iwerks

Color Styling: Mary Blair, Claude Coats, John Hench, Don DaGradi

Layout Artists: Mac Stewart, Tom Codrick, Lance Nolley, Don Griffith, A. Kendall O'Connor, Hugh Hennesy, Charles Philippi, Thor Putnam

Background Artists: Brice Mack, Ralph Hulett, Dick Anthony, Art Riley, Ray Huffine, Merle Cox, Thelma Witmer

Supervising Animator: Eric Larson, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Les Clark, Norm Ferguson

Assistant Animator: Iwao Takamoto

Animators:  Don Lusk, Hugh Fraser, Fred Moore, Judge Witaker, Marvin Woodward, George Nicholas, Phil Duncan, Hal King, Harvey Toombs, Cliff Nordberg, Hal Ambro, Ken O'Brien, Edwin Aardal, Blaine Gibson, Jerry Hathcock, Dan MacManus, John McManus

                                                           Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042332/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/28-Cinderella
The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland






















Michael's Movie Grade: A+
Year Released: 1949


                                                                      History

With The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, we are going to take our last look at Disney's Package films. The Package films were a series of Disney Features that were really just a collection of shorts put together instead of having a singular feature length story. These films made up the majority of Disney's feature film output after Bambi and before Cinderella. The reason this trend started was for multiple reasons. One of these reasons was because Disney was having financial problems due to the poor box office performances of Pinocchio, Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon, and Bambi. The package films were cheaper to make than those films were, so they often turned up a bigger profit. Another reason was when WW2 started many Disney animators had been drafted, and the studio was making films for the U.S. government. So this film in a way marks the end of an era of Disney history.

Both the stories used in this film had been previously planned to be feature length animated stories. In fact Walt had bought the rights to make a film based off Wind and the Willows in 1938, after the success of the studios first feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However even though a script had been written by 1941, the previous two reasons for the package films, made the film be put on hold. Around 1945 the studio had begun to experiment with the idea of making a feature film based off of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, however the story just did not lend itself to a whole feature film. So with the success of the package films, it was decided that these should be put together to make one feature film.

It was originally planned for Jiminy Cricket to return again, as he did in Fun and Fancy Free. He would have introduced The Wind in the Willows segment. However this idea would be dropped so that the segment would be narrated by actor Basil Rathbone, who at this time was most known for playing the famous detective Sherlock Holmes in very popular series of films. To contrast with Rathbone's very British voice, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, would be narrated by popular corner Bing Crosby, who had already had himself, a really good film career, with "the road movies", along side Bob Hope, and quite a few other big hits, such as The Bells of Saint Mary.

Like the other package films, there would be multiple directors for this film, that were assigned different segments. All of these directors would be Disney regulars. James Algar would be a director for The Wind and the Willows segment, Clyde Geronimi, would be a director on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Segment, and Jack Kinney would be a director on both.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was a box office success, and was very well liked by critics (especially compared to other package films). Many critics said that this was a return to form for Disney. However both audinces and critics were anxious to see another feature length animated story from Disney. Well in fact their next feature would be just that.

                                                 

Review

Again since this film is really a collection of two shorts I will review each short separately.

The Wind and The Willows: Excellent cartoon. Here you will see some of the best character animation Disney had done since Bambi. The real treat of this cartoon is how the characters truly come to life. This is done by great animation, voice acting and writing all working together. This short is not constantly hilarious, but when it is, it is top notch cartoon humor. Also the scene of Toad's escape (hugely animated by the great Ward Kimball), and the heist scene towards the end of the short are definitely the highlights of this cartoon. They are staged fantastically and are great film making by any standard. Not to give too much away but, the ending of this cartoon differs from that of the book, and honestly I like the cartoon's ending more. Grade: A+

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Another excellent cartoon. This short features in it some of the greatest slapstick humor the studio ever did. Again while this cartoon is not always hilarious, when in it is as good as it gets. The scene at the Halloween dance (well the dancing part anyway), and the late night ride are both hilarious. However the late night ride isn't only funny it can be quite scary too, thanks to Wolfgang Reitherman's excellent animation of the headless horseman. However while it can get scary, it never gets too scary to where it loses any of it's great humor. Bing Crosby's almost tongue and cheek narration only adds to the great spirit of this cartoon. Grade: A+

Overall this is probally the best of Disney's Package films, and a real treat.

Film Credits

Directors: Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, James Algar

Based off the books The Wind and the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.

Writers: Erdman Penner, Ted Sears, Joe Rinaldi, Homer Brightman, Winston Hibler, Harry Reeves

Voices: Eric Blore (Toad), Colin Campbell (Mole), Campbell Grant (Angus), J. Pat O'Malley (Cyril), Claude Allister (Rat), Ollie Wallace (Winky), John McLeish (as John Ployardt) (Prosecutor), Leslie Denison (Judge, First Weasel), Edmond Stevens (Second Weasel), The Rhythmaires (Singers), Basil Rathbone (Narrator), Bing Crosby (Narrator)

Producer: Walt Disney

Music: Oliver Wallace, Joseph Dubin, Ken Darby, Al Teeter

Songwriters: Don Raye, Gene de Paul, Frank Churchill, Charles Wolcott, Larry Morey, Ray Gilbert

Production Supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen

Assistant Director:  Jack Bruner, Ted Sebern

Sound Department: Robert O. Cook, C.O. Slyfield, James MacDonald

Color and Styling: Mary Blair, Don Da Gradi, Claude Coats, John Hench

Effects Animators: George Rowley, Jack Boyd

Special Effects: Ub Iwerks

Background Artists: Art Riley, Ray Huffine, Brice Mack, Merle Cox, Dick Anthony

Layout Artists: Thor Putnam, Tom Codrick, Al Zinnen, Charles Philippi, Lance Nolley, Hugh Hennesy

Supervising Animators: Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball

Assistant Animator: Iwao Takamoto

Animators: Marc Davis, Hugh Fraser, Don Lusk, Fred Moore, Harvey Toombs, John Sibley, Hal King, Hal Ambro, Edwin Aardal, Al Bertino, Les Clark, Volus Jones, Bill Justice, Rudy Larriva, Eric Larson, Murray McClellan, Ken O'Brien, Retta Scott, Henry Tanous, Judge Whitaker, Marvin Woodward, Robert W. Youngquist

Resources Used

http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/27-Adventures-Of-Ichabod-And-Mister-To

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041094/?ref_=ttsnd_snd_tt

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2013/03/16/disney-53-week-11-the-adventures-of-ichabod-and-mr-toad

-Michael J. Ruhland