Walt Disney Sunday Night on TCM with Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin is back hosting the next "Treasures from the Disney Vault" on Turner Classic Movies this Sunday at 8pm. The night starts with Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). "It’s a delightful, often dark Irish fantasy that also serves a magnificent showcase for the ingenuity of the Disney team. Darby also features a young Sean Connery, just four years before he became internationally famous as James Bond." Since Patrick's Day is coming up, a movie about leprechauns seems appropriate.

Darby is followed by the Disneyland TV episode that promoted its release, but it doesn't take us behind the scenes; instead, Walt Disney stars as himself in I Captured the King of the Leprechauns. It is one of the very few times that "Walt stepped out of his traditional role as host and became an active participant in one of his shows." If you’re a Disney fan and you haven’t seen it, I think you're going to love this.

TCM then introduces a cartoon not about leprechauns, but about elves: the 1932 Silly Symphony Babes in the Woods. After that, we will be treated to another of the best television hours Walt ever produced, The Story of the Animated Drawing. In this episode, Walt educates the public with a lesson in the history of animation, dating back to cave drawings and Winsor McCay presenting Gertie the Dinosaur.

Next up, it is one of my favorite animated Disney films, The Three Caballeros (1945), a mixed blend of live action and animation AND colors and sounds inspired by Walt’s trip to Central and South America in 1941. Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito are the main characters in this musical, under appreciated picture. Coming up will be Ted Thomas' (son of Disney animator Frank Thomas) directed documentary Walt and El Grupo (2008), which retraces back to that milestone field trip Walt and his artists took South of the Border.
The Disney marathon will end with The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966), one of Walt Disney’s many British swashbuckler films.
The next Disney showcase will be just before July 4th…and there will be more exciting, new stuff to come.

 8:00 PM      Darby O’Gill and the Little People

 9:45 PM      I Captured the King of the Leprechauns 

10:45 PM     Babes in the Woods

11:00 PM     The Story of the Animated Drawing (great history of animation)

12:00 AM     The Three Caballeros (animated classic not often seen)

  1:30 AM     Walt & El Grupo (documentary about Walt’s trip to South America)

  3:15 AM     The Fighting Prince of Donegal