Customer Reviews

Walt Disney Treasures - The Mickey Mouse Club Featuring the Hardy Boys

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This is the first of two Hardy Boys serials that originally appeared in "The Mickey Mouse Club". You will not get "The Mickey Mouse Club" on this DVD, just The Hardy Boys segments. In the mid 1990's the Disney Channel (cable tv) removed some of the MMC serials from the shows and created new half-hour shows of just those stories. New opening & closing titles were created for these new mini-series.

The then-famous song "Gold Doubloons & Pieces of Eight" introduces you to "The Mystery Of Applegate's Treasure". A serialized story loosely based on the first Hardy Boys book "The Tower Treasure".

Starring:
Tim Considine (of Spin & Marty fame) as Frank Hardy.
Tommy Kirk (Old Yeller & The Shaggy Dog) as Joe Hardy.

Purists will be disappointed that they are not getting the complete, unedited, hour-long "Mickey Mouse Club" shows that these ran in, but fans will still enjoy these re-edited episodes. However, Disney promises that the teaser episode (which was never included in the Disney Channel re-edited versions) will contain the entire hour long Mickey Mouse Club episode!

I grew up a child of the 1970's, and was riveted to "The Hardy Boys - The Mystery of The Applegate Treasure" in reruns of "The Micky Mouse Club" which were airing on a local station. I would tune in daily, and I think they only showed "The Hardy Boys" serial once a week (it was originally shown three times a week) and I still recall the stir of excitement which I felt when they skull and crossbones came on screen of the Hardy Boys introduction. By contrast, though I faithfully sat through "The Mickey Mouse Club" each day, it was always a little feeling of disappointment when the show aired without a "Hardy Boys" installment. Anyway, all this is one of the few of my early television memories which I have not been able to revisit until now (I don't have the Disney Channel).

Thanks to Leonard Maltin's always superb treatment, I can say that for me, revisiting the show after more than 30 years has not been a letdown in the slightest. Sure, the story is a bit on the simplistic side, but the fine acting and ultra-atmospheric sets (often at night) take me back not only to my childhood, but to an earnest time in the US when al-Qaeda wasn't a household word. It has been more fun for me to revisit this installment in Maltin's "Walt Disney Treasures" series perhaps than any other.

The extras are fun, though I wish there were more. It's great to see Considine and Kirk reunited after 50 years and it's nice that they seem to genuinely get along so well.

I remember "Spin and Marty" which was decent (and also fun to revisit in another Maltin DVD set), but when it comes to the MMC serials, it is this one which I will always remember most fondly, and which to me holds up the best.

When I received this DVD, I felt like a kid at Christmas (Wait a second, it was my Xmas gift,So I was a kid at Xmas...Thanks Donna!).

I love classic Disney from the 50s, 60s and 70s. This is the second episodic piece of TV done on the Mickey Mouse Club (MMC), the first was S Walt Disney Treasures - The Adventures of Spin & Marty - The Mickey Mouse Club(which is already available on a Disney Treasures DVD-see my review).

This Hardy Boys has the Disney flair and was adapted it to the small screen well. It barely dates itself, a showcase of a project well done

The masters recording of this collection are clean and crisp, cleaner than most older shows and movies I have seen lately . Disney has made sure of it being great for the treasures collection

I remember watching this and not missing a day when It was on. I like the 80's Hardy Boys too, but this one is done better.

The extra stuff on the DVD is the intro episode of the Hardy Boys from the MMC, Showing how Disney transfered the book into Disney TV show and an all new interview with the actors who played the Hardy Boys

All I hope is that Disney soon will release the second Spin & marty, Annette and Hardy Boys serials from the MMC, the rest of Swamp Fox episodes, all of Texas John Slaughter...and place their first season of Disney's Zorro from their movie club to the general public

So detect this collection for your home video library, NOW

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

This volume in the Disney Treasures series features the first of two serials from the Mickey Mouse Club about the Hardy Boys.

Frank and Joe are looking for some excitement in their summer. They're disappointed when their dad is too busy with his own case to find a mystery for them to solve together.

But mystery seems to find them anyway. The new kid in town, Perry Robinson, is in trouble. He's spent some time in reform school and the natural suspect when tools in the neighborhood disappear. Even more mysterious is the old gold coin he's found.

The coin resurrects the rumors in town of treasure. Old Mr. Applegate is rumored to have once had a fortune in pirate gold. He claims it was stolen years ago. Is this a piece of the treasure? If so, where is the rest of it?

When wave six of the Disney Treasures was announced, this was the one I was looking forward to the most. After all, I've been a Hardy Boys fan for years. I must admit I had a hard time getting into the series. For starters, the boys were younger then I expects. I'm used to the late teens of the series and here they seemed early teens. Plus, the story starts rather slowly. However, once it got going, I enjoyed it.

This two disc set contains all 19 of the eleven minute episodes that contain the story. They are shown in their original black and white, but look and sound good for being 50 years old. Additionally, we get the entire Mickey Mouse Club episode that introduced this series. It's best to watch this last since it spoils some major events of the story. In the way of extras, we get a documentary that discusses the path it took to get the characters from the page to the small screen and a modern interview with stars Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk.

This series isn't perfect, but I enjoyed getting to watch the Disney take on these well known and loved characters.

This DVD set was a Christmas gift from my 22 year old son. For years I held out hope that the Disney folks would understand how strong a memory their Mickey Mouse Club serials (Spin and Marty, Corky and White Shadow, and the Hardy Boys) were to children of the 1950s. There is no question that those daily episodes made me a Hardy Boys TV fan and, in turn, a Hardy Boys books reader. I read 45 or 46 of those adventure/mystery books, and when there were no more to be found, I wrote my own on my dad's Smith-Corona manual typewriter!

If you ever pretended to be a sleuth; if you have memories of flashlight beams cutting through the darkness and bony tree branches scratching your window on a windy, moonlit night; if you recall the innocent era of black and white TV or if you ever read a Franklin W. Dixon book, you will certainly want to add this DVD collection to your life. Get ready for nostalgia--the likes of which could only come from the folks at Disney.

From the second season of the original Mickey Mouse Club comes the hit serial "The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" in this wonderful Walt Disney Treasures 2-disc set! Starring Tim Considine (of Spin and Marty and My Three Sons fame) as Frank Hardy and Disney legend Tommy Kirk (star of The Shaggy Dog, Old Yeller, Misadventures of Merlin Jones, and a host of other Disney faves) as younger brother Joe Hardy, the two Hardy brothers are preteens growing up in the suburbs on their Aunt Gertrude's watch while their detective father spends most of his time at work in the city. Out for the summer, Frank and Joe want nothing more than a mystery of their own to solve, and when they meet Perry Robinson, an unlucky new kid who is struggling to stay out of reform school and keep his job working for old Mr. Applegate, they find their first client! Determined to prove that Perry is a victim of circumstance and foul play, Frank and Joe soon find themselves caught up in a near forgotten case of missing pirate treasure. At first, no one else in town even believes the treasure exists other than Mr. Applegate, the rightful owner, but when suspicious characters begin to come out of the woodwork, everyone starts to take an interest!

The Hardy Boys in "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" is classic Disney fun for the whole family. Tim and Tommy are wonderful, but particularly scene stealing is the adorable Carole Ann Campbell in the role of Iola, the roller skating neighborhood girl with a crush on Joe who wants to be a Hardy Boy too! She is literally too cute for words! Despite the 1956 air dates, the story remains engaging and suspenseful, presented here for the first time out of the Mickey Mouse Club context and back to back in glorious black and white. There are 19 episodes that make up the story, each just under 12 minutes long. Disc One holds the first 9 installments, plus the full episode of the Mickey Mouse Club that introduced the series. Disc Two holds the remaining 10 installments.

As usual with the limited edition Walt Disney Treasures Collection sets, The Hardy Boys comes in a collector's tin and includes a certificate of authenticity, a booklet, and a postcard sized collectible artwork, this one being a Hardy Boys comic book cover reproduction. Some wonderful bonus features are included on the discs as well. Both discs are hosted by Leonard Maltin, and Disc One holds the featurette "From Dixon to Disney," while disc two holds "The Hardy Boys Unmasked" and two fine galleries of photos and merchandise. As one might guess, "From Dixon to Disney" is all about the origin of the Hardy Boys as a book series and Walt's translation of the stories from books to small screen. There's some very interesting information to be found in this featurette. No less interesting and very heartwarming to watch is "The Hardy Boys Unmasked," which is essentially a reminiscent interview with Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk today. Also worth describing is that aforementioned Mickey Mouse Club episode included on Disc One. For those curious, this episode is the first of the second season and includes a Mickey Mouse Newsreel in which two children visit the USS Nautilus, the first atomic submarine, a Fun With Music intro and Coney Island number starring Darlene and Bobby, the Hardy Boys introduction in which Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk explain the serial that will be debuting on the next episode of the Mickey Mouse Club, the cartoon "Mickey's Rival," and a poetic moment with Jimmie Dodd, head Mouseketeer. Also worth mentioning is that this episode introduces Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge (not to be confused with the Cheryl who visits the USS Nautilus). Why is this worth mentioning? Because, for those of us guys who watched the Mickey Mouse Club as kids (myself decades later, on the Disney Channel), most of us either crushed on Annette or Cheryl. I was a Cheryl man myself.

In truth, I would prefer to own all these Mickey Mouse Club serials within the context of the Mickey Mouse Club shows released in complete season sets (in volumes if need be). However, I can also see the value of owning them in sets like this, where one can sit and watch the complete serial uninterrupted except by the enjoyable opening pirate song and credits. Without a doubt, fans of "The Hardy Boys" should consider this set a must-own, especially since there's no sign of Mickey Mouse Club complete sets being released anytime soon!

Disney's "The Hardy Boys": "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" (1956) is based on Franklin W. Dixon's (aka Edward Stratemeyer) "The Tower Treasure"- the first of many "Hardy Boys" books. It was the first of two "Hardy Boy" serials produced by Disney for its "Mickey Mouse Club" show; which was broadcast from 5PM-6PM each weekday. The one-hour show was broken into four segments with this sort of serial taking up one of these 15-minute segments. The "Spin and Marty" serials were also used for this purpose.

As in the books, Frank (Tim Considine) and Joe (Tommy Kirk) are the teenage sons of Fenton Hardy (Russ Conway), a private detective. Following in their father's footsteps the two boys are looking for a pirate's treasure supposedly hidden in the Applegate Mansion in their neighborhood. The series has a cool theme song (see below). Despite the song there are no pieces of eight. They were one ounce Spanish silver coins, worth 8 reales, or half of a gold dubloon.

Frank and Joe are assisted by Joe's girlfriend Iola (Carole Ann Campbell) and hindered by their Aunt Gertrude who is looking after them while their father is out of town.

The Applegate mansion is a spooky looking house and when the boys finally meet the owner he confirms that there really is a treasure, given to his grandfather by LaFitte the pirate as repayment for when he burned the Applegate plantation. His grandfather hid the treasure and no one has been able to find it since.

The story has gold doubloons and crooks, and Iola gets a lot of scream queen moments. "Applegate's Treasure" was my personal favorite of all the MMC serials. The only drawback is that it was a rather complex mystery with a lot of misdirection, and having to watch it in a cliffhanger serial format was extremely frustrating. No sooner had they cleared up the suspense from the last episode than something would happen and they would break off- telling you tune in for the next episode. But we were hooked and faithfully tuned in day after day. A lot of family plans were altered during this time so as to not interfere with daily viewing.

Watching it now I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the performances by the child actors; especially Campbell and Kirk. The serial is definitely several notches above "Spin & Marty" in what was demanded of the cast, and for the most part they come through.

The DVD has some nice special features including a 2006 interview with Considine and Sands in the Disney Studio where the serial was filmed. Also included is the entire (hour-long) MMC episode in which it premiered. It was a Monday, which was "Fun With Music Day", and Darlene does a lengthy song and dance number with Bobby.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

"Gold dubloons and pieces of eight, handed down to Applegate? From buccaneers who fought for years for good dubloons and pieces of eight. Handed down in a pirate chest, the gold they sailed for east and west. The treasure bright that made men fight, till none were left to bury the chest. So now the gold and pieces of eight all belong to Applegate. The chest is here but wait...now where are those gold dubloons and pieces of eight?"

Baby boomers who remember rushing home every day to watch the Mickey Mouse Club and the latest installment of "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" will find this a real nostalgia trip. I don't know how well it will pass muster with today's kids, but this 50-something was surprised at how well the episodes hold up. Back then, I had a huge crush on Carol Ann Campbell, who played the Hardys' neighbor Iola Morton. Now that I see her again, I remember why. Wonder what ever happened to her?

The years that this serial appeared on the Mickey Mouse Club --- 1956 and 1957 --- have often been described as the last innocent years of the Baby Boom. Atomic energy was still our friend, Korea was over and Vietnam had not yet started; the space race was about to begin, and Ford offered us two classics: the Fairlane and the T-bird. Considine and Kirk gave us relatable performances as Frank and Joe Hardy. Despite an obviously limited budget, the show was well-crafted and holds up in back-to-back viewing (as host Leonard Maltin acknowledges). A flood of memories came back to me when watching this (I hadn't seen the Disney Hardy Boys since their original air dates), and yet more than nostalgia compelled me to smile. This was classic work from the Disney studios, all the more amazing since it was mostly shot on enclosed sets! The extra features are a little skimpy, but the interview with Considine and Kirk as they are today, almost makes up for that. This will sit proudly on my shelf next to Spin and Marty. Now let's hope the Annette and the second Spin and Marty aren't far behind, along with "Ghost Farm."

I wasn't even born until the mid 80s and this DVD was a complete unseen blind purachse for me. I must admit out of all the titles from wave 6 of the Walt Disney Treasures I was looking forward to this one least becuase I didn't find last year's Spin and Marty set very interesting at all. But this set is outright my favourite of wave 6 (partly due to Disney messing up with other volumes of wave ).

I recommend this DVD to anyone, incredibly sweet and incredibly charming! Even if you've never seen this show before, like me I'm sure it will win you over!