THE RELUCTANT DRAGON – THE ORIGINAL 1941 FEATURE-LENGTH MOVIE (NOT THE LATER FEATURETTE)

The full cover of my official Disney VHS videocassette of The Reluctant Dragon that confirms it to be the original 1941 live-action/animated feature, not the later, shorter, entirely animated featurette (© Walt Disney Studio – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 4 April 2020, I watched a Disney movie that I'd only ever seen once before, but that is undoubtedly one time more than the great majority of movie fans, and here's why.

Most Disney fans - and many general cartoon fans too - will be familiar with the slightly-longer-than-normal (approx 15 mins) cartoon short entitled The Reluctant Dragon, based upon the Kenneth Grahame children's story of the same title. It has been released several times worldwide in both home videocassette and home DVD formats, sometimes standing alone but usually bundled with various other short(ish) Disney cartoons. Yet how many know that it was initially merely a segment in a much longer, feature-length Disney movie of the same title, which was mostly live-action, was released in 1941, but was never re-released in the cinema, and even today is rarely available in any home format outside the USA, thus making it one of Disney's earliest yet most obscure movies?

Originally following swiftly in the feature-length footsteps of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, and Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon starred popular American radio star/comedian Robert Benchley, who visits Disney's newly-opened Burbank studio in the hope of selling to him the idea of making a cartoon based upon Grahame's story (and therefore conveniently overlooking the legality of trying to sell for his own profit someone else's story - but hey, this is only a movie, not reality!). However, in order to shake off a very officious teenage guide appointed to show him the way to Walt Disney's office, Benchley finds himself in a number of different rooms and departments, where he is shown by their friendly staff such integral aspects of animation as the multi-plane camera, how sound effects are created (using an excerpt of the then-incomplete movie Dumbo), how animation itself is achieved (using an excerpt of the also then-incomplete movie Bambi as well as a segment featuring Donald Duck), how real animals and human models are used as guides for the animators, how a story board for a movie is created and utilised, and much else besides. Essentially, the movie is a publicity film for Disney, but is very entertaining and educational in its own right. The climax of the film is when Walt Disney himself invites Benchley to watch their very latest cartoon before he listens to Benchley's idea - but the new cartoon is none other than The Reluctant Dragon - in other words, Benchley's idea is too late!

I've never understood why the full-length movie has never been re-released, because it is such a historically significant film, now more than ever, showing an animation world that has long been entirely superseded by modern-day digital animation techniques. True, at times it can be slightly corny, even a little twee, perhaps, especially Benchley's facial mannerisms and quips, and its extremely gentle, thoroughly wholesome nature makes it very much a movie of its time, which probably would not be appreciated by many modern-day audiences. Then again, what is wrong with a little corn, gentleness, and wholesomeness? Our harsh world of today could certainly benefit from some of those qualities.

I mentioned earlier that the full movie is difficult to obtain even in home viewing formats outside the USA, which is very true. Indeed, as far as I am aware it can only be purchased in Region 1 DVD format (i.e. compatible only with USA/Canada DVD players), not in any other Region format, so unless, if you live outside North America, you have either a multi-region DVD or have specifically bought a Region 1 DVD to play North American DVDs, you won't be able to watch it. And even the DVD is prohibitively expensive to buy from the USA via ebay, etc (upwards of £60), if you live outside North America - which made my fortuitous discovery many years ago a much-prized addition to my movie collection.

It must have been at least 20 years ago that one day, while visiting the public library in a small town called Darlaston, not far from where I still live, I was idly browsing through a box of sell-thru VHS videocassettes that the library had removed from its loan collection and were selling off for just 50p each. They were all arranged spine-up, and reading down them I suddenly spotted one entitled The Reluctant Dragon. Naturally, I assumed that it was the short cartoon, because as noted earlier this had been released as a separate cartoon in its own right, and as far as I knew, the full feature film that had originally contained it had never been released on videocassette in Britain. I pulled out its box, and the picture on the front cover seemed to confirm my expectation, as it was the very same picture that I had seen many times on videocassettes of the short cartoon. But then I turned it over and looked at its back cover - and my jaw quite literally hit the ground. Its cast list was headed by a certain Robert Benchley, and its running time was 65 minutes! Yes indeed, I was actually holding in my shaking hand the original 1941 feature version!

I opened the box, took out the cassette and inspected the tape, which seemed fine - so I raced over to the cash desk, handed over my 50p, and headed for home straight away. Praying that the tape was indeed fine, I carefully loaded it into my video recorder, and 65 minutes later, plus well over 40 years since I had first read about its existence, I had finally viewed this most elusive and thoroughly charming Disney feature-length production. Although over the years I have replaced many of my videocassettes with their DVD counterparts, this much-treasured videocassette is still very firmly part of my collection (indeed, it is the only example of this seemingly ultra-rare videocassette that I have ever encountered), and still plays beautifully, as I rediscovered when watching it again in April.

 

Finally: click here to view an excerpt from one of this movie's live-action sections featuring Robert Benchley.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!