The Littlest Outlaw

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

















Michael's Movie Grade:C+
Year Released:1955

                                History  
The Littlest Outlaw began as an idea for a segment on the Disneyland T.V. Show. This idea came from a man name Larry Lansburg. Lansburg had worked as a cameraman on a few Disney films like So Dear to My Heart, Saludos Amigos, and The Three Caballeros. He had also directed a Disney live action documentary short called Stormy. Walt liked Lansburg's idea but felt it work better as a theatrical feature rather than a T.V. show segment, and handed the idea to  writer Bill Walsh to make into a feature film script. Though Bill Walsh had produced some of the Disney T.V. output, and Davy Crockett: The King of the wild Frontier, and written for the Disney T.V. special One Hour in Wonderland, this was the first time Bill Walsh would write a script for a Disney theatrical release. Walsh would later write for such films as The Shaggy Dog, The Absent Minded Professor, Mary Poppins, That Darn Cat. and more Disney films. 

Since this film was shot in Mexico, and had a mostly Mexican cast, the film was shot in both English and Spanish rather than being dubbed. Also because of this the film also had a Mexican director, Roberto Gavaldón. Roberto Gavaldón has directed such Mexican films as Macario, In the Palm of Your Hand and The Hidden One.  This was his first and last film for Disney. 

The main child actor of this film was Andrés Velázquez, whose film career was very short. He had previously appeared in the feature films, One Big Affair (an American film directed by Peter Godfrey) and Nunca es tarde para amar (a Mexican film directed by Tito Davison), and an episode of the American T.V, show, Schlitz Playhouse. After The Littlest Outlaw, he would appear in only one more film, the Mexican feature, Feliz año, amor mío, directed by Tulio Demicheli.

At this time Disney was known for more extravagant films, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Cinderella, so a lot of audiences didn't warm up to this gentle low budget film, because it wasn't what they expected from Disney. Because of this the movie lost money at the box office. Critical reactions were quite mixed, some praising it for it's atmosphere and acting, and some disliking it because it was not what they expected from Disney.  The same year the film was released Disney also released a record where Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Cliff Edwards) narrated the story.

                                                  

Review

   Sweet, Charming, but not especially memorable. 

This film's acting is quite good, even from the child actors. The cinematography is also quite good. The story is charming. However despite all this there is little to make this film stand out among other good films. We have seen it all before, and although it is done quite well though, there is little to make it anything special among other good, and simular films.

Overall this is a good film that I recommend, but it is not a Disney classic, or a film that really stands out.

                                                            Film Credits

Director: Roberto Gavaldón

Writers: Larry Lansburgh, Bill Walsh

Cast: Andrés Velázquez (Pablito), Pedro Armendáriz (Gen. Torres), Joseph Calleia (Padre), Rodolfo Acosta (Chato),  Laila Maley (Celita),  Pepe Ortiz (Matador), Gilberto González (Tiger), José Torvay (Vulture), Jorge Treviño (Barber), José Ángel Espinosa 'Ferrusquilla' (Señor Garcia), Enriqueta Zazueta (Señora Garcia), Irving Lee (Gypsy), Carlos Ortigoza (Doctor), Margarito Luna (Silvestre), Ricardo Gonzáles (Marcos), María Eugenia (Bride), Pedrito Vargas (Groom)

Producers: Larry Lansburgh, Walt Disney

Music: William Lava, Charles Maxwell

Songwriters: William Lava. Jeff Chandler

Cinematographers: Carl Carvahal, Alex Phillips

Editors: Carlos Savage

Set Design: Rafael Suárez

Production Manager: Luis Sánchez Tello

Assistant Director: Jesús Marín

Sound Department: Manuel Topete

Head Wrangler: 'Chema' Hernandez


                                                     Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048304/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Littlest%20Outlaw%20%28The%29


-Michael J. Ruhland

The African Lion

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Movie Grade:B
Year Released:1955

                                           History
In Disney's 3rd feature-length True Life Adventure, and their 10th True Life Adventure of any kind, the series took it's first trip out of the U.S. and went to Africa, and is given the appropriate title of The African Lion.

This film featured much of the same crew who had worked on the two previous feature-length True Life Adventures. This includes director (and writer) James Algar, narrator (and writer) Winston Hibler, Producers Ben Sharpsteen and Walt Disney (of course), writers Ted Sears and  Jack Moffitt, and composer Paul J. Smith. However this did not feature the same photographers as those two previous films. The photographers for this movie were husband and wife team Alfred and Emla Milotte. Alfred had previously been a photographer for some of Disney's True Life Adventure shorts. However Emla had not done photography for Disney before by helped with researching on Disney's first True-Life Adventure, Seal Island. This is the first time either of them had worked on a feature film (for Disney or anybody else). These two photographers spent 3 years getting the footage needed for The African Lion.

The African Lion differed from previous Disney nature documentaries in more ways than just taking place outside the U.S.. This was the first True-Life Adventure not to feature any staged footage. While the previous films had been mostly honest footage, they also contained some footage that was faked rather than found in nature. However that is not true of The African Lion, where all the footage was completely real. Also the humor was toned down a lot. Critics had complained a lot about the comedy element in previous Disney nature documentaries. Walt didn't just brush off this criticism, he took it to heart, and therefore The African Lion has much less comedy than previous entries in the series.

Unlike Disney's previous two feature-length nature documentaries The African Lion was not nominated for an academy award. However it did win for best documentary feature at the Berlin International Film Festival. When released this film was a box office success, and critics loved it and some felt that it was the best Disney nature documentary yet. Bosley Crowther for The New York Times called it "The purest of Disney's Nature Films". This isn't the last time the studio would visit Africa and it's wildlife for a nature documentary. In 2011 the studio would make another feature-length nature documentary called African Cats.

Review

 Very good True life adventure and one of the best of the series. 

What really works about this film is it doesn't talk down to it's audience, but treats them with respect. Though there is some humor, much of the film does not even try to sugarcoat reality, or hide just how cruel nature can be at times. 

The photography is incredible. It is amazing and beautiful to look at. It really is awe inspiring to think how the Milottes manged to capture what they did on camera, and it is easy to assume none of their three years in Africa were wasted.  

As I've said before I'm not a fan of the humor in this series, so I'm very happy that there is a lot less of it here, and when it does appear it doesn't distract to much from the rest of the film. I could still do with less narration, but it is done much better here. Though it can sometimes be a little dry. It tries hard to sound exciting, without resorting to too many bad jokes, and it succeeds at this more often than the film's predecessors. I still however think Paul J. Smith's music can be too over the top and distracting at times (something that happens in these nature documentaries that doesn't seem to happen in other films he scores), and this still is a pretty big fault.

Overall this is quite a good movie, and one of Disney's best nature documentaries.

Film Credits

Director: James Algar

Writers: James Algar, Winston Hibler, Ted Sears, and Jack Moffitt

Narration: Winston Hibler 

Producers: Walt Disney, Ben Sharpsteen

Music: Paul J. Smith

Editor: Norman R. Palmer

Photographers: Alfred Milotte, Elma Milotte

Production Manager: Erwin L. Verity

Sound Director: Robert O. Cook

Effects Artists: Ub Iwerks, Joshua Meador, Art Riley

Resources Used 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047803/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/African%20Lion%20%28The%29

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9806EFDD113AE53BBC4D52DFBF66838E649EDE

-Michael J. Ruhland

Lady and the Tramp

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Movie Grade:A+
Year Released: 1955

                                              History
The history of Lady and the Tramp dates back to 1937. In 1937 Disney animator and writer Joe Grant drew a picture of a dog, that he called Lady. Walt was interested in this character and so he told Joe to make a storyboard involving this character. The storyboard while quite different included some similar story points like Lady being afraid that she would be replaced by a baby, and some evil cats. Walt was not satisfied with this storyboard, and so the idea was shelved. However Joe continued working on this idea. Frank Tashlin (who had a very brief career as a Disney writer) remembered working on an early version of the story in 1940. You can see some of the early work for this film in the background of the live action studio tour section of Disney's 1941 feature The Reluctant Dragon. Like many of Disney's animated features, this film work would also be delayed by World War Two. Joe Grant would leave the Disney studio in 1949, so he would unfortunately not receive any credit on the film. After he left he would have his own greeting card business. However he would return to the Disney studio in 1989, and work on such films as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan, Fantasia 2000, Pocahontas, Monsters Inc., and UP.  

In 1943 Ward Greene wrote a short story called Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog. This story had as it's main character a cynical male dog. Walt read this story and felt that a similar character would be just what the Lady story would need. Walt Disney remembered Ward Greene and when a fairly complete story was completed in 1953, Walt would hire him to write a novelization of the story to be released before the film as Walt was nervous about making an animated Disney feature not based off a well known book. Despite the opening titles saying "From the Story by Ward Greene" the book was based off of the story of the film not the other way around. The name for the new cynical dog character was not come by easily. Various names thought of for him were, Homer, Rags, and Bonzo. The name Tramp was controversial, because unlike when Charlie Chaplin had his little tramp character, this was the 1950's and the term had already gained it's other sexual meaning. However this was the name Walt wanted, and this was the name used. Similarly Jim Dear and Darling originally had the names, Jim Brown and Elizebeth. This was changed of course to make the story told from more of Lady's perspective. Also similarly the two Siamese cats were originally to be called Nip and Tuck, but the names were changed to Si and Am. Another change to the original script was that Aunt Sarah was originally going to be much meaner, instead she became a character, who simply was doing what she felt was best.

Based on their success with directing Cinderella and Peter Pan, the directors once again would be Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske. The original main background artist was going to be Mary Blair, however she left the Disney studio to become a children's book illustrator in 1953, so much of this work was handled by Eyvind Earle. Earle would later be the principle art director on Sleeping Beauty. 7 of Disney's Nine Old Men worked on this film. They were Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson and Les Clark. They were all supervising animators on this film.

To write the musical numbers Walt hired singer/songwriter Peggy Lee, and her song writing partner Sonnny Burke. They wrote all the songs except for Peace on Earth, which was written by Oliver Wallace, who wrote the score for the movie. Since they all ready had her working on the film it was deiced that she would do some voices as well, these voices included, the Siamese cats, Darling, the singing voice of Lady (Lady's speaking voice was done by Barbara Luddy, who would later do the voices of Meriwether (in Sleeping Beauty), and for Kanga (in the Winnie The Pooh films) for Disney), and of course Peg.

Lady and the Tramp was the first Disney animated feature to be done in Cinemascope, and the second Disney feature to be done in this process (the first was the live action 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). This made animating much harder and longer work for all the animators, and raised the production cost up. On top of this not every theater was equipped with Cinemascope, and therefore the animation had to be shot twice. Because of all this the animation alone took three years to complete.

The most famous scene in Lady and the Tramp is definitely the spaghetti scene. However this scene almost didn't make it into the film. Walt was convinced that this scene just could not work in the animation stage. Because of this the scene was almost cut. However Frank Thomas was convinced it would work, and animated a rough version of the scene himself. Walt liked Frank Thomas' work and deiced to keep the scene in the film.

Lady and the Tramp was disliked by critics, who found it below par for Disney animation and that for an animated movie about dogs it was too mature and for adults (I am not making that up), however audiences loved the film and it was a huge box office success. Today it is still considered a classic AFI named it 95 on their list of the greatest love stories, and Tony's Restaurant from the film exists in Walt Disney World. The song number Peace on Earth has also become a Christmas classic.

                                         

                                                Review

One of Disney's loveliest animated features.

Everything just works in this classic film. The music is great. The characters are great. The animation is amazing and the whole film just has such a lovely perfect feeling to it. This is just such a great film to look at. While I miss Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle is more than up to the task, and the backgrounds are just lovely all the way throughout. The romance is one of Disney's best, it is fully believable and perfectly handled. This may be one of my favorite movie romances of all time. Of course the songs are classics, and they enhance every scene they are in.

By the way with how perfect the opening scene is, with it's amazing artwork and beautiful music all revolving around Christmas, this film has become a must watch every Christmas season for me, despite it not actually being a Christmas movie.

Overall this is a great classic and again one of Disney's loveliest films.

                                               Film Credits

Directors: Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson

Writers:  Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don DaGradi

Based off ideas by Joe Grant and Ward Greene

Voices: Peggy Lee (Darling, Si, Am, Peg), Barbara Luddy (Lady), Larry Roberts (Tramp), Bill Thompson (Jock, Joe, Bulldog, Dachsie, Policeman), Bill Baucom (Trusty), Verna Felton (Sarah), George Givot (Tony), Lee Millar (Jim, Dog Catcher), Stan Freberg (Beaver, Clerk), Alan Reed (Boris), Dallas McKennon (Toughy, The Professor, Pedro, Hyena, Old Sailor, Polar Bear)

Producers: Walt Disney, Erdman Penner

Music: Oliver Wallace

Songwriters: Oliver Wallace, Peggy Lee, Sonny Burke

Editor: Don Halliday

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

Effects Animators: George Rowley, Dan MacManus

Other Special Effects: Ub Iwerks

Supervising Animators: Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, Hal King, Les Clark

Layout Artists: Ken Anderson, Tom Codrick, Al Zinnen, A. Kendall O'Connor, Hugh Hennesy, Lance Nolley, Jacques Rupp, McLaren Stewart, Don Griffith, Thor Putnam, Collin Campbell, Victor Haboush, Bill Bosche

Background Artists: Claude Coats, Dick Anthony, Ralph Hulett, Al Dempster, Thelma Witmer, Eyvind Earle, Jimi Trout, Ray Huffine, Brice Mack

Animators: Ed Aardal, Hal Ambro, Jack Campbell, Bob Carlson, Eric Cleworth, Hugh Fraser, John Freeman, Jerry Hathcock, George Kreisl, Don Lusk, Cliff Nordberg, Ken O'Brien, John Sibley, Harvey Toombs, Marvin Woodward


                                              Resources Used 
http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/31-Lady-And-The-Tramp

http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Lady%20and%20the%20Tramp

http://norlinreelhistory.blogspot.com/2011/07/disneys-lady-and-tramp.html

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/lady-and-the-tramp-spaghetti-scene-121119404577.html

Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons By Leonard Maltin

-Michael J. Ruhland

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland





























Michael's Movie Grade:B
Year Released: 1955


                                  History
On October, 27th 1954, the Disney company had started a weekly TV show called Disneyland. This show was created to promote Walt's new theme park also called Disneyland. This show would feature previous Disney films (sometimes clips and sometimes shown all the way through), both animated and live action, but it would also feature some new material as well. Each episode would center around one or more theme. These themes were based off of Disneyland's different areas. The theme could be Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantsyland, and where our subject for this post comes from Frontierland. On December 15, 1954 from Frontierland, came Davy Crockett. This story would be made up of three episodes and it is considered by some to be the first TV miniseries. Davy Crockett, took off like no one not even Walt, thought it would. Crockett and the actor who played him became household names, and every kid who was any kid needed a coonskin cap. Audiences were begging to see these episodes again, and so Walt came up with the idea of editing all three episodes into one theatrically released feature film called Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. He also made some prequel episodes for the Disneyland TV show.

The director for the episodes and the film was Norman Foster. Norman Foster was the director of various Mr. Motto films (staring Peter Lorre), and Charlie Chan films (starring Sydney Toler). Norman Foster would go on to direct the next Davy Crockett episodes, and film, and he would also direct Disney's Zorro TV series and the feature film edited from that show The Sign of Zorro. The writer for the film and TV episodes was Tom Blackburn, who also wrote the lyrics to the theme song. Tom Blackburn had written various western novels such as Tumbleweed with Spurs, Range War, and Broken Arrow Range. He had also written movie screenplays for various film westerns, and later scripts for western TV shows. Blackburn, would later write screenplays for the Disney films, Johnny Tremain, Westward Ho! the Wagon Train, and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (and of course the episodes those would be based off of. Fess Parker, who played Davy, would later appear in the Disney films, The Great Locomotive Chase, Old Yeller, The Light in the Forest, and of course Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. He would also star in (not for Disney), a TV series called Daniel Boone, which was obviously inspired by the success of his role as Davy. The role of Davy was originally going to go to actor Buddy Ebson, but Walt changed his mind when he saw Fess Parker in the 1954 film Them!. However Ebson would still play the role of George Russell, Davy's close friend here.

The premiere of the film was on May 25th 1955, six months after the first Davy Crockett episode of Disneyland. However despite this the film was still a big financial success. It show just how popular, Disney's version of Davy Crockett was. That so soon after they had just seen the same thing on TV. However this did bring something that the TV episodes didn't bring. The episodes were shot  shot in color, but aired in black and white. Because of this these episodes would be shown in color for the first time to the public. However this film ran only 93 minutes, while the original TV episodes put together ran 150 minutes, meaning of course that audiences would not get the whole story as told in the TV episodes.

Disney's version of  Davy Crockett was too successful to leave at just three TV episodes and one feature film. Walt stated that if he knew how popular the character would be Davy would have survived the Alamo. However more Davy Crockett episodes of Disneyland were still made, but they took place before the previous three, and these episodes were edited into another feature film to be called Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Disney's version of Davy, of course also had a big impact on the Frontierland portion of the Disneyland park.

Review

Very fun western adventure. This film has a lot to recommend. As a fan of country music, I must say that Tom Blackburn and George Burns songs are top notch, and really enhance the film. The acting is also top notch.This is especially true of Fess Parker's performance, which brings Davy himself to life. The look of this film is as great and vivid as you would expect from Disney. Most of all the film is just filled with fun.

On the downside you can really feel, the fact that parts of the TV episodes had been cut. Because of this the film seems quite rushed at times, and has alack of some needed quiet moments. You can just simply tell, that this film would have been better had more of scenes been left in.

Overall this is a great really fun film. While watching the original TV episodes would be better, that doesn't change the fact that this film is very enjoyable and well worth watching.

                                Film Credits
Director:Norman Foster

Writer: Tom Blackburn

Cast: Fess Parker (Davy Crockett), Buddy Ebson (George Marshall), Basil Ruysdael (Andrew Jackson), Hans Conried (Thimblerig), William Bakewell (Tobias Norton), Kenneth Tobey (Jim Bowie), Pat Hogan (Red Stick), Helene Stanley (Polly Crockett), Nick Cravat (Busted Luck), Don Megowan (William Travis), Mike Mazurki (Bigfoot Mason), Jeff Thompson (Charlie Two Shirts), Henry Joyner (Swaney), Campbell Brown (Bruno), Robert Booth (Congressman), Eugene Brindel (Billy Crockett), Benjamin Hornbuckle (Henderson), Jim Maddux (Congressman), Ray Whitetree (Johnny Crockett), Hal Youngblood (Speaker)

Producers: Walt Disney, Bill Walsh

Music: George Bruns, Edward H. Plumb

Songwriters: George Bruns, Tom Blackburn

Cinematographer: Charles P. Boyle

Art Director: Marvin Aubrey Davis

Editor: Chester W. Schaeffer

Set Decorators: Patrick Delany, Emile Kuri

Makeup Artist: Louis Phillipi

Production Manager: Henry Spitz

Assistant Director: James Judson Cox

Special Artwork Artists: Ken Anderson, Joshua Meador, Art Riley

Sound Department: Robert O. Cook, Ub Iwerks

Stunt Artist: Joe Canutt

Camera Operator: Harvey Gould

Costume Artist: Norman Martien

Script Supervisor: Dolores Rubin

                                      Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047977/?ref_=nv_sr_2
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Davy%20Crockett%3A%20King%20of%20the%20Wild%20Frontier

-Michael J. Ruhland