RSS or
Email.
Old Yeller
(1957)
Permalink |
|
This 45-year-old film looks fantastic in this impressive two-disc set from the "Vault Disney Collection." Crisp (and tastefully mixed) sound accompanies the THX-certified presentation. The disc leads off with promo trailers for upcoming features and videos (thankfully, Disney lets you skip over these with your remote. Included on disc one is the Pluto short "Bone Trouble," a welcome appetizer for the feature; it offers some visual wit in a funhouse mirror sequence, but it's basically a run-of-the-mill trifle. The better extra on disc one is the audio commentary by stars Tommy Kirk, Fess Parker, and Kevin Corcoran, as well as animal trainer Bob Weatherwax, whose uncle trained Spike (a.k.a. Old Yeller). The entertaining and informative commentary--as endearingly poky and gentle as the film--finds Weatherwax giving expert speculation on how Spike was trained, along with the actors' first-hand recollections of each other, director Bob Stevenson, and the rest of the cast (particularly the beloved Spike).
Disc two features the thirty-six documentary documentary "Old Yeller: Remembering a Classic," about fifteen minutes of video "Conversations with Tommy Kirk," the brief montage of Disney "Dogs!" seven-minute location profile "Lost Treasures: Ranch of the Golden Oak," three-minute "1957 Disney Studio Album" (a "snapshot" of the year's Disney productions), and an "Production Archives" section of trailers, commercials, stills, and other promotional hoo-hah. In all, it's fair to say that this two-disc set is a bit padded, but it's a bone-a-fide special edition that can be had at a reasonable price.