Walt: The Man Behind the Myth

"I need a new character. I think it will be a mouse. I think I'll call him Mortimer." Okay, so not all of Walt Disney's original ideas were pure genius. But as this authorized video biography--originally broadcast on The Wonderful World of Disney in commemoration of Walt's centennial--illustrates, Walt Disney was a visionary with a sense of destiny, who created an empire. Home movies, film clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and revealing interviews etch an indelible portrait of the man whose name became synonymous with state-of-the-art animation and family entertainment. Walt: The Man Behind the Myth traces Walt's life from "one bold experiment to another": the first sound cartoon, the first color cartoon, the first feature-length cartoon, and the world-renowned theme park Disneyland, to name a few. While mostly a flattering portrait, the film does peek behind the folksy mask: not only was Walt (gasp!) a lifelong smoker, he was also a stern taskmaster who rarely directly praised his artists, and in the 1940s, was shocked when his staff picketed the studio during a contentious strike. Also referenced are those pesky charges (firmly denied here) that Walt was an anti-Semite, and that he lies somewhere in a cryogenic state of suspended animation (he was cremated). Narrated by Dick Van Dyke, this is an entertaining and inspiring salute to a uniquely American icon that will be warmly welcomed by Disney buffs (kids would no doubt just rather watch the cartoons). Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)