Walt Disney Treasures: Your Host Walt Disney – TV
Memories 1956 – 1965
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: C
Good ol’
Walt Disney! This fourth of the four
Disney Treasure compilations in this 6th wave of releases is the oddest of the
bunch. This release finds some of the
best moments of the 1956-1965 run of ‘Your
Host Walt Disney,’ first known as ‘Disneyland,’
then ‘Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of
Color,’ and commonly referred to as ‘The
Wonderful World of Disney.’ The
original score opening the show was ‘When
You Wish upon a Star’ from the Disney classic Pinocchio. This classic
television series had its ups and downs, having great success in the beginning
years on ABC and later moving to NBC due to their ability to broadcast in color. Disney was a true visionary, knowing that
television would one day only be presented in color, he filmed most of the
original television segments using color film; this proved useful for later
syndication.
This
compilation of some of the greatest moments of the Walt Disney Hosted series
features such instances as The rededication of Disneyland when new attractions
were added, a long segment on Disney’s fascination with to scale trains,
Anniversary shows (4th and 10th), animated shorts, and much more. Overall, Disney was a great visionary for his
time improving many areas of the entertainment world and families were more
than happy to let him into their home every week. The set does tend to drag, though filled to
the brim with Disney nostalgia, this reviewer found himself bored and wanting
the show to move faster. Maybe it is due
to the over stimulation of the entertainment industry today that has caused
this boredom, but this reviewer just found this compilation tedious and
monotonous. Though for collectors and
true Disney connoisseurs this set is a must have for the collection, common
Disney viewers may find themselves under whelmed.
The 10th
anniversary show is probably the most interesting. This segment is presented in full color and
goes through the many new attractions that were planned to be added to
Disneyland. Featured attractions include
‘It’s a Small World,’ new restaurants, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ (minus Johnny
Depp), ‘The Haunted Mansion,’ and many more.
Overall, this segment was exciting to view due to the enthusiasm in Walt
Disney’s voice and the plethora of amazing things which were to come. Disney just did not seem so corporate, that
was pleasant.
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
technical portions of this DVD assemblage were overall reasonable and well
prepared. The picture presented in both
a classic Black and White 1.33 X 1 Full Screen format as well as some color
segments, which is crisp and is mostly absence of debris. There is the occasion where the black and white
picture seems cloudy and/or dark, but that is rare. Disney has managed to splice together better
quality film from other found sources and old archive footage, giving the
picture a mixed quality.
The color
segments are a bit rough, being some of the first to broadcast on national
television and seemingly hard to restore. The Sound is in a simple Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono that is adequate but hard to get used to in this day and age
of surround sound. The sound remains
clean but has some high/low issues that can distract. The extras on this set are not as good or
plentiful as on some of other Disney Treasure Collections, but offer viewers a
nostalgic view of the past that you can not get anywhere else. Bonus features include art galleries, a
featurette entitled ‘My Dad Walt Disney’ which features an exclusive interview
with Diane Disney Miller, and several additional Walt Disney hosted segments
such as ‘I captured the King of the Leprechauns’ and ‘Disneyland USA at Radio
City Music Hall.’ The interview with
Diane Disney Miller was nice, the other extras were more of the same, though
you can tell the world was not so PC back then, which was also nice.
In the
end, if you are collecting the Walt Disney Treasure Collections this is a must
have, but for casual fans you may be better going with one of the three other
recently released sets.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
