Customer Reviews

Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald - Volume One: 1934 - 1941

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The product quality is very good - however the preamble on each disk is quite annoying. You can't watch these episodes seamlessly, without the preamble..had to always fast forward through it. Very annoying. Disney needs to remove them.

A great DVD that should have been released years ago!! Highly recommended, Donald is so much fun to watch. A far better character than Mickey Mouse ever was.

Finally, Disney's greatest character gets the spotlight! Donald is the everyman-just a regular guy that has to put up with the travails of everyday life. Whether it's a wild animal or an inanimate object that raises his ire, Donald keeps the viewer laughing with his lovable voice and temperamental antics. This volume features Donald's debut in "The Wise Little Hen" and all his starring shorts from 1936's "Donald and Pluto" to 1941's "Chef Donald". It also includes a short piece on Donald's original voice Clarence "Ducky" Nash, photo stills and memorabilia stills, and introductions and commentary by Leonard Maltin. The easter eggs that I've found include a short 1940 short "The Volunteer" and two excerpts from "The Reluctant Dragon". It would have been nice if the DVD also included all of Donald's shorts in which he wasn't in the starring role, such as "Lonesome Ghosts" and "Orphan's Benefit" among others, but this is still one of the best collections of any kind that has been put together. I can't wait for the second volume, which will probably feature all of Donald's wartime shorts, to come out. It'll definitely be worth the wait, just like this set was. Now if Disney releases the 39 episode Quack Pack on DVD, all Donald Duck fans will have years of Donald viewing pleasure.

Donald Duck IMHO is the best ,and this DVD opens a door which was closed for decades.. You can see all the films that Donald started in ..and more. Never did Donald duck have a DVD dedicated only for him. Great if you love this little angry duck.

First off, these shorts are great. Donald is a legendary '8 minute cartoon' character among Mickey, Goofy, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and Popeye. There are unforgettable classics in here, 'Don Donald', 'The Autograph Hound', 'Modern Inventions' and 'Window Cleaners' representing the best. The only flaw is Leonard Maltin. It's great that he played a part in getting these cartoons put onto dvd, but his segments that took place at the beginning of the dvd and before half of the shorts were very unnecessary and lame. Does he actually get paid for his job? If people get offended by some of the humor in these G-rated cartoons, which for some profound reason in his commentary he talks as if they do, then they belong in a mental home and should be prohibited from watching any type of television programs. There will obviously be another collection in Donald's series to look forward to, until then, the 36 toons here will be very hard to get tired of. You can't keep this angry duck down.

Oh, man, what a GREAT dvd set. Say what you want about Disney being an Evil Empire, but they know how to put together these sets. My daughter and I laughed our heads off through the first disc and are making our way through the 2nd.
Donald IS Disney's best character, because, well, he's one of us, just trying to make his way through the world and dealing, or trying his best to deal, with life's usual b.s.
The quality of these cartoons is incredible considering they came out 60 to 70 years ago. The colors are so vivid they verge on the brink of hurting your eyes.
The big drawback however is Leonard Maltin's sermonizing about gunplay and stereotyping... all the unPC stuff. I feel like he thinks morons are watching these cartoons. He keeps giving the "that was what was done then, but we would never consider doing it now". Ok, Leonard, once is enough, thanks. The lowpoint is "Donald's Penguin" in which we're told that the penguin did not get hurt except when Donald gave it a spanking. It's a flipping CARTOON! Makes me realize how uptight we are as a society these days. I don't think you'd find Warner Bros. apologizing for their cartoons (at least I hope they don't).

So, buy this... but skip over Maltin's mewlings.

Wonderful to see the unedited, uncensored, and unbound Donald in his early work at the Disney Studios! Braveaux, WD! The only drawback has been mentioned before, so I quote from a previous reviewer "The big drawback however is Leonard Maltin's sermonizing about gunplay and stereotyping... all the unPC stuff. I feel like he thinks morons are watching these cartoons. He keeps giving the "that was what was done then, but we would never consider doing it now". Ok, Leonard, once is enough, thanks."

BUT......... even Little Lame Leonard cannot hold this Duck down, and Donald's everlasting charm overshadows even Mr. Maltin's limp noodle routine!

I can't wait for the next set, though it does not appear it will be coming out in 2005. My personal favorite, the Fountain of Youth, which has Donald and his 3 nephews visiting the fabled Fountain of Youth in Florida only to find themselves in comedy hijinx with a local gator, will hopefully be included then.

Buy it...... Donald and Disney put the CLASS in classics, and continue to demonstrate why these will ALWAYS be ageless and enduring!!!

The ultimate Donald Duck collection! I can't wait, I've seen a ton of these Donald shorts over the years in this collection of a few dozen Donald classics. DVD is WAY overdue in releasing a collection of these masterpieces. Anger is his gift, Long live Donald Duck!

Not too long ago one of my friends asked me "Why Donald?" He was referring to a period in the studio's history (never more prevalant than in the wartime films, available on another DVD) when Donald Duck was the big star. Why, asked my friend, was Donald Duck so wildly popular. More to the point, why did they decide that he would be the ideal star of morale-boosting, patriotism-inspiring war films? The answer is simple: Mickey Mouse is an idealist. He's how people SHOULD be. If the world were more like Mickey, it'd be a happier place. But, despite their overall "When You Wish Upon a Star" attitude (which seems to have died with Walt. Boo, Eisner!) the animators knew that things were not perfect and that the majority of Americans were like Donald Duck. You make fun of his temper-tantrums, but how many times in your life have you blown a fuse over something seemingly unimportant? We are all of us a little bit of Donald Duck...after all, who hasn't felt, at least once in their life, that no one understands us?

That's kind of a nice thought, isn't it?

Absolutely great family fun. My kids love this DVD set. Since we are fortunate to own all the Treasures released to date, this is one of the sets watched more than the others. As an adult I find myself laughing out loud along with the kids. I could not find any special hidden items yet such as clicking on the cane in Mickey Mouse II or clicking on Davy Crockett's hat on the second disk of that set. Yes there are hidden things on these DVDs and part of the fun is finding them. June 1, 2004