- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,789
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
Silly Symphonies
I have to applaud Disney. If you took a look
at their Walt Disney Treasures collection
and had known their home video history these past
10 years, you would be shaking your head in total
disbelief.
We used to constantly mock Disney for their lack
of interest in the Home Video format during both
the laserdisc era and the early DVD era. Trying to
get them to release their most prized product to the
formats became a hopeless cause.
But over the past year or more, changes took place
with management at the studio. Somebody over there
smelled the coffee and realized the significance
of this format and the need to get material released
to the format. This change of attitude at Disney
towards DVD has significantly skyrocketed business
for the studio.
Take these tins, for instance, that were released
at the very end of last year. Mickey Mouse:
In Living Color and Silly Symphonies.
For those of us that knew Disney Home Video, this
is a true earth-moving event for the studio
to release this sort of material.
I bought Mickey Mouse: In Living Color and
have not had the opportunity to even look at its
contents yet. I will admit that I staunchly hesitated
to hold off on buying Silly Symphonies,
because I felt that these would ultimately be
cornball cartoons.
Well, a friend of mine urged me to buy this set.
He told me quite frankly, "You better buy this tin
now as you can't readily find them anymore and these
are cartoons that may never see the light of day again".
In fear that I may miss out on a Collector's prize
that may never be available again, I just ordered
and received the Silly Symphonies 2-disc
collection encased in a numbered tin.
I am calling this a mini-review, because
I have not had the opportunity to watch this entire
collection. After watching a few of the cartoon shorts
this morning, I felt the need to come to the forum
and urge members to buy this set before it is gone.
If nothing else, THIS is animation history.
Silly Symphonies are the very earliest
cartoons produced by Walt Disney starting in 1929
and going through 1939. The premise was simple:
put out fun little cartoons set to original music.
Not only were these cartoons groundbreaking as far
as animation was concerned, but the newly developed
technicolor process also played an essential role
in some of these early shorts. It's interesting
to note that Walt Disney took a huge risk with the
early 3-strip Technicolor technology and ended up
having his short, Flowers and Trees win an
Academy award (1932) as a result.
I watched 4 of the 31 uncensored cartoons presented
in this 2-disc collection. I can't begin to tell
you how impressed I was with these cartoons. After
70 years, these cartoons still seem fresh, displaying
unique personality that hasn't dulled with age.
Three Little Pigs was fun to watch. I
remember seeing this short as a kid, and was thrilled
to watch the pigs playing theit flute and violin
dancing around without cares of the looming wolf.
Skeleton Dance, a black and white short, is
extremely eerie and entertaining. It's amazing to
see how well black and white suits this cartoon.
Flowers and Trees is a uniquely imaginative
tale of singing flowers and trees who are suddenly
disrupted by fire that rages through their forest.
To watch the imaginative minds of the writers and
animators who show flowers washing themselves in
puddles or birds poking holes in clouds for rain,
will bring a smile to your face.
The quality of these shorts look great. Of course
there are blemishes on the source material, but you
can plainly see how carefully these shorts have
been preserved for DVD. The audio sounds very clear.
Many of these shorts have a personal introduction
by film historian, Leonard Maltin who has
great knowledge of the material as these were shorts
that he grew up with and has fond remembrances of.
I urge everyone to buy this tin before it disappears
from shelves forever. It's a pinacle piece of
Disney history that clearly shows why the studio
quickly rose to historical status.
. 
