Mickey Mouse is coming to DVD in a big way. Twenty-six full color classic Mickey Mouse cartoons from the 1930s will be included on one disk, in a four-disk set that is due out from Disney in December. All four of the disks will be introduced by film historian Leonard Maltin, who also hosts a special featurette, Mickey in Living Color, which includes pencil tests for three of the cartoons. A second disk in the box includes 36 Silly Symphonies as well as an art gallery and interviews with songwriter Richard Sherman and Disney archivist Dave Smith. The third disk in the set contains the five episodes of the Disney Davy Crockett TV miniseries that were later recut into a theatrical movie along with a Maltin interview with Davy Crockett star Fess Parker. The fourth disk contains material from the long running Disney TV series, most of which pertains to the development of Disneyland, the original 'magic kingdom.'
The 26 Mickey Mouse color cartoons have never been released on video before. A Disney spokesperson noted that this is the first release in a series that will eventually include each and every cartoon that the company ever produced. The four-disk Walt Disney Treaures DVD Box Set will debut on December 4 in time for holiday sales. The fourth quarter of 2001 will see an unprecedented number of DVD releases of both new and classic material (see 'Phantom Menace Bows in Oct.'). The release of classic Disney cartoons on DVD should be of great interest to Disney collectors. It remains to be seen how Disney will handle the release of its many short and feature length animated works. This first DVD Box Set does contain some real treasures, but it also ties them to other material (Disneyland, Davy Crockett) that may not be of as much interest to animation fans as the disks containing the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons. 
