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| The Reluctant Dragon (1941) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 17 2014, 07:49 AM (229 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Aug 17 2014, 07:49 AM Post #1 |
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![]() The Wonderful World of Walt Disney #04 Robert Benchley's shrewish wife is fond of a children's book, The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, and browbeats Bob into going to the Disney studio to meet Walt and convince him to film it. A reluctant Mr. Benchley tours the studio and meets various animators and support staff while seeing how cartoons are made, and watching a few. He finally catches up to Walt in the screening room, where Mr. Disney is about to screen his latest film - The Reluctant Dragon. One of the more obscure Disney films, never re-released in its original form, and ask anybody what Disney's fourth feature film was (after Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia) and probably nobody but Leonard Maltin would come up with THIS one. Disney needed cash, and a mostly-live action, half B&W feature was a way to raise some, I guess. I find the film delightful; it's tucked away as a special bonus on the new Blu-ray package deal of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Fun and Fancy Free, and it looks great in HD (I watched it twice already). Mixed in with the actual Disney staff (including Clarence Nash, teaching Bob to talk like Donald Duck) you'll spot Alan Ladd as a storyboard artist and Frances Gifford as one of the color gals. Million-dollar Dialog: “I was just helping out while the regular train whistle went to the dentist.” No secret 'round here that I'm a big fan of Mr. Benchley's, and he's very funny in this movie (we first see him shooting a dart gun at duck toys in his swimming pool while boasting of his dignity) and looks great in HD Technicolor; he'd be very pleased. Million-dollar Robert Benchley Observation to the Artists Observing What Will Become Dumbo's Mother: "The elephant is the only animal on earth with a tail at both ends. That probably explains why it doesn't get anywhere." Cartoons Benchley gets to watch include Casey, Jr., How to Ride a Horse with Goofy, a sequence with Donald Duck; a great storyboarded cartoon called Baby Weems, very different and likeable; and then the extra-length cartoon of The Reluctant Dragon, a colorful but relatively minor Disney offering. This was Disney's first live-action film, and they converted the large room built to house the Fantasia orchestra into a sound stage, brought in a set decorator from Fox, rented lights and microphones, and hired Alfred Werker to direct those sequences. It was Walt's idea to have the film switch from B&W to color when Benchley enters the Color Department (and Robert then comments on how much better Miss Gifford looks in Technicolor). The film wasn't a hit, but it filled a gap until the next Disney films, the successful Dumbo and Bambi. It is stunning in HD on the Blu-ray. The colors will leap out and tickle your eyes. Edited by Laughing Gravy, May 28 2018, 09:15 AM.
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| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| JazzGuyy | Aug 17 2014, 08:23 AM Post #2 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I wasn't going to buy that set because of the poor reviews of the manipulation done to the other films but you may have convinced me to get it for this one. |
| TANSTAAFL! | |
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