Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit DVD Review
Posted by Scotty Flamingo on 01.01.2008
Mr. Disney’s baby boy finally comes home…
It is the holidays, and that can only mean that it is time for Disney to release another batch of the Treasures series, or as I like to call them, Manna from Heaven. This year had the usual treats, but also included this gem. Pretty much anyone that has ever read or watched anything about Disney history has heard about Oswald the Rabbit, Walt’s first creation that he lost the rights to, forcing him to start his own company and create a new character, Mickey Mouse. Last year, a deal was made between Disney and NBC Universal. In essence, Oswald was traded for Al Michaels. Ok, it is a bit more complicated than that, but that is the short version of what happened. As a result, Disney was able to release this DVD set, this time in a GOLD tin instead of the usual silver.
Unfortunately, this is not a complete Oswald collection for a few reasons. First, the Al Michaels deal only included the Oswald shorts that Walt produced. There are a number of Oswald cartoons that were produced by Universal after Walt left. Some of these are available on Universal’s Woody Woodpecker and Friends DVD. Also, some of the Oswald shorts no longer exist at all. Films and especially cartoons were not valued at the time and many cartoon cells were recycled into new cartoons or simply tossed out. The Oswald collection here was pieced together from archives all over the world and even some personal collections. The quality of the shorts varies, but most are adequate. So, this isn’t a “Complete Oswald”, but Disney went above and beyond in giving us the best collection possible.
The Shorts
Here are the shorts that are included in the set. They are all in black and white of course, and since they were from the silent era, they are accompanied by new scores produced by composer, Robert Israel. The scores go quite well with the shorts and are not a bit distracting. Still, if you are obsessed with authenticity, you can always mute your TV. On their own, the shorts are nothing earth shattering, but they are interesting in that they give you a historical look at animation. You can see things that would become staples of the later Mickey Cartoons including a rival cat named Putrid Pete, who sometimes has a peg leg.
The amazing thing about these cartoons is that Disney and Iwerks were cranking them out every TWO WEEKS. Yeah, they are only five minutes and they are in black and white, but that is still insanely fast. I’m sure those little cartoons in front of Pixar movies probably take about 100 times that time, and they use computers.
Trolley Troubles – Oswald is driving a trolley and gets into the usual trouble with cows and goats that these cartoons always have. The end is a roller coaster ride that is pretty impressive for the time period with some interesting first person shots of the trolley going through tunnels.
Oh, Teacher – Oswald takes his gal to school and fights a bully cat. For some reason Oswald doesn’t actually go to class, but waits for the cat to get out so he can throw a brick at him. So either he is playing hooky, or he has already gotten out of school and is robbing the cradle.
The Mechanical Cow – This short is one of the few on the set that really suffers from video quality. Several characters are blurred throughout the short. The story is Oswald working on the far with his cyborg cow. For some reason, cartoons back in the day loved machines and robots.
Great Guns! – Oswald goes to war, but I’m not sure who he is fighting. Most of the time it is a bunch of mice. Oswald once again shows questionable ethics by making out with the medic while his girlfriend/wife is at home. Oh Oswald, you’re the Hawkeye Pierce of your day!
All Wet – Oswald is working at a hot dog stand at the beach selling anthropomorphic hot dogs. Why anyone would want to eat one, I have no idea. Anyway, he decides to become lifeguard to impress the girls and hilarity ensues.
The Ocean Hop – Just to show you how old school these cartoons are, this one was inspired by Charles Lindbergh. Ozzie is in a plane race across the Atlantic. Pete the Cat sports a peg leg in this one and is the main villain. Oswald’s pit crew is a bunch of mice that resemble early Mickey. This is basically Plane Crazy with Oswald.
Rival Romeos – Here Oswald has given up on his pursuit of lady bunnies and has opted for the affections of a female cat. He is competing, of course, with Pete. Now if we follow the logic that Putrid Pete is an early version of Peg Leg Pete, then he is a cat, so I would think that he should have some sort of edge. This was the 1920’s after all, and interracial relationships were unheard of. So you KNOW an interspecies relationship would be taboo. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into it.
Bright Lights – Oswald decides to check out the “Zulu Shimmy Queen” at the local theater. I have no idea what that means, but I’m pretty sure that I’m risking a visit from Al Sharpton just by typing it. Of course, he doesn’t have the two bits or whatever to get in, so he just beats up the usher. Chaos…and hilarity…ensue.
Ozzie of the Mounted – He’s the Mountie, he’s handsome, he’s brave, he’s strong. He’s the MOUNTIE, and he enforces the law! Ahem. Anyway, our hero is tracking down Pete, who is identified as “Peg Leg Pete” on his wanted poster, despite not having a peg leg in this short. Apparently, Pete is some sort of Supervillain who can regenerate lost limbs. And like the Mounties, HE ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN!
Oh What A Knight – This short is mentioned approximately 1,000 times in the course of this set because there is a swordfight where the characters have SHADOWS. Ooooooh! Ok, it is pretty cool considering how old these films are. Again, the fact that they got this kind of detail into something they cranked out in two weeks is pretty amazing. Basic stuff here, Oswald rescues the cat girlfriend from a castle and fights Pete.
Sky Scrappers – Oswald and Pete are working on a sky scrapper…and fighting.
The Fox Chase – Oswald goes on a fox hunt. This is your typical Tom and Jerry style chase cartoon with the fox outsmarting the hunters throughout.
Tall Timber – Oswald is in the great outdoors. The short starts with a canoeing sequence that is probably the best animation on this set. From there, he is out in the woods collecting sap while a family of bears try and steal it. The bear cubs bear (get it?) and uncanny resemblance to Mickey.
The Rest
The second disc contains a full feature length documentary, The Hand Behind The Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story. This is my favorite feature of the set. If you have any interest in the history of animation, this is a must see. For those of you, like myself, that are unfamiliar with Iwerks, think of him as the Steve Wozniak to Disney’s Steve Jobs. Basically, Disney was the salesman with the big ideas and Iwerks ironed out all the details and built on it. His work earned him two technical Oscars and his career led him through an incredible span of the film industry. He went from silent film, to talkies, to color and was constantly innovating new methods for animation. He pioneered live action/animation combinations with the early Alice cartoons and carried his ideas through when he worked with Alfred Hitchcock on The Birds.
The Extras
It wouldn’t be a Treasures set without a pile of extras. You get the shorts and the documentary, but there are also some other goodies.
“Oswald Comes Home” – A featurette that goes over the history of Disney’s quest to bring Oswald back home. It is short and kind of redundant since the information is covered in the Leonard Maltin introduction and the documentary.
Audio Commentaries – Six of the shorts are accompanied by optional audio commentaries by various animation aficionados. It would have been nice to get them on all the shorts because they add a lot of historical perspective and are very informative.
Sagebrush Sadie – A fragment of a short. It is pretty fractured and incomplete but is interesting to see and sad at the same time since there are a lot of cartoons from this era that have met a similar fate. There really isn't even enough here to know what the plot of the cartoon was supposed to be. Many scenes are missing backgrounds and objects that the characters would have interacted with.
Galleries – Plenty of pictures of promotional materials for Oswald along with some sketch work. Nothing earth shattering, but fun to flip through.
The Work of Ub Iwerks – Included in the set are some of Ub’s work from before and after Oswald. They are available in other Treasure sets, so they aren’t really a big deal. You get three Alice shorts from the pre-Oswald period and Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie to represent the Post-Oswald, Mickey era. Finally, you get the Silly Symphony, Skeleton Dance. All are great cartoons, but if you are like me, you already have them.
The 411: This DVD set is a must have for any Disney fan. It is 4 hours of history that was close to being lost forever. If you just want some cartoons to buy, there are better sets out there, but from a historical perspective, this beats them all. The documentary is great by itself, not to mention the shorts. The only downside is that this is not a complete set, but that is understandable given the circumstances.
