I am very often asked to suggest my favorite books and documentaries about Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company. Below are some suggestions. DCTC is not sponsored by any of the products listed here. The links used are Amazon affiliate links and any purchases made through them within 24 hours of clicking will help support future episodes of DCTC.
Walt Disney was uniquely adept at art as well as commerce, a master filmmaker who harnessed the power of technology and storytelling. This film examines Disney's complex life and enduring legacy. Features rare archival footage from the Disney vaults, scenes from some of his greatest films, interviews with biographers and animators, and the designers who helped turn his dream of Disneyland into reality.
From Mickey Mouse to Mary Poppins to Disneyland and beyond, Walt Disney touched the hearts of millions with his special brand of magic. In this revealing portrait, you'll discover the man behind the myth as never before. Inspired by daughter Diane Disney Miller and hosted by Disney legend Dick Van Dyke, the film features all-new interviews with friends, family, collaborators, and experts plus never-before-seen home movies. Through good times and bad, including a brush with bankruptcy during World War II, Walt remained a driven innovator and perfectionist behind studio gates and devoted family man at home. Walt: The Man Behind the Myth offers the most intimate look yet at the man whose legacy continues to inspire the world.
The story of the Disney Renaissance, an incredibly prolific, successful and prestigious decade lasting from 1984 to 1994 that saw the fallen Walt Disney Animation Studios' unexpected progressive triumphant return to excellence.
An intimate journey through the lives of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the astoundingly prolific, Academy Award winning songwriting team that defined family musical entertainment for five decades with unforgettable songs like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous” from Mary Poppins, “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book and the most translated song ever written "It’s a Small World (After All)" from the Disneyland attraction. The feature-length documentary, conceived, produced and directed by two of the songwriters’ sons, takes audiences behind the scenes of the Hollywood magic factory and offers a rare glimpse of a unique creative process at work. It also explores a deep and longstanding rift that has kept the brothers personally estranged throughout much of their unparalleled professional partnership
This book takes an honest but positive look at the man behind the myth. For the first time, the book pulls together all the various strands of Disney’s life into one straightforward, easy-to-read tale of imagination, perseverance, and optimism. Far from a preachy or oppressive tome, this book scrapes away the minutiae to capture the true magic of a brilliant maverick.
Walt Disney was a true visionary whose desire for escape, iron determination and obsessive perfectionism transformed animation from a novelty to an art form, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films–most notably Snow White, Fantasia, and Bambi. In his superb biography, Neal Gabler shows us how, over the course of two decades, Disney revolutionized the entertainment industry. In a way that was unprecedented and later widely imitated, he built a synergistic empire that combined film, television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise.