Finding Obscure Disney + Offerings with Top Disney

This book by Christopher Lucas from Lyons Press was used by blogger and author Ron Baxley, Jr. along with his own background in watching Disney films to select mostly obscure Disney film offerings on the Disney + streaming service. Major fans of Disney films may know most or all of these selections, but Ron wanted to make sure that many people were finding some of the older Disney films or documentary features as well -- particularly during the current pandemic crisis.

The focus of this blog-post will be mostly on obscure Disney offering themselves, not offerings from the companies the entertainment giant has purchased through the years. This blog-post/article may eventually make its way to the online version of the daily newspaper, the Orangeburg, S.C. "Times and Democrat" at https://thetandd.com/ . The author has permission to post it early as a blog-post.

By: Ron Baxley, Jr.  

With many still stuck at home, they may be looking for more obscure and even time-tested offerings from the Disney + streaming service for their families. 

Baxley states that the films “Fantasia” and “Fantasia 2000” are good ones for teens and adults, particularly those into classical music (band students, music students, and all students really could use cultural exposure to it). Baxley says that not only does he like the diverse artistry of their animated sequences and the music, but he also uses the lower tempo music in them to drift off to sleep during these troubling times. According to Lucas’ book, “Walt (Disney) expanded the horizons of the motion picture industry in 1940 by creating a feature film combining classical music and animation. Fantasia was the first of Walt’s ‘package films’, using different directors and animators for a series of musical vignettes, this time conducted by Leopold Stokowski.” The film only gaining popularity in later years, it took the studio almost 60 years later to do a sequel.

The next one Baxley recommends on Disney+ is nowhere near as obscure, “Peter Pan” (1953). For those who are missing the long-term-closed Disney Parks and such classic rides as “Peter Pan’s Flight” and who have a strong sense of nostalgia, this one is perfect to share with the family. According to Lucas’ “Top Disney,” “Walt had been planning to make this adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s tale of eternal childhood since 1935, but didn’t get it going until well after the war years. Though the character had been around for decades, Disney’s version of Peter Pan soon became the iconic one.” With the iconic main character, viewers will certainly be singing, “You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!” again, one of the songs Baxley most remembers from the film and Walt Disney World.

“The Rescuers” (1977) may be more obscure than its 90s sequel “The Rescuers Down Under” to millennials and post-millennials. Baxley remembers it being one of the first films he ever saw in The Dane Theater in Denmark, S.C. along with “Pete’s Dragon” and the non-Disney “The Wilderness Family.” According to Lucas’ “Top Disney”, “Based on two award winning children’s books by Margery Sharp… the tale of two intrepid mice working for the Rescue Aid Society on a mission to save a young orphan was a surprise hit at the box office and helped boost Disney’s bottom line at a time when the company needed it most.” Baxley states he had not seen the film in many years and had almost forgotten how funny yet poignant the voice performances were by Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor as the heroic mice Bernard, a janitor mouse recruited to help, and Miss Bionca, a high society mouse whose heart is the right place in wanting to help orphans. Their take on polar opposites who attracted was entertaining according to Baxley. He also remembers being scared by accomplished actress Geraldine Page and the gruff voice she used for the villain Medusa, who was drawn like an uglier version of Carol Burnett’s Miss Hannigan in the later film “Annie”, and creeped out by her sidekick Mr. Snoops (played by t.v. and film star Joe Flynn) whose moustache was even creepy. Like fairy tales that also have creepy villains, Baxley says the film should definitely be shared with a family of all ages via Disney +.

Sometimes streaming technology such as Disney + can take one back to the past. For quaint notions of what a computer used to be or even what people imagined computers could do, “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” (1969) (referred to by Lucas’ book as part of the Dexter Riley trilogy), could be a good one to entertain older kids and teenagers as well as college students and adults who want to see what college life was like – at least according to late 60s and early 70s Hollywood. What may pull the kids into watching the film is that it stars Kurt Russell as Dexter Riley, and they may have seen him as a character in “Guardians of the Galaxy 2”. Seeing him as a young actor versus an aging one will be quite the contrast.

The next one on the list of recommended Disney + options is fairly obscure, “The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin” (1967). Baxley sees it as more of a tall tale mixed with a Western comedy – particularly with the ballad sung during the film. According to Lucas’ book source, “A stuffy British butler (Roddy McDowall) is mistaken for a rowdy boxer in this western comedy.” Baxley says McDowall’s stuffiness and fish out of water qualities do make for a good comedy of errors. He says, “If it is to be categorized as a Western comedy, it is more like the folksy, family comedy of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ at times.”

Though not obscure to Generation X or boomers, “The Black Hole” (1979), also available on the Disney + streaming service, may be obscure to other generations. Baxley, an avid fantasy and science fiction fan as well as Disney fan, says he remembers it from being younger and after a recent viewing sees it as “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” but set it outer-space with a space captain more insane than Nemo but with more psychological and allegorical facets like “Forbidden Planet.” It may be best for teens and adults and only older children with adult supervision. Lucas in “Top Disney” writes of “The Black Hole”, “Disney’s ambitious answer to Star Wars. This story of a stranded spaceship crew tangling with a madman bent on taking them through a black hole earned the first PG rating for the studio.”

As an avid Oz fan, on Disney +, Baxley had to watch “Babes in Toyland” (1961) (more obscure to non-Boomers) just to see Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in M.G.M.’s “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), play the villain Barnaby. Bolger, in a good way, really chews up the scenery as a typical villain in black with a black top-hat and black moustache, and his dancing skills are also put to good use. Baxley remembered Annette Funicello from reruns of “The Mickey Mouse Club” on The Disney Channel in the 80s, but Baby Boomers will remember her even more. According to “Top Disney”, “Annette Funicello stars in Walt’s first attempt at a big-budget live-action fairy tale musical, an adaptation of Victor Herbert’s classic operetta about Mother Goose and her Story Book Village characters facing against the evil Barnaby (played by a cast-against-type Ray Bolger). The oversized tin soldiers used in his film are still featured in Disney’s Christmas parades.”

On Disney +, another somewhat obscure one/cult classic that Baxley likes as an Oz fan is “Return to Oz” (1985). Baxley says that the film script combines two Oz books of the late, original Oz author L. Frank Baum and is as true to the whimsy of the books as the M.G.M. Oz film is while also be true to the darker aspects of the series of books. Lucas writes in “Top Disney,” “Walt purchased the rights to L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz stories and fully intended to make a film of them (a 1950s TV show with the Mouseketeers even previewed a musical number from it), but the increased popularity of the 1939 MGM film killed those plans. The company finally made an Oz film in the 1980s. It was a daring departure from the tone and style of the previous film. Unfortunately, audiences found it to be too dark, and it died at the box office. It’s since become a cult classic.”

With experience as a reporter and having seen the original film (and not the less obscure Broadway version) a year before graduating high school, Baxley also watched “Newsies” (1992) on Disney +. He says he happens to like the more realistic setting in the feature film versus the bare sets he has seen in YouTube clips of the musical. Baxley, having sang in church choir for many years, says he likes the perhaps slightly less-polished but more true-to-period voices of the film versus some of the Broadway performances of which he has only seen clips. But he says he might change his mind if he sees “Newsies” live. Lucas’ entry states, “Alan Menken, along with Jack Feldman, provided the songs for this tale of New York City newsboys in the early twentieth century who stage a strike. A young Christian Bale starred…”

Lucas’ book “Top Disney” mentions classic Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston and lists many of their character credits. Disney + has a documentary on them “Frank and Ollie” (1995) which can have some rambling true tales at times but Baxley still recommends as an extraordinary film for teens, young adults, and adults into animation. The documentary tells Frank and Ollie’s stories as two of Walt Disney’s original “Nine Old Men”. In this case, according to the aforementioned book, Frank and Ollie began their career at the Walt Disney Studios in the early 30s. What correspondent Baxley says he finds most enjoyable about the film was the details about the difficulty and tedium of the animation work, which some mistake as being easy, but how fulfilling and enjoyable it was. Baxley says it is amazing to watch how Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston brought characters to life. He says he also enjoyed the impressions and body language Frank and Ollie exhibited before the camera to show how they, in front of a mirror, would often put on faces and act out gestures and use them for characters. Baxley says to have patience with some of the stories they tell like you might with a grandparent because they are a treasure trove of information about the studio.

“The Imagineering Story”, a series on Disney + about Imagineers, the designers and developers of theme parks and attractions for the Walt Disney Company, was released after “Top Disney” came out. Baxley says it is very binge watchable, particularly for those who have always liked the Disney Parks and have been fascinated by them. There are six episodes a little over an hour apiece in the First Season, the only one available so far. The episodes cover everything from the beginnings of Disneyland to the modern Disney Resorts worldwide. He said what he enjoyed about the series overall was it gave behind the scenes peeks at the inner workings of Imagineering that the general public seldom gets to see.

Many options of films and television shows are available on Disney +, and these fairly obscure, recommended ones are just the proverbial drop in the bucket. A lot of contemporary content is available on the service as well. These Disney + findings were rechecked earlier this month and are subject to change as the Walt Disney Company takes down content and makes additions from time to time.

For more information on other top film and show suggestions to search for on Disney + as well as a plethora of other top ten Disney lists on various topics, order “Top Disney” (Lyons Press) by Christopher Lucas.