Walt Disney documentary to air on PBS..

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alicemouse's picture
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Sid Man wrote:
A shame none of the larger family got involved beyond Ron Miller, but that might be expected given the internal wranglings between members of the Disney family in recent times.

From what I understand, the team who did the film specifically did not want any input from the Walt Disney Company or the Walt Disney Family Museum. It's really a shame, because that museum has such fantastic information and such a small segment of the population gets the opportunity to see it. It would have been a great springboard for their efforts. I think their intent was to launch almost a smear campaign of sorts, but even they could find only minor character flaws and what in retrospect may have been brief lapses in judgment.

I read several reviews by people who claimed the much of the information was a trumped up lie and that the interviewees words were twisted into something that fit the filmmakers' agenda. I didn't see much of that, personally. In this age where few people remain who actually knew Walt Disney, much of what we know of him is clouded by the bias of those people--whether they are pro-Disney or anti-Disney. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle--that Walt Disney was a good man with great vision and ambition who was just as flawed as any one of us. But no matter his faults, you cannot take away the excitement and joy that he has brought to millions of people through his vision and passion. Nor can you take away the countless people that he inspired so much with his dream that they have carried on his legacy in the form of expanding the enterprise that he started.

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Definitely not a fluff piece. Excellent!

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Very interesting perspective! Loved what I have seen so far. I still have to finish watching the 2nd half, which I have DVR'd. It was on last night again so I watched the last half hour or so. Since I haven't watched the second half that I initially DVR'd, I'm not sure if this was mentioned on the first showing or not. But if you want to purchase it, you can by making a donation to PBS for $96. PBS will send this to you as a Thank you gift.

From what I saw from the first segment, it is a great documentary! PBS is a great station and a great cause; I would love to own this documentary but $96 is a little steep of a price for this girl. sad

Anyone else thinking about buying this??? mickey

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LuvAllDisney wrote:
Very interesting perspective! Loved what I have seen so far. I still have to finish watching the 2nd half, which I have DVR'd. It was on last night again so I watched the last half hour or so. Since I haven't watched the second half that I initially DVR'd, I'm not sure if this was mentioned on the first showing or not. But if you want to purchase it, you can by making a donation to PBS for $96. PBS will send this to you as a Thank you gift.

From what I saw from the first segment, it is a great documentary! PBS is a great station and a great cause; I would love to own this documentary but $96 is a little steep of a price for this girl. sad

Anyone else thinking about buying this??? mickey

If I recall correctly, I believe that you'll also hear at some point that you can purchase the DVD for $24.99 without including a "donation" to PBS.

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It's on the PBS website and I'm sure it will be on youtube soon.

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I've been a little quiet on this since it came out. We left the night of the 2nd episode so I still have not seen it and it will probably be sometime next week before I get around to it with work and heading back to the "world".

Before the documentary came out, I had started reading "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination". Honestly, I do not care for Walt at all. At least not from the books perspective. Much of the documentary followed right along with the book in my opinion. I'm not really sure what it is that turned me off so much. I even said to Joe "So I'm reading this book about Walt Disney and I really don't like him. I think I should put the book away before we go."

I wish I could put my finger on it.. I want to finish the book and the show with an open mind but I can't get my head wrapped around it in a positive way.

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I like him even more with all the warts and imperfections.

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JMed wrote:
I've been a little quiet on this since it came out. We left the night of the 2nd episode so I still have not seen it and it will probably be sometime next week before I get around to it with work and heading back to the "world".

Before the documentary came out, I had started reading "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination". Honestly, I do not care for Walt at all. At least not from the books perspective. Much of the documentary followed right along with the book in my opinion. I'm not really sure what it is that turned me off so much. I even said to Joe "So I'm reading this book about Walt Disney and I really don't like him. I think I should put the book away before we go."

I wish I could put my finger on it.. I want to finish the book and the show with an open mind but I can't get my head wrapped around it in a positive way.

It's cool, JMed. Everyone appreciates different qualities in other people and everyone is turned off by different qualities. The only thing that I would encourage you to do is that if the opportunity presents itself in the future, try spending some time at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco to get a different perspective than most of what is available in print. To see Walt Disney and his accomplishments through his daughter's lens is very different from reading or watching a biographer's account.

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I have to agree. There are so many different versions of Walt Disney that people find themselves drawn to. I like the fact that he managed to create a studio just from offering cartoon shorts which expanded into the multi-billion dollar corporation most of us associate with the mouse. Most people only know the on-screen version of Walt Disney - the warm, friendly Uncle that was on the other side of the screen, drawing us into the world of fantasy and true-life adventures.

I think PBS had a grander plan than they ultimately presented - it was a very good documentary but how do you condense the life of arguably the creator of the greatest animation studio in the world into 4 hours without having to leave a lot of it out? Having said that, I still really enjoyed it - Disney documentaries are a rare beast, so we have to make the most of them when we get them.

LuvallDisney, it's on the PBS site for $19.99 - I believe they were advertising it at $29.99, but the shop has it for $10 off, or $37.99 with the book I think they took a lot of info from. For $96, I'd expect it to be a gold disc or come with a ton of Disney extras!

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Don't get me wrong, I think the things he has done are wonderful. He's brilliant and a master at what he does. I just can't put a finger on it.... waiting

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JMed wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I think the things he has done are wonderful. He's brilliant and a master at what he does. I just can't put a finger on it.... waiting

To me there's Walt the creator, Walt the business man/boss, and Walt the person. Walt the creator was a genius. Walt the business man/boss was smart but seemingly shrewd and a bit of a whiner. Walt the person seemed arrogant. I can appreciate him for his creativity and for creating one of my favorite places but I also found myself not liking HIM as a person as I watched it.

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TinkASL wrote:
JMed wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I think the things he has done are wonderful. He's brilliant and a master at what he does. I just can't put a finger on it.... waiting

To me there's Walt the creator, Walt the business man/boss, and Walt the person. Walt the creator was a genius. Walt the business man/boss was smart but seemingly shrewd and a bit of a whiner. Walt the person seemed arrogant. I can appreciate him for his creativity and for creating one of my favorite places but I also found myself not liking HIM as a person as I watched it.

And there you go. I think that's it in a nutshell. I understand wanting to succeed but the way he pushed Roy and was "in my opinion" always begging for money drove me nuts.

I did finally watch the 2nd part the other night. Joe put it on for me while I was relaxing on the couch. I wanted to go to bed early but since he turned it on for me, I stayed up. I like "older" Walt far better, riding the trains, driving around DL in a jeep... I cried when he passed knowing it happened but the story just gets you...

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that felt that way. I felt like I was betraying my love of WDW by not liking "him".

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alicemouse wrote:
I read several reviews by people who claimed the much of the information was a trumped up lie and that the interviewees words were twisted into something that fit the filmmakers' agenda.

I think that's common practice for many filmmakers these days. However, If that was all the "dirt" they could dig up, they really didn't do a very good job.

I thought that it was a fair portrait of Walt, he was a flawed man, just like the rest of mankind, but he dreamed, and tried, and never gave up even when he was down. He created some fantastic things that generations of people have enjoyed, leaving a lasting legacy. A lot of people today like to hold Walt up to this God-like perfection, but that just wasn't so.

The most memorable part for me was when one of the folks being interviewed was talking about what a warm friend he could be, however if you crossed him or if he felt betrayed by you he would hold the grudge forever. I found that to be very realistic and a common personality trait for a lot of very old school people I know. Loyalty was a very important trait to Walt Disney, he had a concept of fidelity and comradeship that were instilled in him during his early years in the war and as a DeMolay (which the film didn't cover) that effected the rest of his life.

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Well, by design or otherwise, an edited version of this show has appeared on British TV, just a few days after Walt's 115th birthday.

It's been redubbed with a female narrator and is likely to be heavily edited as it's only an hour each over 2 episodes rather than the 2hr episodes that aired in the US.

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