This is the kind of thing I’ve been insisting should be on Disney+, so it’s nice that they’ve added it. This is a documentary film—it’s a feature in the was Dumbo is a feature—commissioned by the family museum. I won’t say it’s doubled the amount of Walt on the service, but it’s certainly added a substantial percentage. It’s not the documentary I personally would have made, as it’s at least as much about the company’s holiday offerings during Walt’s lifetime, but it’s interesting nonetheless and something well worth watching.
Diane Disney Miller, Walt’s older daughter, narrates an assortment of clips. Many of them are Disney family home movies, the details about the man she simply called “Daddy” and how the family celebrated the holidays. There are also clips from the various Disney Christmas specials, including one featuring Diane and her sister Sharon. Finally, there are clips from various Disney films and shorts that are either Christmas-themed or Just Sort Of Generally Winter-Themed. Many of these clips go on a bit without additional narration.
What I wanted was the personal stuff. What’s the point of Christmas With Walt Disney if it’s actually Christmas With Walt Disney And Also Here’s Five Minutes of Swiss Family Robinson? Diane’s narration is not wrong inasmuch as some of the most poignant moments in Disney live-action films are Christmas related, but also I’ve seen Swiss Family Robinson, and if I want to see that scene, I’ll just watch it again. Being who I am, I wouldn’t have minded a clip of Walt as Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade, but no, Those Calloways. A film even I barely remember exists.
I feel as though the company is walking a fine line. Walt as a person was flawed. There still aren’t any images here of him smoking, because that was against his carefully cultivated personal image. There’s a lot about him that won’t get a mention. On the other hand, they want to make him a person in the way that even his many personal appearances on TV didn’t. They’re trying to make him Diane’s Daddy but also Long-Time Icon Walt Disney. After all, this was made for the family’s own history museum.
It would be really nice to see more of this. According to Diane, Walt had a ton of home movies. He loved cameras and, as she understates it, had access to a lot of them. There’s a moment where the film intercuts imagery from Babes in Toyland with an old Christmas parade featuring those “wooden” soldiers. Another moment is the family ice skating and a couple of shorts showing how the family’s own skating ability appears in animation. That sort of thing would be more interesting to watch than just what appears to be Yet Another Disney Clip Show.
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