This DVD features two Disney mini classics that have in the past been part of a feature length film.
The Reluctant Dragon was a 1941 feature film that went behind-the-scenes of what it was like to work at Disney Animation. It featured a number of animated segments including the extended-length short The Reluctant Dragon. The animated segment The Reluctant Dragon was first released on VHS in the UK and US in the late 1980s. It was re-released a number of times afterwards on VHS and DVD, and is now paired with Mickey and the Beanstalk on this volume 6 and final volume in the Disney Fables collection. The previous volume in the Disney Fables series is
Walt Disney's Fables - Vol. 5 (Animated) (DVD)Fun and Fancy Free was released in 1947 and is now available on DVD
Fun And Fancy Free [DVD] [1948]. Mickey and the Beanstalk was featured as part of Fun and Fancy Free and was narrated by Edgar Bergen in live-action sequences, and with the help of his ventriloquist's puppets Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, along with child actress Luana Patten. Mickey and the Beanstalk was first aired individually in 1963 on the Disney anthology series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and this time was hosted by animated duck Ludwig Von Drake. There was also another version narrated by Sterling Holloway and this was shown on the Disney television series Good Morning, Mickey! and the television special Donald Duck's 50th Birthday. Though there have been some other minor edits over the years, when viewing Mickey and the Beanstalk by itself, the one most known is the one hosted by Ludwig Von Drake (and Herman), and that is the one that is on this Disney Fables DVD.
The titles for The Reluctant Dragon/Mickey and the Beanstalk have been edited on this DVD as they've been paired together, but essentially if you've seen them, they are as you remember them. Neither has been digitally cleaned up, but the picture and sound quality is good, and particularly in regards to Mickey and the Beanstalk, do not distract from the great entertainment!