Disc Reviews

You can’t really pin down the success and endurance of many Disney films to any one thing. But there's an element that can’t be ignored here. The songwriting Brothers Sherman share considerable credit for the many a film’s appeal. Even if you’ve never seen one of their films, and it’s hard to imagine there is anyone who hasn’t, you do know many of the unforgettable songs from them. Just A Spoonful Of Sugar, Chim-Chin-Cher-ee, Let’s Go Fly A Kite, and, of course, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins alone. Add songs from Winnie The Pooh, Bedknobs And Broomsticks, and The Jungle Book. The melodies are simple but catchy. Once you get them into your head, it’s an awful chore to try to remove them. The Sherman Brothers are responsible for many of Disney’s famous melodies from most of the musical films. If Walt Disney himself came with a soundtrack, you can bet the Sherman Brothers would have written it, and you’d still be singing it today. The songs captivate children, but somehow even adults can’t seem to help but be enchanted by them.

The troubling fact is that these brothers were not as close as their 30-year partnership would suggest. Their families were always apart, and they almost never spoke to each other out of the office. The animosity went beyond simple sibling rivalry. It's almost as if fate had forced them together completely against their will because there was just too much of a contribution to society to give here. The film is quite candid in covering the differences. The movie was made by one of each of their sons in an attempt to not only tell the important story but to possibly bring their fathers together in the last years of their lives. Well, they got half of what they were hoping to accomplish. The film tells a very compelling story indeed.

"Far from a fairytale, Waking Sleeping Beauty is an unprecedented eye-opening look at the conflict, drama and tension that ushered in the second chapter of Disney's animation legacy, a decade of unparalleled creativity..."

In the 1940’s Walt Disney was asked by President Roosevelt to take a goodwill tour across Latin America as an ambassador of sorts. He declined the invitation, protesting that he wasn’t the handshaking kind and that the cause would be better served using someone else. Not to be deterred, Roosevelt made a counteroffer. What if Walt would go to Latin America with a film contingent and then create some kind of a production out of the tour. A government subsidy was even offered. Walt accepted the invite but turned down the subsidy. And so, with a large party of animators, writers, and production crew, they took a whirlwind tour and left with what Walt himself described as a wealth of material. The footage obtained and the experience gained would feed into Disney productions for decades.

Written by Diane Tillis

Wings had an interesting story to tell when they completed Band on the Run. Paul and wife Linda McCartney wanted to record a new album at an unusual location. From a list of potential locations, they chose a remote studio in Lagos, Nigeria. Right before the departure date, lead guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit the band. It was up to Paul, Linda, and fellow member Denny Laine to finish the project. They spent August and September 1973 in Lagos working on the project under difficult conditions. The band suffered with the intense African heat and survived a dangerous mugging at knifepoint. The thieves stole valuables and the album’s demo tapes. The band had to re-record the entire album from memory. The difficulties the band endured in Nigeria paid off; Band on the Run triumphed critically and commercially. It sold seven million copies, topped the United States album chart three times, and won a Grammy.