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Media Room

By Kelly Jane Torrance
December 14, 2007

NOT THIS Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates steals the Declaration of Independence in "National Treasure.”

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Just in time for the holidays, Disney has dug into its vaults and released three new two-disc sets in its much-loved Walt Disney Treasures series, putting the number of releases at 25.

As usual, film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, who came up with the idea for the series, introduces each set. The limited-supply discs are housed in silver and gold tins and numbered individually; they all retail for $32.99. They make perfect gifts — unlike many of today's noisy animated series, these cartoons appeal to both the young and the old.

Fans of Donald Duck took to the Internet in outrage when a rumor had it earlier this year that Disney was going to end the series: Just half of the short cartoons featuring the irascible bird had been released. However, the rumor turned out to be unfounded — or the fan campaign changed Disney's mind — and Chronological Donald, Volume 3 continues the release of the solo shorts.

This volume includes 31 cartoons from 1947 through 1950, including the memorable, Oscar-nominated Christmas-themed cartoon "Toy Tinkers." It features those other chipmunks — not Alvin and his friends, soon coming to the big screen, but Chip and Dale — breaking and entering into Donald's home.

There also are extras, of course, including "The Many Faces of Donald Duck," a look at the character's history from Disney animator and current Donald Duck voice Tony Anselmo.

I suspect there are many adults like myself whose most memorable childhood trip was to California to see Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and the rest of the gang up close. Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic is a collection of documentaries about the world's most famous theme park.

At 332 minutes, this release has more than an hour more material than the Donald Duck set. Besides the new title documentary, among other features, there's "People and Places: Disneyland U.S.A.," a tour of the park released just one year after it opened in 1955, and never-before-seen footage of the park's construction.

The most interesting of these three releases, though, is The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney regained the rights to one of the company's first big stars only last year. Walt Disney had signed an agreement with Universal when he created the character that gave that company the rights. Of the 192 Oswald cartoons, just 52 were made by Disney before Universal took direct control.

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