Once Upon a Mouse
Once Upon a Mouse is a 1981 American theatrical featurette directed by Jerry Kramer and Gary Rocklen of Kramer/Rocklen Studios, produced in association with Walt Disney Productions. It was released on July 10, 1981 on a double bill with The Fox and the Hound.[1]
| Once Upon a Mouse | |
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| Directed by |
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| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Richard Cohen Dion Hatch |
| Edited by | Jack Weinstein |
Production company |
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 27 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Dedication
In celebration of our twentieth animated feature, we invite you to relive with us the story telling magic, the wit, the wisdom, the humor, the understanding of a very special person who gave the world a timeless and universal art form. This is the legacy of Walt Disney...
— Opening titles of Once Upon a Mouse
Synopsis
A documentary featurette produced in celebration of the studio's 20th (now 24th) feature-length animated film The Fox and the Hound which highlights sixty years of Walt Disney's legacy beginning with Steamboat Willie in 1928 followed by a kaleidoscopic magic carpet ride through the world of Disney animation, including segments from hundreds of films shown through the use of montages, collages, computerized optical effects, behind-the-scenes footage, and special tributes to Disney and Mickey Mouse.[2]
The featured clips include Mickey Mouse shorts, The Jungle Book, Bambi, Fantasia, The Rescuers, Song of the South, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, The Aristocats, The Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood.[3]
Once Upon a Mouse began airing on The Disney Channel in the mid-1980s and would be shown again in reruns, the last time being in 2002 as part of the Vault Disney block of programming.[4]
Cast
- Walt Disney as Himself / Mickey Mouse (archive footage)
- Clarence Nash as Donald Duck (archive footage)
- Aurora Miranda as Herself
- Betty Lou Gerson as Cruella De Vil
- Hans Conried as Slave in the Magic Mirror (archive footage)
Home video
The featurette has never been released on any physical format in the United States. However, on August 25, 1986, it was released in Japan on VHS and LaserDisc as part of a compilation of Disney shorts called Once Upon a Mouse and Other Mousetime Stories. This compilation also features The Flying Mouse (1934), Three Blind Mouseketeers (1936), Brave Little Tailor (1938) and Ben and Me (1953).[5]