Customer Reviews

The Disney Films

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As a true Disney fan I can highly recommend this book, but only to a certain set of people. Leonard Maltin's book The Disney Films is truely nothing more than a list of all of the films ever made by the Disney Company. Each one has a summary and credits. There is also a preface discussing Walt's life. Although it will a be valuable resource to my already exsisting Disney library I would not recommed it to any first timers. There are no color pictures which was a huge disapointment to me. However, it does deal with many little know films and gives great insight to each one, no matter how minor. I prefer reading about the animated films more than live-action. This book gave equal time to both types, which could be a plus to some. There is no doubt that for the price is a great deal, but I would advise to get John Grant's Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters (which is so much more than the title implies) and Steven Watts' The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life before this one. These are both incredible books that would serve anyone well. Especially the hardcore Disney fanatic.

I like the book very much because all the Disney films are mentioned. I am still busy reading it and I find everytime new things. Also you can read how the film was received during release and re-releases. The first part of the book is very detailed of every movie until Disney's death. Every movie is a chapter. Than the writer starts to make a chapter per period. Also the Disneyclub TV series, Disney shorts and Disney TV-cartoons are in there. I think that Leonard Maltin should write seperate books about the Disney shorts and the Disney TV-cartoons.

This book is only for Disney fans (like me)!!
It has all the features, shorts, live action and true life adventure films described. Written in chronological order it is a nice reference book to look into time and again.

Leonard maltin's reference book about every Disney film ever produced includes entertaining, insightful commentary, as well as information regarding release dates, cst and crew members. Maltin clearly loves what he's researched, which is nice to see. His book consists of essays on every disney film produced during Walt Disney's lifetime, and includes two sections on the life of the studio after Walt's death, with comentary on all the important films from those times in the sections, as well as a section of shortened data on release dates, cast, et al, of all the films since Walt's death. Wonderful, entertaining reference material, which stands alongside John Grant's Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters and Dave Smith's Disney A to Z as one of the best Disney encyclopedias out today. Unfortunatly, since Maltin seems to revise the book every 11 years, we'll hav to wait until 2006 for a revision!

But it could have been so much better. I had assumed that this would cover each film individually and that is true up to a point. Every film made under Walt's personal supervision is covered individually, but after that it devolves into 3 one chapter essays that cover the rest of the period from 1967- early 2000.

So instead of a filmography along the lines of the excellent John Wayne Filmography by Fred Landesman, we get 33 years covered in three rather bland chapters.

The filmography at the back of the book is nice to have in a printed and bound form, but it's nothing that you couldn't compile yourself for free.

There are a few additional chapters covering Disneyania and Disney on TV, but there's nothing here to get real excited over. In fact the revisions come across more as a cheap way to cash in for one more paycheck than anything else, and is disheartening if you are expecting a comprehensive book about Disney films.

So get it if you don't mind a rather broad overview, but if you are wanting something more satisfying look elsewhere.

If you're at all a fan of Walt Disney and his work, or would like to know more about movies you love, and perhaps learn about really great movies you've never seen, this book is highly recommended. Leonard Maltin writes in a very friendly way, both as a very knowledgeable critic and as a Disney aficionado. Yes, this book is now (being 2010) outdated, and doesn't contain information about films past Dinosaur (2010), but in my opinion, this remains one of the best sources of information of "The Disney Films" Very much worth tracking down a copy.

In this book about the film and tv work of one of animation history's most famous showmen.Leonard Maltin takes us thru the creation,development and the successes of Mr.Walt Disney and his most famous films and tv series.Using in depth research,interviews with many of Mr.Disney's staffers,cast,crew members,members of his family,friends and fellow film/tv historians.Mr.Maltin takes us thru the creation of "Mickey Mouse","Donald Duck","Snow White","Pinocchio","Peter Pan"and the rest of Mr.Disney's cast of cartoon characters and he shows us the development of his live action films.He also gives us a behind the scenes look at the creation of his tv series:"Disneyland!"/"Walt Disney Presents!"for ABC TV(Which he also served as producer and host/narrator) and why Mr.Disney left ABC TV to create,produce and host one of NBC TV's most popular family anthology shows:"The Wonderful World Of Color".

He also gives some insight into the man's life and his approach to giving joy to others.Maltin also shows us how the studio and theme parks were able to survive following Mr.Disney's untimely death in 1966 and the studio's and theme parks'future under the guidence(or lack of guidence)by Mr.Mike Einser and Mr.Roy Disney Jr.

The book is also filled with beautiful photos and illustrations and a complete listing of the production co.'s films and tv series.

For anyone..who enjoys the work of Walt Disney..or for anyone..who may not be a Disney fan(There are some Disney films:Live Action and Animated that I'm still not crazy about)."The Disney Films"will show you another side to the genius of Walter E.Disney! Bravo Lenny! Kevin S.Butler.

Leonard Maltin's trademark pairing of impeccable research with genuine passion makes this both a superb reference source and delightful read. For definitive Disney, this is it.

This book contains sections on every film produced during Walt's life (animated and otherwise). It also sports 2 prefaces, an intro, and sections on the shorts and short subjects, Disney TV, a filmography, and films post-Walt. As an overview, it's a fine work; obviously, you can only put so much info into a book that covers dozens of films. Each film gets between 1 and 10 pages (according to their importance). I always enjoy Maltin's writing, since he has an enthusiasm for his subjects that is passed on to the reader. What I liked best about this book is being able to read up on little-remembered pieces such as The Reluctant Dragon and Victory Through Air Power. The only drawback is that the illustrations & photos (and there are quite a few) are all in black and white; however, I suppose this did keep this book very affordable. It's also a great companion to the amazing Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Characters.