Report of the Disney Rarities Event
This year's Disney event at the Newport Beach festival did not feature Roy E. Disney as it did last year, which sadly resulted in many empty seats. However, it did see the return of Don Hahn (Producer, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Hunchback) and Dave Bossert (Director & Producer, Special Projects) introducing the wonderful program of films that are rarely seen on the big screen. Shown in 35mm were:
Prod. US-3 "Flowers and Trees" (1932),
Prod. 2608 "The New Spirit" (1942),
Prod. 2732 "The Winged Scourge" (1943),
Prod. 2611 "Food Will Win the War" (1942),
Prod. 2643 "Out of the Frying Pan into Firing Line" (1942),
Prod. 5975-013 "Fun with Mr. Future" (1982),
Prod. 2527 "Vincent" (1982),
Glago's Guest (2008) and
a trailer for "UP", to be released May 29th 2009.
The consensus was that the films were great, with at the top of the list the Fun with Mr. Future short that previously only had been shown for a week in Westwood for Academy consideration. It features the Audio-Animatronic® head of Mr. Lincoln (but without skin!) as the show's host, and great animated sequences showing how the future would look, this possibly originally planned as a film to be shown in an EPCOT cue line. Somewhat ironic that it was directed by Darrell Van Citters and animated by Mike Gabriel - who both went in vain to Monday's Milt Kahl tribute event at the Academy in Beverly Hills!
Except for the new Glago's Guest, which to me falls in the same category as Pixar's One Man Band as a film to showcase techniques, all the other films are available on DVD, on the Treasures series or as bonus on the Nightmare Blu-Ray, but it was nice seeing them in their original format. The "special treat" at the end was a big let-down, though, as there is very little special in a regular trailer for a film that opens a month from now, as beautiful and spectacular as it may be (and it is - I very much look forward to seeing the entire film!).
Be that as it may, the event, which took an hour and a half, was very nice. Furthermore I also enjoyed seeing the Powers CinePhone variable density soundtrack next to (the first part of) Hell's Bells....
| Prod. CS-4 "Hell's Bells" (1929) >> |  |
Prod. 2608 "The New Spirit" (1942),
Prod. 2732 "The Winged Scourge" (1943),
Prod. 2611 "Food Will Win the War" (1942),
Prod. 2643 "Out of the Frying Pan into Firing Line" (1942),
Prod. 5975-013 "Fun with Mr. Future" (1982),
Prod. 2527 "Vincent" (1982),
Glago's Guest (2008) and
a trailer for "UP", to be released May 29th 2009.
The consensus was that the films were great, with at the top of the list the Fun with Mr. Future short that previously only had been shown for a week in Westwood for Academy consideration. It features the Audio-Animatronic® head of Mr. Lincoln (but without skin!) as the show's host, and great animated sequences showing how the future would look, this possibly originally planned as a film to be shown in an EPCOT cue line. Somewhat ironic that it was directed by Darrell Van Citters and animated by Mike Gabriel - who both went in vain to Monday's Milt Kahl tribute event at the Academy in Beverly Hills!
Except for the new Glago's Guest, which to me falls in the same category as Pixar's One Man Band as a film to showcase techniques, all the other films are available on DVD, on the Treasures series or as bonus on the Nightmare Blu-Ray, but it was nice seeing them in their original format. The "special treat" at the end was a big let-down, though, as there is very little special in a regular trailer for a film that opens a month from now, as beautiful and spectacular as it may be (and it is - I very much look forward to seeing the entire film!).
 | << Don Hahn and Dave Bossert at the event in Newport Beach |
Labels: Other Disney
posted by Hans Perk at 3:00 AM
7 Comments:
For the record, "Food Will Win the War" is available on DVD on the Treasures "On the Front Lines" set. "Vincent" is available, but not in the treasures; it's been an extra to the most recent DVD releases of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
Vincent is actually available on the Nightmare Blu-Ray disc and looks very nice indeed.
Thanks, Patrick and Matt! I have adjusted the text accordingly: the ONLY film shown at the event that is not out on DVD is Fun with Mr. Future, which is a bit surprising: there must be other films out there that have NOT been seen...?
I think the only things that haven't turned up yet are a COMPLETELY unedited version of "The Three Little Pigs" and the "Hot Chocolate Soldiers" sequence from "Hollywood Party." Beyond that, it mostly the more recent shorts: "Oilspot and Lipstick", "Redux Riding Hood", "Destino" and etc.
"Fun with Mr. Future" ... don't know why I never got that one up on my website ...
Patrick, the Hot Chocolate Soldiers, or the entire Hollywood Party for that matter, did come out on video, and I believe I have seen it on LaserDisc (contrary to being missing as such in Merritt/Kaufman's book), so in a way it is available. As to a DVD release of this or the the others, well, I remember that Destino was slated two years ago as a Treasures release together with Oswald. It might be time for that soon...
Oops - I had forgotten that they also screened Glago's Guest!
The MGM "Hollywood Party" VHS contains "Hot Chocolate Soldier" and is complete but for a mysterious sequence intro shot of a pair of white gloves playing piano that seem to be missing several key and/or inbetween frames. To be more specific, these animated white gloves actually pop off for several frames repeatedly while the piano track continues. Any theories on what was up with that? It must be a film restoration issue involving the use of the sole available print, but what the heck was that scene supposed to be?
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