Walt Disney Treasures – More Silly Symphonies:
Volume 2 (1929 – 1938)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Animated Shorts: B+
More Silly Symphonies: Volume Two is one of four new additions to
the 6th wave of Disney Treasure
Collection releases. As the title
suggests the More Silly Symphonies
collection offers animated shorts from the years 1929 through 1938, which is
quite extensive. The second installment
to DVD of Silly Symphonies finishes
off the collection of ambitious animated shorts that Walt Disney started in
1929. Silly Symphonies in many ways was the creative powerhouse that
helped the Disney Corporation grow to what we know today. Walt Disney allowing Silly Symphonies to be the stomping grounds for new, innovative
animation coupled with young artists that were attempting to refine their
talents. This venture though sketchy at
first (no pun intended) grew into having great praise and success winning a
fair number of awards and monetary gain for the studio. Overall the Series was very influential to
all areas of animation, Warner Bros. going as far to derive their cartoon
series Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies from the Disney name Silly Symphonies.
If
nothing else these collectable sets are excellently put together and
presented. The set comes in a
collectable tin, the entire set being a limited edition of 65,000. The production numbers in wave 6 are greatly
reduced from the original Disney
Treasure Collections, which were limited editions of 150,000. The set
includes a certificate of authenticity, a 7” x 4.5” poster reproduction on hard
cardboard, as well as a booklet nicely explaining the limited set. A nice set well worth looking into purchasing
for a Disney fan’s collection.
The
shorts included on this set are as follows, packed on two discs with many
extras:
Hell’s Bells (1929)
Springtime (1929)
Artic Antics (1930)
Autumn (1930)
Frolicking Fish (1930)
Monkey Melodies (1930)
Night (1930)
Playful Pan (1930)
Summer (1930)
Winter (1930)
The Cat’s Out (1931)
The Clock Store (1931)
The Fox Hunt (1931)
The Spider and the Fly (1931)
The Bears and the Bees (1932)
The Bird Store (1932)
Bugs In Love (1932)
El Terrible (1929)
The Merry Dwarfs (1929)
Cannibal Capers (1930)
Midnight in a Toy Shop (1930)
Birds in the Spring (1933)
The Night Before Christmas (1933)
Ole King Cole (1933)
The Pied Piper (1933)
The Goddess of Spring (1934)
Cock O’ the Walk (1935)
Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936)
Little Hiawatha (1937)
Merbabies (1938)
Moth and the Flame (1938)
King Neptune (1932)
Santa’s Workshop (1932)
The China Shop (1934)
Broken Toys (1935)
Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
More Kittens (1936)
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
Before
viewing the bonus shorts or the ‘from the vault’ shorts contained on this set
(ranging from 1929-1932) critic Leonard Maltin offers a disclaimer about the
now politically incorrect portions of the shorts. Some of these shorts include some violent
acts, as well as references to an African American ‘Mammy’ character, Asian
ethnic references, and a few others. This preemptive ‘warning’ was not
distracting at all, Disney doing the right and tasteful thing by not editing
these shorts and including them to make this a truly complete compilation and
show how society as well as animation has evolved over the past 75 years. For those wondering, why is Leonard Maltin
hosting? Leonard Maltin actually is one
of the few individuals who spearheaded the creation of Disney Treasure Collections, without him they may have never seen
the light of day.
The
technical aspects of this DVD set are first-rate overall. Disney has
taken some time in Digitally Mastering the shorts presented in this animated
DVD compilation and where there is some work to be done on these shorts, the
picture is quite crisp and the colors are bright and not washed out. The
picture is presented in its original 1.33 X 1 Full Screen format as they were
originally produced and viewed. As with
some of the other Disney Treasure Collection there remains a definite level of
visual dirt/dust debris throughout the shorts that must be corrected. In some shorts dust was constant and clumps
of dirt could be easily seen. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound quality is
clear and balanced only having the rare high/low errors. Though the opening songs for many of the
shorts are quite poor and some hard to understand.
Extras on
this set, as seen on most Walt Disney Treasure Collections are plentiful and
well constructed. Extras include Bonus
Features such as "Silly Symphonies
Rediscovered" featurette, "Animators
at Play" (rare film of a studio softball game from 1930, narrated by
Leonard Maltin), Art Galleries, and various audio commentaries by Special
Disney Historians.
Overall,
this set is a must have for all Disney fans. The content, presentation,
and quality overall is refreshing and this set offers a nice addition to any
DVD collection. Not to mention the
splendid choice by Disney to include all shorts controversial or not.
- Michael P Dougherty II
