Learn About Disney's Life With Walt: The Man Behind the Myth

I’ve loved Disney for as long as I can remember. Lately, I’ve been learning a bit more about him and the remarkable company he built through documentaries. The latest I saw was the 2001 made-for-TV doc Walt: The Man Behind the Myth, which focuses specifically on his life, from his childhood to his death at the too-young age of 65 from lung cancer.

This documentary is directed by Jean-Pierre Isbouts, who shares writing credit with Katherine and Richard Greene. The film consists mostly of talking head-type testimonials from a wide variety of people involved with Disney on a personal or professional level and video clips of both Disney and the work he did. There are clips dating back as far as the 1920s, maybe even earlier, and they all look remarkably sharp. The friend who saved this for me on her DVR was especially impressed with the quality of the footage. Through home videos, we are able to see Walt Disney with his guard down, just being a laid-back family man, while the animation clips give us a good sense of the progression of his work.

It’s interesting to see such a cross-section of personalities commenting on Disney’s life. Dozens of people contribute their recollections, and each talking head segment is accompanied by that person’s signature, which adds a nice touch. Expected voices include the Sherman Brothers, who relate anecdotes also included in The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story; animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston; filmmaker John Lasseter; and various members of the Disney family. Some of the interviewees who caught me by surprise a bit were author Ray Bradbury, historian Brian Sibley and television personality Art Linkletter. In addition to these interviews, we see several famous folks pop up in archive footage.

This movie offers a pretty straightforward account of Walt Disney’s life, presenting the highlights of his career and providing a good sense of what he was like as a person. When it was over, my friend commented that the film may have over-glorified him a bit; I’ll agree that he’s presented in an unfailingly positive light, so if you’re coming to this movie hoping for deep dark secrets, search elsewhere.

The closest the documentary comes to negativity is mentioning that he was a tough taskmaster whose praise was generally understated or delivered second-hand. But nobody seemed to mind this much; his commitment to excellence pushed them all to work harder, and the sparseness of his praise made his few well-chosen words that much more meaningful. Were there less admirable aspects of his personality that didn’t come to light here? Probably. But as a celebration of Walt Disney, this documentary certainly does the trick.

Dick Van Dyke, instantly recognizable even all these years later as the voice behind Bert, the happy-go-lucky chimney sweep who shares the spotlight with Mary Poppins in one of Disney’s most marvelous movies, warmly narrates the film. I can’t think of any other actor whose narration here would provide such a sense of deep affection. His presence undeniably added to the emotional appeal of the movie for me, and I found myself getting a little misty-eyed on more than one occasion as he talked about Walt’s dreams and his determination to make them a reality.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a Disney movie will probably find something to interest them here. Walt: The Man Behind the Myth is a joyous celebration of a man with seemingly limitless imagination and of the empire he created.