Re-Discovering Disney's 'live action film' past.

[Figments Friend]

-

Greetings folks!

I have been thinking about starting this thread for a couple of weeks...finally decided to go ahead and do so in the hopes it might encourage some discussion, and perhaps bring some gems from the past to light.


Recently i made a effort to collect a few live action films from the Disney Studios' past that i had yet to have seen, or have not seen for many years.

They were :

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ( 1954 )
The Black Hole ( 1979 )
Dragonslayer ( 1981 )

It all started about a month or so ago....reading about the source material for '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'.
I loved the old WDW attraction...but as much as i did, i never saw the film that inspired it until about a month ago.
Shameful...i know .....but i have redeemed myself now !


I picked up a inexpensive VHS copy to check it out...and loved what i was seeing. Yes, i still play tapes.
Of course, it was a badly transferred and 'cropped' version of the movie...so i made it a point to seek out a Dvd copy of it. Grabbed a 2-disc set off of eBay and settled down to enjoy seeing the entire, now fully in-frame picture.

My oh my......i was blown away.
LOVED it.

I was so glad to have finally seen it, and highly recommend it to anyone who has not yet.
A great adventure with some fabulous visuals, fun moments, and epic ones too.
The art design is nicely done and i love finding new things to look at in the interior shots of the Nautilus.


The next film i watched was 'The Black Hole', which i had seen upon it's original release in 1979.
I was about eight at the time, so did not remember much about it.
It had been absolute ages since i saw it in it's entirety.

This movie gets a lot of flack from fans sometimes, but i enjoyed it quite a bit.
I did not think it had 'aged' as badly as some feel it has.
I actually enjoyed it more then i thought i would...
The effects in particular i thought held up very well. A nice surprise there.
Only during two short moments in the film does it seem 'cheesy'.

What was interesting was watching these two movies together...one right after the other.
There were some surprising similarities :

The Captain Nemo/ Dr. Hans Reinhardt characters. Both intriguing individuals thinking they are doing something good, but in the end, are cast somewhat as villians.
The Sea/Space setting...'liquid space' and 'outer space', both cast in the films as 'unexplored frontiers'.
The overall adventurous voyage themes.
The Nautilus/Cygnus themselves -
Both beautifully conceived vessels designed to take humanity into the unknown, that are destroyed at the end of their own personal voyages due to their leaders' ambitious means.
And yes, even some religious/philosophical themes, particularly in some of the dialog said by Captain Nemo and Dr. Reinhardt.

It was a interesting comparison with a lot of similar threads running through them.
Was not expecting to find that, either!

The other film was 'Dragonslayer' which was a gem from start to finish for me, but i already had enjoyed this back in the day when it was first released in 1981.
I used to watch it regularly when it would turn up on cable tv in the mid 80s...heavily edited.
Always thought it was well done, and i thoroughly enjoyed the dragon design work done for the title creature, Vermithrax.
He still looks fantastic today.

I had not seen it in it's entirety in about 20 years...so it was a delight to see it again, and un-edited!
If you love classic sword & sorcery films, or period pieces set in medieval times you might enjoy this film quite a bit.

So how about you?
Have you discovered ( or re-discovered ) some past Disney 'live action' films lately?

 

[englanddg]

I agree. Their live action family films (with the exception of Mary Poppins) have largely been swept under the rug. And it's a shame.

Go watch Swiss Family and Treasure Island next...also, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is hands down my favorite Disney movie, though it's a mix of animation and live action. The effects have held up well, as has the story, I think...and frankly, I find the story and characters extremely amusing and entertaining.

There are bad live actions as well...Escape from Witch Mountain wasn't all that good, for example. The Herbie movies, while they will always be close to my heart, are also not that great either.

Oh, as a side note, the effects for Dragonslayer were so excellent, they were used to demo another amazing new technology at the time...the Betamax (specifically, the Beta Hi Fi).

 

[RandomPrincess]

Personal childhood favorites - Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Swiss Family Robinson, The Parent Trap (original), Babes in Toyland, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Return To Oz, Flight of the Navigator, Newsies and the The Mighty Ducks. I wonder if I will still love them as an adult I haven't seen any of them in years.

I used this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures_films since I didn't even know some were Disney.

 

[danlb_2000]

I am pretty sure I saw 20K Leagues when I was little, but I don't have any strong memories of the film itself, but I do distinctly remember having a ViewMater reel for it. I watched Dragonslayer and Black Hole a lot when they were on cable back in the 80's and really enjoyed both film. Interesting observation about 20K and Blackhole, I never thought of that. Dragonslayer is interesting for Star Wars fans since it's one the earlier film appearances by Ian McDiarmid. Of course the movie has one major plot hole, if you are trying to save a princess from being sacrificed as a virgin, there is a much easier way then slaying the dragon, but I guess that wouldn't work in a Disney film.

One of the things I really like about Black Hole was the design of the ships and robots. They had an interesting look that was quite different from things we had seen before. My biggest problem with Black Hole was the strange and someone ambiguous ending.

As for other Disney live action films, one of my favorites has to be Tron. The script was weak, and even considerable talents of actors like Jeff Bridges, David Warner and Barnard Hughes could make a lot of the cheesy dialog work, but the sound, music and visuals really made up for all that. I still find the light cycle scene to be one of the most thrilling scenes ever done on film.

 

[englanddg]

Of course the movie has one major plot hole, if you are trying to save a princess from being sacrificed as a virgin, there is a much easier way then slaying the dragon, but I guess that wouldn't work in a Disney film.

Hahahahahahaa

I just spit out my tea laughing and now need to get paper towels to wipe off my desk.

Well played!

 

[danlb_2000]

Hahahahahahaa

I just spit out my tea laughing and now need to get paper towels to wipe off my desk.

Well played!

I wish I could take credit, but I first read that in Roger Ebert's review of the movie...

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dragonslayer-1981

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

I liked "That Darn Cat" and feel it's underappreciated.

 

[216bruce]

"Pollyanna". I thought it was going to be really lightweight. It was excellent and I was really glad I gave it a viewing. Also, "The Parent Trap". Kudos to Disney for even admitting divorce existed back then. It was taboo to a large degree in TV at the time. For it to be in a family film was pretty bold. A well made picture.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

If you're looking to start collecting live-action Disney titles, a good place to start would be the TCM documentary "The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics". It's on mousebits and gives and excellent overview of that side of the company from stuff like So Dear to My Heart to Tron.

A short (or not) list of personal recommendations would be:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Swiss Family Robinson
The Sword and the Rose
The Fighting Prince of Donegal
The Great Locomotive Chase
Escape to Witch Mountain (I thought it was one of the better ones from the 70s)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Darby 'O Gill and the Little People
Summer Magic
The Happiest Millionaire
Treasure Island
The True-Life Adventure Features
Dr Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
Pollyanna
The Parent Trap
The Love Bug
That Darn Cat
Never Cry Wolf
The Horse Without a Head
The Gnome Mobile
Tron
Candleshoe
The Rocketeer

and if you're still bored after watching all of those:

Babes in Toyland
The Black Hole
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
Song of the South
Pete's Dragon
In Search of the Castaways
The Absent Minded Professor
Tex
Return to Oz
The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band
Newsies

There, I think that's everything. For now.

 

[Magenta Panther]

The original gy Dog movie is one of my favorite vintage Disney Live-Action movies. So is the original Love Bug.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a major disappointment. Dull, unlikable characters, lackluster songs, bizarre storyline. Some nice animation in it, though.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I love The Ugly Dachsund.

 

[Betsyboo]

The Gnomemobile! I just bought that on Amazon. I love it. We watched it on a reel to reel movie projector when I was in elementary school 30+ years ago. Took me forever to remember the name. Jaunting along in the Gnomemobile!

 

[MickeyPeace]

Ok here's one that I saw as a kid in the theater with family and that I just bought on iTunes- Island At The Top Of The World.

Wonderfully cheesy and I love every minute of it. Just to see the Hyperion is so cool.

I also bought 20,000 Leagues on iTunes which is great.

And Swiss Family I could watch once a week. Love it.

 

[Bairstow]

Just watched Dragonslayer for the first time this evening and I'm sad to say, it's total junk. There are some really, really beautiful composite shots, a couple interesting plot twists, and some serviceable stop-motion dragon effects, but all the rest of the time the direction and writing is completely incompetent. It also has a positively awful musical score that actively detracts from the intended impact of several scenes.
It's kind of fun to watch in order to make fun of it, Mystery Science Theater style (which is how we watched it) but even then it's less interesting than Krull or Beastmaster.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. The acting is just as good as the special effects, and Harper Goff's designs were so perfect they arguably created the Steampunk aesthetic. The problem is that it's really too good in the sense that no one has attempted to do a really ambitious big-budget Jules Verne movie since then, because there's probably no way to top this one.

...unless we count The Black Hole as a re-make of 20,000 Leagues.
This one's really not up to par, though. It's kind of astounding that a movie this old-fashioned in its direction and design was released after Star Wars and Alien.
Kind of boring, really, other than the sweet John Barry soundtrack.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

"Pollyanna". I thought it was going to be really lightweight. It was excellent and I was really glad I gave it a viewing.

I love this movie. It could easily have been syrupy pap, but it's actually a very strong statement about the value of community and human connection. The reverend's character arc is very moving to me (a strong performance by Karl Malden). It's one of my favorite films, Disney or not. I watch it when I feel sad.

 

[Figments Friend]

Dragonslayer is interesting for Star Wars fans since it's one the earlier film appearances by Ian McDiarmid. Of course the movie has one major plot hole, if you are trying to save a princess from being sacrificed as a virgin, there is a much easier way then slaying the dragon, but I guess that wouldn't work in a Disney film.

Right...?
Maybe i have a twisted mind, but i was thinking about this exact point you mention during the film moment halfway through the story when the two main characters are seated by the dragon's den.
The girl was discussing the woes of 'still being a virgin' and thus still having to be in 'the lottery' and the young man Galen just sits there in a moment of silence.

I could totally hear internal dialog in my head going - "Oh ..well..that could be remedied RIGHT NOW..."


Of course...if that happened, there would have been a abrupt end to the story...!

 

[Figments Friend]

[quote="danlb_2000, post: 5813349, member: 66039"
One of the things I really like about Black Hole was the design of the ships and robots. They had an interesting look that was quite different from things we had seen before. My biggest problem with Black Hole was the strange and someone ambiguous ending.

As for other Disney live action films, one of my favorites has to be Tron. The script was weak, and even considerable talents of actors like Jeff Bridges, David Warner and Barnard Hughes could make a lot of the cheesy dialog work, but the sound, music and visuals really made up for all that. I still find the light cycle scene to be one of the most thrilling scenes ever done on film.[/quote]


Yes, 'The Black Hole' has some great designs. Peter Ellenshaw earned his pay in this picture.
The best effects scene for me is the scene where the meteor shower hits the Cygnus and one giant meteor crashed down into and through a large passageway inside the ship interior.
When you see it today, one is immediately reminded of the famous 'rolling boulder' scene from 'Raiders of The Lost Ark'.
'The Black Hole' was released a good two years ahead of 'Raiders'...but the scene is similar.
I found that quite neat.
Wonder if the creators of 'Raiders' were inspired by that scene ?

Agree regarding the ships and robots.
There used to be a model of the Cygnus on display at the Smithsonian Institute some years ago..not sure if it is still out on display.
I found V.I.N.CENT and Maximilian to be nice designs, particularly Max. Still holds up very well now...and he is still spooky.
Maximilian used to be on display in the queue area of the original 'Backlot Tour' of Disney/MGM Studios.

I always thought it would be interesting for Disney to set up a display room featuring just props, costumes, etc. related to their past live action films.
It would be interesting for fans, and it may spark interest among new customers viewing the exhibits to check out the films themselves.
There is a ton of stuff that could be put in cases and on walls that would have people's eyes enticed.

Regarding 'TRON'....i am a die hard Tron geek. Absolutely love that film...and i enjoyed the sequel just as much.
Still wishing that some day we will have a bonified TRON related attraction/ride at WDW or DL someday...more then just 'Test Track' refresh and that early 'Tron Arcade' concept for EPCOT.
A clever movie that went over a LOT of people's heads back in the day, it holds up really well when compared to how we deal with computers and such tech now.
The visual look of it i find very exciting and appealing. Even 'Tron Legacy's more darker tone was delicious eye candy for me.
Looking forward to 'TRON 3' ....!!

 

[Figments Friend]

If you're looking to start collecting live-action Disney titles, a good place to start would be the TCM documentary "The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics". It's on mousebits and gives and excellent overview of that side of the company from stuff like So Dear to My Heart to Tron.

A short (or not) list of personal recommendations would be:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Swiss Family Robinson
The Sword and the Rose
The Fighting Prince of Donegal
The Great Locomotive Chase
Escape to Witch Mountain (I thought it was one of the better ones from the 70s)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Darby 'O Gill and the Little People
Summer Magic
The Happiest Millionaire
Treasure Island
The True-Life Adventure Features
Dr Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
Pollyanna
The Parent Trap
The Love Bug
That Darn Cat
Never Cry Wolf
The Horse Without a Head
The Gnome Mobile
Tron
Candleshoe
The Rocketeer

and if you're still bored after watching all of those:

Babes in Toyland
The Black Hole
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
Song of the South
Pete's Dragon
In Search of the Castaways
The Absent Minded Professor
Tex
Return to Oz
The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band
Newsies

There, I think that's everything. For now.

Thank you for this....several of the pictures listed here i have never even heard of!
Will definitely need to check this out.

 

[Figments Friend]

Ok here's one that I saw as a kid in the theater with family and that I just bought on iTunes- Island At The Top Of The World.

Wonderfully cheesy and I love every minute of it. Just to see the Hyperion is so cool.

I also bought 20,000 Leagues on iTunes which is great.

And Swiss Family I could watch once a week. Love it.

I was just about to comment on wanting to see 'Island at The Top of The World' when i read your comment above.
YES it is on my list!

I have been wanting to see it since hearing Tony Baxter talk so much about it when relating tales about the creation of his 'Discovery Bay' concept for Disneyland.
I have read some articles about the film, and it seemed something i would enjoy seeing.
Thanks for reminding me.

 

[Figments Friend]

Just watched Dragonslayer for the first time this evening and I'm sad to say, it's total junk. There are some really, really beautiful composite shots, a couple interesting plot twists, and some serviceable stop-motion dragon effects, but all the rest of the time the direction and writing is completely incompetent. It also has a positively awful musical score that actively detracts from the intended impact of several scenes.
It's kind of fun to watch in order to make fun of it, Mystery Science Theater style (which is how we watched it) but even then it's less interesting than Krull or Beastmaster.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. The acting is just as good as the special effects, and Harper Goff's designs were so perfect they arguably created the Steampunk aesthetic. The problem is that it's really too good in the sense that no one has attempted to do a really ambitious big-budget Jules Verne movie since then, because there's probably no way to top this one.

...unless we count The Black Hole as a re-make of 20,000 Leagues.
This one's really not up to par, though. It's kind of astounding that a movie this old-fashioned in its direction and design was released after Star Wars and Alien.
Kind of boring, really, other than the sweet John Barry soundtrack.

I agree regarding the score for 'Dragonslayer'...i am glad you mentioned it.
It IS indeed quite distracting at times...almost 'playful' sounding when the scene is some dramatic vista or should be more dramatic in tone.
I like the film quite a bit, but the score does indeed mess with some of the scenes in a somewhat clashing way.

Absolutely agree regarding Harper Goff's work for '20,000 Leauges..' Stunning.
What was interesting was looking at those interior design elements of the Nautilus while watching the film. A lot of those elements reminded me so much of many of the design elements used in the Dreamport segment of the Original 'Journey Into Imagination' ride.
There are some definite relationships there in the 'steampunk'ish design style for the 'Imaginometer' and the various dial mechanisms.
No surprise really when considering it's main show developer was a huge Nautilus fan ...and fan of that style of design to begin with.
So now when i watch '20,000 Leagues', i am reminded of the Dreamport.

'The Black Hole' score...yeah, John Barry came up with some good themes.
i find some of them a little bit repetitive however...and in one scene ( the shootout in the 'hospital' between the good guys and the robot guards ) jarring.
We were talking about the awkward moments in the score to 'Dragonslayer', and 'The Black Hole' had a few too in a couple of scenes.
Overally though, i would rather listen to John Barry's work in that film then the standalone score to 'Dragonlayer' any day of the week.