Today on the podcast, we continue our story of Larry Watkin, who worked with Walt to create the

first wave of Disney live action features in the 1950s. Wotkin was one of the key people who

helped Walt move his company beyond animation and into new fields. Since we started this series

a little over a month ago, a few people

have written in to ask where they can screen all of these movies. The two most significant

films that we've talked about are on Disney Plus. There you can find lovely high-definition

transfers of Treasure Island, Watkins' first film for Disney,

and Darby O'Gill and The Little People, which we will talk about this week and next,

which was Watkins' most important film for Disney.

I should also point out that the version of Darby O'Gill on Disney Plus is the one that has the later

dubbing, which we will talk about next week. But Darby O'Gill is one of Walt's best live

action features along with Mary Poppins and 20,000 leagues under the sea. Anyone can easily click

on to Disney Plus to watch both of these features, and if you want to explore Walt and Watkins' early live action offerings, that's where I would start.

You can also find a high-definition presentation of the 1952 version of Robin Hood on Disney Plus.

But beyond that, it becomes a little bit tricky. As far as I know,

there are no publicly available high-definition versions of the Sword and the Rose or Rob Roy,

but these are available on DVD and as standard deaf presentations for rental on Amazon, iTunes, and elsewhere.

The DVDs are out of print, so if you're looking for them, you'll likely need to search third-party sellers on a site like eBay.

The Great Locomotive Chase really should be on Disney Plus, in my opinion.

As I mentioned, I think the two most important films from the Watkin era are Treasure Island and Darby O'Gill.

But the Great Locomotive Chase easily comes in as third.

It's a tightly plotted, well-crafted film that highlights Walt and Watkins' approach

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