The other Disney-The magic of family films with universal values: What childhood memories do these films bring you?
What is it that we most easily associate with the name Walt Disney? Probably a mouse. Or other species of animals dying tragically and leaving intergenerational trauma. Perhaps, at present, it is unavoidable to also think of an immense media empire that is either homogenizing entertainment cinema, or delighting fans of Star Wars, Marvel, etcetera. Depending on who you ask.
What we would never associate with it would be a period drama. Or a western. Or a comedy with a satirical will. A thriller in the wake of Alfred Hitchcock with murders and diamond dealers? You just can’t be talking about Disney. And yet, the classic trajectory of the House of the Mouse beyond those cartoons that we all know was full of experiments of the style, which ended up leading to phenomena such as Mary Poppins The Faithful friend, already extended controversies over time such as the one that generated Song of the south in 1946.
It is an exciting and very strange stage that Alberto Corona has studied in all its breadth, focusing both on the context and on its relationship with Walt’s particular vision, as well as on his possible cinematographic achievements. With one foot in the present day and the other in nostalgia, the author’s conclusions bridge the contemporary situation of Walt Disney Pictures, helping us to understand a little better how we got here, and how this company has managed to maintain its cultural relevance for nearly a century.
TITLES ANALYZED IN VOL. 1 FROM THE OTHER DISNEY:
- Song of the south (Song of the South, Harve Foster, Wilfred Jackson)– 1946
- The island of the treasure (Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Byron Haskin)- 1950
- The sword and the rose (The Sword and the Rose, Ken Annakin) – 1953
- 20,000 leagues of underwater travel (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Richard Fleischer) – 1954
- Davy Crockett, King of the Frontier (David Crockett, king of the Wild Frontier, Norman Foster)- 1955
- Iron heroes (The Great Locomotive Chase, Francis D. Lyon) – 1956
- Faithful friend (Old Yeller, Robert Stevenson)- 1957
- Glow in the thicket (The light in the forest, Herschell Daugherty)- 1958
- Darby O’Gill and the King of the Goblins (Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Robert Stevenson)- 1959
- Pollyanna (David Swift)– 1960
- Kidnaped (Kidnapped, Robert Stevenson)- 1960
- The Robinsons of the South Seas (Swiss Family Robinson, Ken Annakin) – 1960
- A wise man in the clouds (The Absent-Minded Professor, Robert Stevenson)- 1961
- You to Boston and me to California (The Parent Trap, David Swift)- 1961
- The forest of no return (Babes in Toyland, Jack Donohue)- 1961
- Pilot to the moon (Walt Disney’s Moon Pilot, James Neilson)- 1962
- Daddy’s conflicts (Have a nice trip!, James Neilson)- 1962
- Captain Grant’s children (In Search of the Castaways, Robert Stevenson)- 1962
- Summer Magic (James Neilson)- 1963
- The incredible journey (The incredible journey, Fletcher Markle)- 1963
- Operation Cowboy (Miracle of the White Stallions, Arthur Hiller)- 1963
- The bay of emeralds (The Moon-Spinners, James Neilson)- 1964
- The three lives of Tomasina (The Three Lifes of Thomasina, Don Chaffey)- 1964
- Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson)- 1964
- Emilio and the detectives (Emil and the detectives, Peter Tewksbury)- 1964
- A gato from the FBI (That Darn Cat!, Robert Stevenson)- 1965
- My wife’s dogs (The Ugly Dachshund, Norman Tokar) – 1966
- Lieutenant Robinson (Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., Byron Paul)- 1966
- Grandpa is crazy (The Gnome-Mobile, Robert Stevenson)- 1967
- The happiest millionaire (The happiest millonaire, Norman Tokar) – 1967