The Reluctant Dragon

The Reluctant Dragon, released on June 20, 1941, holds an interesting place in Disney Feature Film history. This was Disney’s first full-length feature film not to be considered an official animated film. However it is not the first live-action film as that was Treasure Island in 1950 and it was not the first animation and live-action hybrid as that was Fantasia released in 1940. The Reluctant Dragon was made in response to the many questions Walt had received about how animation was made and it showed audiences a tour of the Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Only a small segment was actually based on the children’s story “The Reluctant Dragon” which was written by Kenneth Grahame and published in 1898. The film was directed by Alfred Werker for the live action portions and Hamilton Luske for the animation.  Jack Cutting, Ub Iwerks, and Jack Kinney were the sequence directors. The film starts off with the following quote: “This picture is made in answer to the many requests to show the backstage life of animated cartoons. P.S. Any resemblance to a regular motion picture is purely coincidental.”

The storyline centres around a fictional account of comedian Robert Benchley trying to sell Walt on the idea of turning “The Reluctant Dragon” book into a movie. Along the way Benchley wanders into various departments around the studio and sees some sneak peeks of future films.

The film starts off at Mr. Benchley’s home where his wife is reading “The Reluctant Dragon” and tries to convince him to go see Mr. Disney about turning the story into a film. Mr. Benchley is very hesitant about it but finally sets off for the studio. He is greeted by Humphrey, a no-nonsense tour guide, and in this scene Disney fans see the famous Mickey Ave and Dopey Drive signpost for the first time. The signpost was simply made as a prop for this film but afterwards was never removed from the studios. However, Mr. Benchley quickly becomes annoyed with Humphrey and sets off on his own.

Mr. Benchley’s first stop is Art Class where the artists are creating life drawings of elephants. Dumbo was released a few months later in October of 1941 and the drawings offer a look at some of the upcoming characters.

After Art Class, Mr. Benchley attends a Recording Session with the studio orchestra. He is treated to a performance of Florence Gil as Clara Cluck and Clarence Nash as Donald Duck.

Mr. Benchley then observes a Foley Session, which is where sound effects are put into movies. The sound crew are working on adding the effects for the Casey Junior sequence in Dumbo.

Mr. Benchley’s fourth stop is the Camera Room where the grand multiplane camera is shown. Now the film has switched from black and white to Technicolor and remains so for the rest of the film. Old MacDonald Duck, which was released in September of 1942, is being filmed on the multiplane camera. Donald Duck breaks the forth wall to show Mr. Benchley how each frame makes him walk.

Next, Mr. Benchley goes to the Ink and Paint department, nicknamed the Rainbow Room, and is shown the making and mixing of paint. The artists are also painting scenes and characters from Bambi (1942).

After the Ink and Paint Department, Mr. Benchley goes to the Maquette Department and sees small figures of different characters such as Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, Aunt Sarah, Si & Am, Timothy Mouse, Jiminy Cricket, and the Chernabog. Some of these characters did not appear in their respective films until a number of years later such as in Peter Pan (1953) and Lady and the Tramp (1955).

The seventh room Mr. Benchley discovers is the Storyboard Department where the story developers are working on a short called Baby Weems. However, Baby Weems was never actually turned into a completed film.

Next is the Animators’ Room where Mr. Benchley meets Fred Moore, Ward Kimball, and Norm Ferguson. He is shown a preview of the Goofy cartoon How to Ride a Horse which was not released until February of 1950.

At last Mr. Benchley finds Walt Disney in the Projector Room and is shown the complete featurette The Reluctant Dragon, the very story Benchley was trying to suggest to Walt all day. The Reluctant Dragon is about a phoney battle between Sir Giles and the Dragon, both of whom would rather be reciting poetry while enjoying a picnic. Sir Giles and the Dragon may not be the most well-known Disney characters but they do make cameo appearances later on in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and in the tv show The House of Mouse (2001 – 2003.)