Wednesday, June 15, 2022
- Commentary: First of all, a note about the link in the above title: It's to a search of the term "Walt Disney" at RogerEbert.com. Ebert had an active relationship with Disney movies and all that surrounds them, thus, he wrote a lot of articles not only critiquing Disney movies but examining other aspects of their creation, as well.
Secondly, the photograph to your left was described as "Walt before Mickey" and was taken from a snapshot aired in the Biography channel program about Walt Disney. It had an interesting air about it. It isn't just "Walt before Mickey". It's Walt sans Mickey.
So, why am I creating a list of all the Disney movies I own as of the date of this post, 6/15/22? One afternoon a week or so ago I was thinking about my general distaste for "Disney movies". In my wonderings, I mistakenly correlated "Disney" with "animation". I wondered how many I own. I ended up with two lists. The first, immediately below, is of the movies that were released under the Disney label. The second lists those movies that took the name of another studio while that studio was under contract to (essentially, owned by) Disney.
Before I present the two lists, though, there is one scene in one Disney movie I saw (under duress, when I was a child), that, a little over 60 years after having seen it in its movie, still comes to my mind, often unbidden, at least a few times a year. It's this scene. I understand a bit more about why this scene sticks with me. As a child I did not particularly like my first name. As someone once suggested to me when I was an adult, someone who knew, as did I, but almost no one else, that my name means "joy", which, frankly, is appropriate for me, perhaps the name, which is Hebrew, just sounds too "basic" for my ear. I continue to agree with her assessment. Thus, because of my personal reaction to my own name, I've always been exceedingly aware of names and name discussion, which is what the above scene is.
Anyway, back to the lists.
Direct Disney Release Movies I Own or Have Owned and What I Like about Them
Disney-as-Silent-Studio Movies I Own: If I haven't commented, I like the idea but am disappointed with the execution
- Avengers: Endgame 2019 - Marvel Studios
- Black Panther 2019 - Marvel Studios: I've been ready for a sequel since my first viewing of this movie ended.
- Captain Marvel 2019 - Marvel Studios
- Good Morning Vietnam 1987 - Touchstone Pictures: Interesting portrayal by Robin Williams, especially since he doesn't quite get it right.
- Dead Poets Society 1989 - Touchstone Pictures: He gets it right, in this one, and has a super supporting story and cast.
- Pretty Woman 1990 - Touchstone Pictures: I love this movie because my Mom loved this movie and I get why she loved it.
- Green Card 1990 - Touchstone Pictures: I can not only take, but love, this kind of sweet.
- Blood In Blood Out 1993 - Hollywood Pictures: Holy shit, this is a Disney movie? It's one of my absolute favorite movies!
- A Simple Twist of Fate 1994 - Touchstone Pictures: Watching this movie, for me, is like being an attentive student in a class that I love.
- Evita 1996 - Hollywood Pictures: I often consider watching this movie again but since I've owned it I've watched it only once. It was riveting, but, I don't know ... will it be a second time around?
- Face/Off 1997 - Buena Vista International: Love this movie. Have watched it several times.
- Washington Square 1997 - Hollywood Pictures: Love this movie, too. Watching this movie and "The Heiress" back to back make for an unbeatable wintery afternoon.
- The Sixth Sense 1999 - Hollywood Pictures: So well done I like to bathe in its perfection.
- Unbreakable 2000 - Touchstone Pictures: So well done I like to bathe in its perfection.
- Insomnia 2002 - Buena Vista International
- Calendar Girls 2003 - Touchstone Pictures: I liked it the first time around, with Mom, but haven't watched it since, although I've thought of it.
- The Prestige 2006 - Touchstone Pictures
- Glass 2019 - Buena Vista International: This is the most scattershot of the Eastrail 777 trilogy, but, if I'm doing all of them at once, this is a must.
- Black Widow 2021 - Marvel Studios
- Signs 2002 - Touchstone Pictures: Yes, I know, this movie's plot premise is embarrassingly out of this world, literally as well as figuratively, but there is something about the relationships between the characters and the well-polished structure of the improbable plot that I enjoy and, more importantly, remember, which is why, after going many years without having this in my collection, I finally decided to add it.
Interesting Facts about the Above Movies: Iron Man was not released under Disney, but Iron Man 2 and 3 were. Iron Man was the only one in the series I liked and obtained. Marvel Studios was not owned by Disney when the first movie in the Iron Man series was released.
Similarly, Unbreakable (Touchstone) and Glass (Buena Vista International) were released when Disney owned their release studios, but when Split was released, Disney no longer owned Buena Vista International.
So, what did I learn from putting myself through this exercise? Well, I learned I own fewer Disney films than I thought. That's right. Somehow, I thought, if you're a movie collector, owning Disney movies is inevitable, kind of like catching colds; you don't like being sick but, what can you do, colds are everywhere and maybe you'll get to stay home from work or school for a day or two, and, if you're lucky, someone will perform a little "nursing" on you. I also learned that "Disney Film" has never meant exclusively animation. Disney started producing films in 1937. In 1941 it released a film dedicated to the war (WWII) effort that was a mix of animation and live action narration. As the years progressed, more and more live action features were added. As it stands, now, fully live action and fully animated features (this doesn't include mixes of both in the same film, which Disney also produces) vie with each other, from year to year, as to which type overtakes the other. In addition, within the industry as a whole, CGI blurs the line, ever more, between live action and animation. Think of Wonder Woman. Finally, movie production has always relied on its ability to enhance live action, even in the days of B&W shorts well over 100 years ago. So, no, Virginia, "Disney movies" have never implied a lack of live action; nor has Disney ever focused exclusively on animation. Interesting to ponder.
# posted by gail @ 12:20 email...
...this post
All material copyright at time of posting by Gail Rae Hudson
