It took almost 80 years but at last Oswald The Lucky Rabbit is back where he belongs…at Disney. This new 2 DVD set is valuable on many levels. It’s not only a missing piece of animation history but a look into the history of animation. Disc 2 contains the 1999 documentary THE HAND BEHIND THE MOUSE: THE UB IWERKS STORY which traces the beginnings of Walt Disney and his top animator/innovater from their early days in Kansas City through Walt’s death in 1966 and Ub’s in 1971. If you’ve ever wondered why Disney became so overprotective of its properties, it all started with Oswald while Walt was at Universal. Disney didn’t own the rights to the character which was created in 1927 and in 1928 when he asked for a raise he was ordered to take a paycut. Walt and Ub quit in disgust and came up with a new character named Mickey Mouse and the rest as they say…is history. Never again would Walt not own any of his characters (or the rights to purchased ones like Winnie The Pooh).
There are 13 Oswald cartoons in this set (about half of those made) and they are an absolute delight to watch. Although the drawing style is crude, they are so chock full of crazy ideas and visuals that sometimes it takes your breath away. Unlike the early Mickey Mouse cartoons which suffer in comparison to what he later became, Oswald seems fresher than ever. In fact he’s so old that he’s new! Since these are silent cartoons (Oswald was originally based on Douglas Fairbanks Sr.), they require musical accompaniment and silent film specialist Robert Israel has come up with some rousing and colorful background scores that add to the fun. Attractively packaged and reasonably priced for what you get, OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT deserves a place in any animation fan’s library and now is the time with the Holidays upon us.
POSTSCRIPT: If you want to see what happened to Oswald in the Sound Era, check out Universal’s WOODY WOODPECKER AND FRIENDS DVD set. You see the animator who took over after Disney quit was a young fellow named Walter Lantz and he made Oswald cartoons until the early 1940s when another character supplanted him. “Guess who? Ha Ha Ha HA ha!”
The Capsule Critic 