Toon Talk: Pollyanna Vault Disney 2-Disc DVD
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Pollyanna Production Galleries:
Includes:
- Three separate Galleries, offering Production Stills (showcasing full-color stills from the movie and black-and-white candid shots such as Walt hanging with the kids on the set and Hayley on the town), Production Art (three more galleries, offering Concept Art (from the church to Mrs. Snow’s bedroom), Costumes (fashion sketches for Pollyanna and Aunt Polly) and Storyboards (of Jimmy Bean’s opening credit sequence and his scene leading Pollyanna out on a limb)) and Biographies (of director Swift and actors Wyman, Mills, Corcoran, Moorehead, Malden and Richard Egan, who played Dr. Edmund Chilton).
- A montage of images in the Production Gallery set to a ragtime melody.
- Trailers (of this movie “starring the finest cast ever assembled by Walt Disney”) and TV Spots (featuring an alliteration-happy narrator).
- A Day in the Life of an Actress Featurette, featuring Nancy Olson describing what a normal day on the set of Pollyanna was like for her. An interesting idea, but Olson comes off a little too cautionary for what is basically a fluff piece.
- An Audio Archive presenting original Radio Spots (offering celebrity testimonials by the cast, with one from Karl Malden, two each from Adolphe Menjou and 'Mayor Warren' Donald Crisp, three from Jane Wyman and five … yes five, from Richard Egan), a Sound Studio for the town bazaar scene (using the audio button on your remote, you can alternate between ‘dialogue only’, ‘music only’ and ‘full composite’ sound tracks), two Songs (Hayley singing “The Pollyanna Song”, accompanied by Pollyanna pix, and “The Jimmy Bean Song”, accompanied by a few Kevin Corcoran pix .. so few, that they have to repeat them) and the Story Album, including “The Pollyanna Song” again, with narration by Corcoran and featuring the film’s original cast and dialogue).
Three other featurette are included in the Production Gallery and should not be over-looked:
Preserving ‘Pollyanna’:
A fascinating account of how the original color negative of Pollyanna was restored for
the early Nineties video release, hosted by film preservationist Scott McQueen and
including footage from several Disney sources, including Ludwig Von Drake’s first
appearance, on The Wonderful World of Color. After watching this, you will see how
important it is that our country’s cinematic history needs to be preserved.
The ‘Pollyanna’ Collector:
Film historian Stacie Martin returns with an enlightening look at the varied products
that were produced for sale at the time of Pollyanna’s original release, including
different editions of the original book, various recordings (including Hayley Mills
singing “The Pollyanna Song”, “The Jimmy Bean Song” and “America
the Beautiful”), dolls, jewelry, comic books, even an actual ‘Glad Game’
board game.
Martin also highlights the literary history of Pollyanna, from the original 1913 release and its sequel Pollyanna Grows Up, both by Eleanor Porter, to a slew of titles written by others and published after Porter’s death. Fourteen Pollyanna books, often known as “Glad Books”, were produced in total, some with such outlandish titles as Pollyanna in Hollywood and Pollyanna’s Castle in Mexico.
Promoting ‘Pollyanna’ Featurette:
Focuses on the often-campy, over-the-top advertising materials the Disney marketing
department came up with to advertise Pollyanna, including a Peyton Place-type
poster and a newspaper ad with the exploitative tag line:
“The only doll she ever had … could it be so important that she would risk her pretty neck for it?”
Such was the prevalence of the negative ‘Pollyanna’ term in the present society that the marketers strongly lobbied for a title change, suggesting the equally sappy The Glad Game. Of course, Walt prevailed, and the book’s original title remained.
Disney Studio Album - 1960:
As seen on the Swiss Family Robinson DVD set.
Toon Talk Rating: A
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