If you are interested in the history of animation, or the history of Disney or even if you're just a casual movie fan, this book is for you! Enormously entertaining, the book discusses the Disney careers of about 20 of their old time directors. Plenty of pictures, lots of diagrams and reference lists, I can't praise this book enough! Read more

Every time I buy a new hardback book from Amazon, the dust cover is crinkled on the edges. Not a big deal to most, but it is to me. I wish Amazon would wrap the books to keep them in better shape while shipping. As far as the material in the book, well, it's very fascinating and I enjoyed the information. I love 2D Disney animation and if you do too, this book is a keeper. The printing quality is just ok - it's not art quality, but then again, this is not an art book. The book covers Ub Iwerks (Disney wouldn't be Disney without him and there are two other books that are more thorough: "Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerks" and "The Hand Behind the Mouse : An Intimate Biography of Ub Iwerks"), Burt Gillett, Dave Hand, Ben Sharpsteen, Wildfred Jackson, Ham Luske, Gerry Geronimi, Jack Kinney, Jack King, Jack Hannah, Nick Nichols and Woolie Reitherman. They talk about the animation process, which if I didn't already know about it, I would be grateful that this was included. Plenty of pictures and graphs. Since there is so little information about these men out there and this book gives so much interesting information in one volume, it's a great addition to my collection. I just wish there was more care in packing these books up cause this is a book I want to keep til I die! I'm thankful to Pete Doctor and Don Peri for taking the time to do the research and compile this information. Read more

cannot get enough of behind the scenes details Read more

I Have Been A Disney Fan For Years, This Book Is Perfect For Any Disney Fan Out There Read more

Over ten years in the making, we finally get a book on an overlooked and under discussed topic in Disney animation, the directors. Over the decades, the animators have gotten the most attention and praise. This is in contrast to WB animation where the directors are more well known and celebrated. I speculate that this could have been due to company politics that carried over into the retirement of the artists. Like most great Disney history books that focus on a specific topic, this one delivers with information never before published and clarifies a lot of well known facts at the same time. All of the major directors are discussed as well as some if the lesser known shorts directors, such as Jack King and Bill Roberts. While there isn’t a whole lot of new in depth information about some of them, due to lack of primary sources, there’s still enough to get an even clearer idea of who they were, and what happened to them. And most importantly, photographs of them. I found the chapter of Clyde Geronimi one of the more interesting ones. He was probably the most despised of the directors, but they show how great of a director Geronimi was. There’s also a passing mention of how the anti-Italian prejudice he faced in his upbringing shaped his personality, in that he always had to fight for what he got. (Something that hasn’t been mentioned before, but is being talked about more in recent times in general terms). Many other minor curiosities I’ve had over the years were addressed, such as what is a directing animator. There’s also an acknowledgement that the studio records are sometimes inconsistent or vague as to who directed what cartoon (this is mostly evident in the early years of the sound era). For instance, records say that Dave Hand directed Trader Mickey from 1932, where by all accounts he started directing in 1933. (Some other documents from the time mention Burt Gillett directing Trader Mickey). Wilfred Jackson refuted the archive’s findings of films attributed to him as a director. This is a must read for Disney fans. Now we need a similar book on the other animators outside the famed nine old men. Ditto for an in depth book of all the Disney cartoon shorts with animator credits and production details/timelines. Read more