Ed's Review Dot Com

Theodore Thomas Productions

Walt Disney, Janet Lansburgh, Juan Carlos González, Mariúza Barroso Salomão, Marcelo Niño, Virgilio Roig, John Canemaker, Diane Miller, Blaine Gibson, Harriett Wolcott, JB Kaufman

Walt and El Grupo is one of a series of documentaries released by the Disney Company. Walt had a fairytale existence, literally, when Snow White hit it big in the theaters and suddenly he had money in the bank. Walt did what he typically did, and put the money into good use by building the fabulous Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. But this left Walt in serious debt when WWII hit and the European market dried up. Then a gang of union men decided that Walt would unionize the studio. Walt really felt that he had provided a wonderful new studio for his family of workers to turn out fabulous animation. Walt wanted to put it to a vote, but they struck him instead. Walt was pretty hurt that they would do this and went into a deep depression. The government then approached him and asked him to take a government paid excursion to South America to build good will. Walt declined as he said he is not a handshake and smile kid of guy and is not very good at it. So they offered him a chance to go down and take a group of people with him and setup temporary animation studios and gather material to make a film, guaranteed by the government. This gave Walt a chance to get away while his lawyers dealt with the strike and gave us two fabulous films, Saludos Amigos and The Three Amigos. This story is about the people who went with Walt and their adventures in visiting countries and gathering ideas for the films.

This is a fabulous film for people who are interested in the documentation of what happened to the studios at the time Walt came closest to losing everything, or for anyone who is a Disney fan, as it gives us a lot of insight into Walt, the man, who was a frail and easily hurt as the rest of us. It gives us a good view into the early days of the studios. I enjoyed it, but it is not nearly as interesting or grabbing as “The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story” I did watch this on Netflix Watch Instantly. The quality was very good.

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