Vintage Mickey (Animation)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Animation: A-
We hear so much about Walt Disney the company that we do
not hear enough about the man or his great early work. Though he put the animated feature on the
map, his achievements go far beyond that.
Before inevitable competition from Warner, MGM, Paramount/Fleischer and
other studios in the animation field, he was breaking ground in shorts. Vintage Mickey is a single DVD
release that offers the early evolution of the Disney short beginning with the
immortal Steamboat Willie (1929), acknowledged as the first sound
animated short. This caused a sensation
and Walt Disney’s reputation as an innovator and creative force just grew and
grew.
Though not 100% dead on, the short was as significant as The
Jazz Singer (1927) in breaking sound into film forever. The following shorts show the evolution of
the monochrome sound short at the company up to 1934, though is hardly the
entire output Disney managed in the field:
1) Steamboat
Willie
2) Plane
Crazy
3) The
Karnival Kid
4) The
Birthday Party
5) The
Castaway
6) Mickey’s
Orphans
7) Mickey’s
Review
8) Building
A Building
9) Mickey’s
Steam Roller
All show a love of the art form and hold up remarkably
well for their age. From the rubbery
form otherwise solid objects take, to the innovation of the click-track, to
absurd rules of physics that govern the live action world but not that of
animation, many of the innovations are still with us 80 years later. They are all also authentically funny and
very entertaining. In an age of
computer-generated animation, they become all the more remarkable. Though a basic DVD, Vintage Mickey is
a key release and one of the best non-feature titles from Disney on DVD to
date.
The shorts are all 1.33 X 1, though Steamboat Willie
has been centered in the middle of the screen invisibly at a 16 X 9/1.78 X 1
ratio, though without image loss and sadly not anamorphically enhanced. Though the prints have some artifacts and
other signs of aging, they get better as they go along. Hopefully, the company will have these saved
in pristine copies by the time digital HD rolls around. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is varied but as
clear as possible for these copies. The
first seven shorts originated in the Powers Cinephone analog mono format, while
the RCA Photophone optical sound system the company became associated with was
used on the last two. You can hear
audio differences, though ironically, it was the competing Westrex system that
Hollywood used more. RCA would work
with Disney on the experimental stereo for the 1940 classic Fantasia
dubbed “Fantasound” that surprised everyone.
There are no extras except previews that start before the shorts and can
be accessed through the menus, but a more comprehensive collection should be
issued down the line. For all ages, Vintage
Mickey is a must see set worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
