DVD Review

Mania Grade: B

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Info:

Rated: G
Cast: N/A
Writer: Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
Director: Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
Distributor: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2007
Extras: Audio Commentary on six of the cartoons, "Oswald Comes Home" Featurette, "The Work of Ub Iwerks" featurette, Still frame galleries, "Sagebrush Sadie (fragment).

DISNEY TREASURES: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

By Tim Janson January 04, 2008

DISNEY TREASURES: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
© Walt Disney Home Entertainment

The history of Oswald the Rabbit is as eccentric as the character itself. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created the character in 1927 but they were created specifically for Universal Studios. With some 26 shorts created, Disney sought an increase in their budget for the series. He was not only turned down but instead had his budget cut by 20%. When Disney scoffed he was basically told too bad because Universal owned the character and had actually already hired away most of the animators who worked on the series.

The one animator who didn’t leave was the great Ub Iwerks. With Oswald gone, he and Walt set about creating a new character. That character would become the symbol of Disney, Mickey Mouse. Mickey was, at first, pretty much a pure copy of Oswald. Universal would continue to produce Oswald shorts for another ten years, picking Walter Lantz, best known as the creator of Woody Woodpecker, to produce them. Ironically, during his later years, Oswald would be softened a bit and end up resembling Mickey Mouse.

Now here is where it gets interesting…In 2006, ABC, which is owned by Disney, lost the rights to NFL football. Monday Night Football broadcaster, Al Michaels, asked to be released from his contact at ABC so he could join his partner, John Madden at NBC. Disney agreed but only if the rights to Oswald Rabbit were returned to them. Thus, I’m pretty sure this was the only time in history a broadcaster was traded for a cartoon character…I think Disney got the better of the deal.

Naturally Disney set about putting together a Treasures collection for Oswald. The only trouble is that only 13 of the original 26 shorts could be found and their quality differs quite a bit. This set features all 13 of the Oswald shorts and is filled out with several “Alice” shorts (Disney’s first animated star) and also some early Mickey Mouse shorts including “Plane Crazy” the first Mickey Short, and “Steamboat Willie” the first Mickey short featuring sound.

While the animation on the Oswald cartoons is somewhat crude it’s also very inventive with unique perspectives and shadowing effects. This is best exemplified in “Oh what a Knight” as Oswald tries to rescue his sweetheart from a castle, engaging in a sword battle with her father. Oswald periodically hands his sword to his shadow to continue the fight while he goes and smooches his girl. It’s quite well done and one of the best looking shorts in the collection.

I also enjoyed “All Wet” in which Oswald is selling hot dogs at a beach (and the hot dogs keep trying to escape). When the cute girl rabbit pays him no attention he pays off the lifeguard to do his job and the girl fakes drowning in order to get Oswald to rescue her.

“Bright Lights” is another frantic bit of hilarity as Oswald sneaks backstage at a show and hides in a box that turns out to be a tiger’s cage. Soon the Tiger is chasing Oswald throughout the theater.

The complete list of shorts includes:

Trolley Troubles

Oh, Teacher (with commentary by Mark Kausler)

The Mechanical Cow

Great Guns!

All Wet

The Ocean Hop (with commentary by Mark Kausler)

Rival Romeos

Bright Lights (with commentary by Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck)

Ozzie of the Mounted (with commentary by Jerry Beck)

Oh What A Knight (with commentary by Leonard Maltin and Mark Kausler)

Sky Scrapers

The Fox Chase (with commentary by Jerry Beck)

Tall Timber

Featurettes include “Oswald Comes Home” a history of the character and “The Works of Ub Iwerks”.

Oswald isn’t the “Holy Grail” of animation finds that some may claim but it’s certainly nice to have them back at Disney where they can be seen for the first time in decades.