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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| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Richard Cohen Dion Hatch |
| Edited by | Jack Weinstein |
Production companies |
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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
Plot
A documentary featurette produced in celebration of the studio's 20th (soon to be 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
The following appeared on archival footage:
- Walt Disney as Himself / Mickey Mouse
- Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
- Aurora Miranda as Herself
- Betty Lou Gerson as Cruella De Vil
- Hans Conried as Slave in the Magic Mirror / Captain Hook
- Jim Jordan as Orville
- Bob Newhart as Bernard
- Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy
- Dickie Jones as Pinocchio
- Adriana Caselotti as Snow White
- Harry Stockwell as Prince Charming
- Lucille La Verne as Queen Grimhilde
- Verna Felton as the Queen of Hearts/Flora
- Barbara Luddy as Lady
- Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan
- Kathryn Beaumont as Alice
- Christian Rub as Geppetto
- Ilene Woods as Cinderella
- Eleanor Audley as Maleficent
- Edward Brophy as Timothy Q. Mouse
- Phil Harris as Thomas O'Malley
- Peter Behn as Young Thumper
- Frankie Darro as Lampwick
- Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket
Home media
The short was released in Japan on August 25, 1986 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]