Product Details

• Actors: Paul Frees, Clarence Nash, Dessie Flynn, James MacDonald, Leslie Denison
• Directors: Hamilton Luske, Jack Hannah, Jack Kinney, Joshua Meador, Les Clark
• Writers: Al Bertino, Bill Berg, Brice Mack, David Detiege, Dick Kinney
• Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• DVD Release Date: November 11, 2008
• Run Time: 344 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001DPHDC4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,995 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Vol. 4 - 1951-1961 (Collector's Tin)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, who provides introductions for both discs included in The Chronological Donald, Vol. 4: 1951-1961, points out that Walt Disney continued to make Donald Duck cartoons well after his studio had stopped creating titles featuring Goofy, Pluto, and even Disney figurehead Mickey Mouse. Perusing the nearly three dozen items included here, it’s easy to see why the "wise-quacking duck" was still in business nearly 30 years after his creation. This stuff is brilliant: clever, funny, endlessly inventive, and sometimes even educational, it simply never gets old. Of course, some are better than others; "Trick or Treat," to name just one, features Huey, Dewey, and Louie, allied with the hag Witch Hazel, taking their Halloween revenge on their mean and stingy uncle, with not one but two original songs, one of them a hilarious "dance" number after Hazel puts a spell on Donald’s feet, all crammed into about eight minutes. Elsewhere, we find traditional nemeses like Chip ‘n’ Dale (particularly good in "Working for Peanuts," which was originally produced in 3-D) and Black Pete, as well as a variety of newer adversaries, both "human" and animal, on whom the hot-headed duck unleashes his notorious temper. Of particular interest to some will be the educational shorts like "Mathmagic Land" (at nearly 30 minutes, it’s several times longer than the average cartoon in this set), which sports a weird, almost postmodern look and includes jokes about trees with "square roots," information about the value of pi, circles, pentagrams, pentagons in nature, the "golden rectangle" in Greek architecture, and a great deal more, and even some live action footage. Other rarities include "Grand Canyonscope," filmed in CinemaScope (with ample big, wide vistas as Donald lays waste to the Grand Canyon), a look at some storyboards that were never made into a finished product, and more. But the main attraction is Donald. Voiced, as always in those days, by Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the irrepressible duck ("Who’s never wrong but always right? Who’d never dream of starting a fight?" goes the theme song) is one of the great creations in the history of popular entertainment. --Sam Graham

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Donald gets his due, Round 4! November 7, 2008

By Dave

"The Chronological Donald, Volume Four" (one of 3 Disney Treasure tin sets being released) stars everyone's favorite irascible duck, Donald Duck, in 31 films from 1951-961 and presented for the first time on DVD in the original widescreen format (where appropriate). The shorts look fantastic; bright, crisp, and colorful.

Disc 1 contains:

(1951) Dude Duck, Corn chips, Test Pilot Donald, Lucky Number, Out Of Scale, Bee On Guard

(1952) Donald Applecore, Let's Stick Together, Trick or Treat

(1953) Don's Fountain of Youth, The New Neighbor, Working For Peanus (Donald's 1954 3D short, which was shown at Disneyland for years in The Fantasyland Theater), Canvas Back Duck

From The Vault: This is what Disney calls the section where they put cartoons that have some content that viewers today may find objectionable. For both discs, there is the same Leonard Maltin intro that does not go into specficis (which is what some other Disney sets have done), but rather just asks the viewer to watch remembering that these were filmed in a different time and not to be judgmental. The 2 shorts on disc one "Uncle Donald's Ants" (1952) and "Rugged Bear" (1953). "Ants" is most likely in this section because the ants are based on a stereotypical african-american. "Rugged Bear" had me baffled; unless I missed something, the only reason I could figure out why it would be here is because it shows animals being hunted.

Bonus Material on Disc 1:

* Donald Goes To Press - A retrospective look at Donald's career in comic books.

* "The Unseen Donald Duck: Trouble Shooters": Storyboards for an unproduced Donald Duck cartoon pitched by famed Disney animator, Eric Goldberg. This is fascinating to watch, as Goldberg acts out the cartoon, using all the different voices. One can only imagine Walt doing this.

* Audio Commentary by Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck for "Working for Peanuts." With all their talk about this 3D short and how great it looks, makes one wish that it had been put on this disc in a 3D version with the glasses!

Disc 2 contains:

(1954) Donald's Diary, Dragon Around, Grin & Bear It, The Flying Squirrel, Grand Canyonscope

(1955) Bearly Asleep, Beezy Bear, Up A Tree

(1956) Chips Ahoy, How To Have An Acident In The Home

(1959) Donald In Mathmagic Land

(1961) Donald And The Wheel, The Litterbug

Bonus Material for Disc 2:

* Audo commentary by Leonard Maltin & Jerry Beck for "Grand Canyonscope."

* Mouseworks Cartoons is a 10 cartoons from 1998, with surprisingly good animation, that were created in an attempt to look like their vintage predecessors.

* From the Vault: includes "Spare the Rod" (1954), "No Hunting" (1955), and "How To Have An Accident At Work" (1959)

Set contains a Certificate of Authenticity (set is limited to 39,500), a postcard size reproduction of the original movie poster for "Grin and Bear It" (1954), as well as the mini-booklet featuring a little background and the table of contents for this tin. Hopefully these sets will keep on!

43 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 1951 - 1961 rare classics! (But NO 3-D) August 5, 2008

By Paul J. Mular TOP 500 REVIEWER

Some of these Donald cartoons have never seen a home video release, others got only released in Japan.
The CINEMASCOPE cartoons will be presented in widescreen here!

Unfortunately, WORKING FOR PEANUTS will NOT be presented in 3-D like it was filmed & shown in theaters.

1951
DUDE DUCK (new to DVD)
CORN CHIPS w/ Chip & Dale
TEST PILOT DONALD w/ Chip & Dale (new to DVD)
LUCKY NUMBER w/ Huey, Dewy & Louie
OUT OF SCALE w/ Chip & Dale
BEE ON GUARD (new to DVD)

1952
DONALD APPLE-CORE w/ Chip & Dale
LET'S STICK TOGETHER (new to DVD)
UNCLE DONALD'S ANTS (new to DVD)
TRICK OR TREAT w/ Huey, Dewy & Louie

1953
DONALD'S FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH w/ Huey, Dewy & Louie
NEW NEIGHBOR (new to DVD)
RUGGED BEAR (new to DVD)
WORKING FOR PEANUTS w/ Chip & Dale (NOT presented in 3-D)
CANVAS BACK DUCK w/ Huey, Dewy & Louie

1954
SPARE THE ROD w/ Huey, Dewy & Louie (new to home video)
DONALD'S DIARY w/ Daisy
DRAGON AROUND w/ Chip & Dale
GRIN & BEAR IT w/ Humphrey Bear (new to DVD)
GRAND CANYONSCOPE (in CINEMASCOPE)
FLYING SQUIRREL (new to DVD)

1955
NO HUNTING w/ Humphrey Bear (in CINEMASCOPE) (new to home video!)
BEARLY ASLEEP w/ Humphrey Bear (in CINEMASCOPE) (new to DVD)
BEEZY BEAR w/ Humphrey Bear (in CINEMASCOPE) (new to DVD)
UP A TREE w/ Chip & Dale

1956
CHIPS AHOY w/ Chip & Dale (in CINEMASCOPE) (new to DVD)
HOW TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT AT HOME (new to DVD)

1959
DONALD IN MATHMAGIC LAND
HOW TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT AT WORK (new to DVD)

1961
DONALD AND THE WHEEL (new to DVD)
THE LITTERBUG (new to DVD)

Bonus Features:
"Donald Goes to Press",
"The Unseen Donald Duck: Trouble Shooters",
Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck audio commentaries on 2 shorts,

10 Mickey Mouseworks Cartoons from 1999:
BIRD BRAINED DONALD
DONALD & THE BIG NUT
DONALD'S CHARMED DATE
DONALD'S DINNER DATE
DONALD'S FAILED FORTH
DONALD'S ROCKET RUCKUS
DONALD'S SHELL SHOTS
DOANLD'S VALENTINE DOLLAR
THE MUSIC STORE
SURVIVAL OF THE WOODCHUCKS
It would have been nicer to get a seperate complete series set of these and include the three solo Chip n' Dale cartoons here instead.

The two 'accident' cartoons were previously released on VHS, edited together as one cartoon, on the Wonderful World of Disney show tapes. They do play well as one 15 minute cartoon. Those show tapes are interesting as they have new, exclusive to the TV show, animation not on these theatrical releases.

Hopefully those TV shows will get a DVD release some day.

The two other 2008 Disney Treasures releases are:
Dr Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (From The Wonderful World Of Disney show)
Dr Syn-Scarecrow of Romney Marsh
The Mickey Mouse Club Presents: Annette (the serial from season 3)
Mickey Mouse Club Presents-Annette

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The final collection with perhaps the most familiar Donald cartoons - PLUS "Donald in Mathemagic Land!" November 15, 2008

By Greg Ehrbar VINE™ VOICE

The fourth and final entry in this series allows us to live in a wondrous era in which we can own a comprehensive Donald Duck short cartoon collection. Ain't life grand? Especially when you can share the glory of these classics with new generations. My son watched every cartoon and is now watching the earlier volumes. We must instill the love of fine things in our youth.

These cartoons might be the most familiar of all, since they are the ones most often shown on Disney TV shows, but you didn't always get to see the titles. I discovered that many great Disney music masters composed for these shorts when I assumed most of them came from Oliver Wallace.

The Chronological Donald Volume 4 includes Walt Disney's first animation for CinemaScope, "Grand Canyonscope," which predates "Lady and the Tramp." You have to see this just to marvel at the Eyvind Earle art direction that would later grace Sleeping Beauty. Also, there is the final -- and perhaps funniest -- Daisy and Donald theatrical cartoon, "Donald Diary," in which the Duck dreams he marries his fair love and sees what she looks like first thing in the morning ("What'sa maddah?").

When the cartoon shorts run out, the educational shorts and two-reelers kick in, beginning with the landmark "Donald in Mathemagic Land," narrated by the great Paul Frees and boasting a credits list that easily matches that of a Disney feature-length film.

Less triumphant but nonetheless fascinating is "Donald and the Wheel," which labors under a wincingly silly set of "spirits" and a dated attempt at hipness, but benefits from vocal work from the MelloMen and a delightfully kitschy sequence featuring Donald and a live action dancing girl on a whirling phonograph record (did this inspire Woody and Jesse's similar moment in Toy Story 2?) Fans of the TV series "Mad Men" with surely be pleased to see that this comely young dancer, who like that show's Joan Holloway, captures the far more healthy standard of female plentitude of the early 60's than in today's pipe-cleaner pop culture icons.

"The Litterbug" rounds out this trio and is especially notable for the uncredited narration of John Dehner, one of those character actors who appeared in almost everything in the 60's and 70's but is perhaps best remembered as Doris Day's TV boss ("Yee-ello?") and the radio "Paladin." He also started his career as a Disney animator! Another narrator heard in some of the shorts in this set is radio and Capitol children's record announcer Art Gilmore.

Leonard Maltin is on hand, as on all the Walt Disney Treasures sets, to instruct, enthuse and enlighten, as well as provide a buffer to the shorts which have, for one reason or another, been considered inappropriate for the mainstream. They are in a separate category called "From the Vault."

One of the most notable of these is "No Hunting," likely relegated to the vault for gunplay and violence -- but such a searing satire of recreational hunting, it makes its point as clearly anti-gun and anti-hunting. It also is one of the few, if any, Disney cartoons from Walt's era that nod slyly to a revered animated feature: as loads of garbage flow down a stream and the sound of guns are heard, Bambi's mother says to her fawn, "Man in in the forest...let's dig out." Take that, Stitch-meets-Beauty and the Beast commercials!