A collection -- not complete, but comprehensive -- of color Mickey Mouse cartoons made between 1935 (when the first color Mickey short was released) through 1938. In 1997, Disney released a magnificent boxed laserdisc set -- "Mickey Mouse, The Black And White Years, Volume One" (disappointing sales prevented the release of a Volume Two), a five-disc set of thirty-three black-and-white Mickey shorts made between 1928 and 1935. This DVD collection, at one-fifth the price, is a worthy successor.

Leonard Maltin introduces some of the supplements. As the years pass Mr. Maltin looks more and more like a woodland creature of some sort, although we're still not sure which woodland creature. If you have an idea, please post your comments.

Film Synopsis:

Disk One:

Introduction by Leonard Maltin (1:52)

"Parade of Award Nominees"(3:24) -- the first appearance of Mickey in color, this was created for the 1932 Academy Award banquet. Introduced by Maltin.

1935

• The Band Concert (2/23/1935) -- the first Mickey Mouse cartoon in color. All Mickey Mouse shorts from that point on, with the exception of Mickey's Service Station and Mickey's Kangaroo, were in color. Arturo Toscanini was said to have called this cartoon his favorite; the success of this helped propel Donald Duck into the spotlight.
• Mickey’s Garden (7/13/1935)
• Mickey’s Fire Brigade (8/3/1935)
• Pluto’s Judgment Day (8/31/1935)
• On Ice (9/28/1935)
• Pencil Tests – "Mickey’s Fire Brigade," "Pluto’s Judgment Day," and "On Ice," introduced by Maltin

1936

• Thru the Mirror (5/30/1936) -- Based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through the Looking Glass"
• Mickey’s Circus (8/1/1936)
• Mickey’s Elephant (10/10/1936)
• Mickey’s Grand Opera (3/7/1936)
• Mickey’s Polo Team (1/4/1936) -- Walt himself was always fond of polo, so it wasn't surprising that the sport made its way into a Mickey short. This cartoon features two teams -- one comprised of Hollywood celebrities at the time (Groucho Marx, for instance) vs. Disney characters that had appeared in previous shorts (the Big Bad Wolf, Horace Horsecollar, etc.).
• Alpine Climbers (7/25/1936)
• Moving Day (6/30/1936) -- featuring a very early Goofy, who at the time was called "Dippy the Goof" in the comics and did not attain his name "Goofy" until 1939.
• Mickey’s Rival (6/20/1936) -- said rival for Minnie's hand being one Mortimer Mouse, which not-so-coincidentally was the name of the first mouse that Walt Disney ever drew (and here is drawn as a caricature of Walt himself). Disney's official story has it that a real-life mouse shared a drawing room with a young Walt, and he later turned it into a cartoon character -- but Walt's wife Lillian objected to the name, and so Walt instead went with Mickey. Another Mortimer Mouse (Minnie's rich cattleman uncle), with a completely different look, appeared in the 1930 comic "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley," and appeared sporadically in later comics.
• Orphan’s Picnic (2/15/1936) -- a sequel of sorts to the 1934 black & white short Orphan's Benefit, the first cartoon to pair Donald and Goofy. This one is pure Donald.

Easter egg : On the main menu, cursor around until you highlight Mickey's head to see a 2:36 excerpt from the 1954 television special "The Disneyland Story."

Disk Two:

"Mickey in Living Color" with Leonard Maltin (8:41)

1937

• Hawaiian Holiday (9/24/1937)
• Moose Hunters (2/20/1937)
• The Worm Turns (1/2/1937)
• Magician Mickey (2/6/1937)
• Mickey’s Amateurs (4/17/1937). Interesting name for the short; it was with this cartoon that Walt decided to branch out from his usual stable of directors (such as Ben Sharpsteen), and instead went with some fresh faces. This one was directed by three writers: Pinto Colvig, Ed Penner, and Walt Pfeiffer.
• Clock Cleaners (10/15/1937)
• Lonesome Ghosts (12/24/1937). This was the first short to use a new invention of the Disney ink & paint department -- transparent paint.

1938

• Mickey’s Parrot (9/9/1938) -- the first cartoon directed by the great Bill Roberts.
• Boat Builders (2/25/1938
• The Whalers (8/19/1938) -- the first cartoon directed by Dick Huemer
• Mickey’s Trailer (5/6/1938) -- this short has appeared in several previous compilations.
• Brave Little Tailor (9/23/1938). This short was rightfully nominated for an Academy Award, and was one of the most expensive Mickey Mouse cartoons ever made. With the success of 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney greatly cut the budgets of future shorts after this one, preferring instead to channel the money into feature films

Easter egg: Main menu -- highlight the word "Mouse" for a 5:50 1939 short, "Mickey's Surprise Party," that was created for the 1939 New York World's Fair -- and features a cartoon-ending product placement for Nabisco Cookies.

Technical

Video:	Original Academy ratio 1.33:1
Audio:	ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono [CC]
Subtitles:	English, Closed Captions

The cartoons (although not the special features such as the Leonard Maltin introductions) are presented in their original academy ratio of 1.33:1, and are slightly windowboxed so that no image is lost to overscan. The images are better than what one would normally expect from cartoons of this vintage, although dirt and scratches are evident (particularly during the clips shown in the Maltin pieces; even film gate debris can be seen, although those particular clips may be seen in much better condition in other collections). If the images have been digitally processed (and logically it is almost certain that they have been), the nature of animation hides any artifacts; flaws will of course be evident if the image is blown up to a 65" screen, but weaknesses generally seem to be consistent with the material. Those cartoons which have previously appeared in other compilations have never appeared as clean as they do here.

The audio is also of its period, exhibiting typical lo-fi tinniness. The sound is not unlistenable, though, and helps the viewer reorient to the time period in which these cartoons were made.

Supplements

Buena Vista had previously announced that the set contained a selection of clips from Mickey Mouse Radio Programs of the 30’s on a supplementary audio channel. The feature does not appear on any of the material accompoanying the collections, however, and we have been unable to unearth it on the DVDs themselves.