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****************************** The Video Shelf **************************** 
******************** Issue #1 - Recent Disney Releases ******************** 
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Any fanatic of the Disney Masterpiece (formerly Classic) line-up will find
that pretty much all, but few, of its animated features have been released
on video.  (I'll die happy when _Song of the South_ and _Make Mine Music_
make it to video).  Recently, three videos have been released from Disney,
one of them a compilation of Mickey's finest animated shorts, the other
two being little-known feature-length works released on video for the
first time ever. 


_The Spirit of Mickey_ is a delightful collection of Mickey Mouse's finest
animated shorts.  Personal favourites include:  Mickey's first short
featured in colour, "The Band Concert", which includes Donald Duck trying
to interfere with the band's outdoor performance of Rossini's "William
Tell Overture";  "Mickey's Trailer", which stars Mickey, Donald and Goofy
in a hilarious travels of the trio down the country roads via a house
trailer;  "Mickey and the Train" where Mickey and Pluto travel to Pomona
by train, only to find that dogs aren't allowed on the train.  The
collection concludes with Mickey's screen debut, "Steamboat Willie",
presented in b&w and was a take-off of the Buster Keaton comedy _Steamboat
Bill_.  This cartoon would be spoofed in "The Simpsons" where the cartoon
duo Itchy and Scratchy celebrated their 75th anniversary - and their first
cartoon together was titled 'Steamboat Itchy.' The blurbs in-between
shorts (which seem like dubbed tidbits from "The Mickey Mouse Club") seem
unnecessary for die-hard fans.  Personally, I'd sooner have each cartoon
shown entirely from its opening to end titles.  Hopefully, the start of a
new series of compilations not seen since the Limited Gold Edition 1 & 2
series. 


Shortly following WWII, the Disney studios released a series of films
comprising of short stories, most of them sung by popular musical artists
of the day.  A while ago, _Fun and Fancy Free_ was released on video for
its 50th anniversary - it featured only two stories, 'Bongo' and 'Mickey
and the Beanstalk' with the talents of Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket),
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and Disney regular Luana Patten. 
Recently, another film along these lines has been released titled _Melody
Time_.  This particular variety-musical features more short films which
includes:  "Once Upon a Wintertime";  Donald Duck in "Blame It on the
Samba";  Dennis Day singing in "Johnny Appleseed";  The Andrew Sisters
singing in the story of a naughty little tugboat in "Little Toot".  Even
though this film has reasonable historical value, _Melody Time_ is not
exactly something that can be played over again for its younger audience. 


Finally, the long-forgotten 1985 feature _The Black Cauldron_, which I
recall seeing at the time at The Cumberland cinemas, has been released for
the first time ever on video.  Based on the writings of Lloyd Alexander,
_The Black Cauldron_ follows the adventures of young Taran, who dreams of
becoming a warrior, finds himself in the race for time against the evil
Horned King to find The Black Cauldron - otherwise, the Horned King would
take over the world and all its magical powers.  Prior to seeing this
film, the only thing that I could recall fondly was Gurgi, a mischevous
furry creature voiced by comedian John Byner (whose Canadian series
"Bizarre" was just folding that year.) Unfortunately, Gurgi is probably
*the* only memorable character.  Writing is a terrible weakness in
Disney's 25th animated feature - its characters, likeable when they're
good and hateful when evil, are bland, dull, and forgettable.  The overall
atmosphere is dark, sometimes dreary and frightening as is the case with
the final sequence, which may strike a sensitive eye.  Because of these,
it's understandable why _The Black Cauldron_ was a failure at the
box-office 13 years ago and why it has been long forgotten.  Voice talents
include John Hurt and Nigel Hawthorne.