By Patrice Downing, Contributing Writer
“Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy” are the words Walt Disney hung over the intricately embellished entrance to his debut theme park venture. California’s Disneyland has long been known as the Happiest Place on Earth, suspending reality for guests as they pass under the iconic plaque and enter the world of make-believe. Now over 70 years removed from the physical process that led to the creation of one of the most recognizable parks on the planet, it’s easy to remain blissfully unaware of the manpower that went into its intricately detailed construction. Countless craftsmen and creators left their marks on the pathways, brick walls, ride vehicles, decorative fences, waterways, rooflines, train cars, and storefronts of Disneyland to be enjoyed by over 900 million visitors since opening day in 1955.
Documentarian Leslie Iwerks’ newest film, Disneyland Handcrafted, shines a spotlight on the enormous collection of artisans it took to create a park capable of enveloping visitors into a magical world, free from outside distractions.
For those familiar with Iwerks’ filmography, you may be thinking “Didn’t she already cover the construction of Disneyland for an entire episode in The Imagineering Story?” or “Is there really enough new footage and information to justify another film?” How many times do you really need to see the same talking heads wax nostalgic about the construction of a septuagenarian park? But that’s just it. This 79-minute feature does not include a single second of interviewees sitting at desks, carefully curated offices, or theme park backgrounds. There isn’t even a single narrator voicing over the beautifully transferred original 16mm film in its new 2k format, telling the tale. Instead, in her own words, Iwerks and her team wanted to “tell the story all through archival footage and audio soundbites from people that were there on the ground working with Walt.” Impressively, she is able to do just that, with the added difficulty of needing to add all the audio elements to her finished product as the hundreds of reels of film pulled from the Disney archives were all completely silent. Every tap of a hammer, rev of a vehicle engine, and propeller whirr had to be meticulously layered in with the narrative audio to create an immersive experience following the park’s progress. In fact, the only footage that included audio to be used in the new film were those pulled from the ABC television broadcasts covering construction and opening day. And speaking of the television broadcast, none of the plethora of previous documentaries I’ve seen has covered the intense choreography, heavy equipment, and sheer volume of cable needed to cover the opening day festivities. Plenty of documentaries and retrospectives have utilized the famous footage of Art Linkletter and Walt bringing the excitement of July 17, 1955, into millions of homes across America, but did you ever consider the physical requirements to make that happen? Handcrafted also takes time to show the teams of people needed to pull off that extraordinary undertaking. “Miles of TV cable,” 14 forklifts, 29 cameras, five broadcast control rooms, and what can only be described as a caged cameraman dangling from a crane.
The final aspect worth mentioning is one I found surprising, Iwerks’ ability to create tension and eagerness for an event that viewers are already aware of the outcome. We know Disneyland’s construction was completed. We know the park opened and continues to operate, but her method of storytelling engages the audience in a way that suspends that knowledge causing a foreboding aura of anticipation right up until we actually see visitors walk through the gates. There is a fun sequence early on that stitches together all kinds of seemingly insane work practices given OSHA jobsite standards of today. As the appropriately titled 1953 song “Crazy Man, Crazy” plays, we see an extraordinary montage of workers walking across steel girders (without safety belts or harness), hanging from crane cables, bouncing front loaders up the iconic berm, trucks skidding, excavators inch worming across the ground, and caps off with a pretty epic tip-over where the driver barely pops out of the way. That sense of onsite danger, coupled with audio discussing the consistently ballooning budget ($17 million from the original $4.5) from construction supervisor Joe Fowler and accountant Milt Albright serve to highlight just how close Walt’s vision was to shutting down at any given time. We’ve all heard anecdotes about how they had to choose between flushing toilets or running water fountains for opening day and that working up until rope drop meant that women’s high heels stuck in the uncured concrete of Main Street as a result.
Iwerk’s ability to draw focus to the human element of the skill, planning, preparation, and occasional peril coming together to create the Happiest Place on Earth makes the end result that much more impressive. A rapidly approaching, very public deadline coupled with dwindling funds forced critical daily decisions that fortunately led to the world famous entertainment triumph it is today.
Rating: Loved It
Disneyland Handcrafted is currently streaming on Disney+ and DisneyYouTube
You can read more from Patrice Downing, and follow her on Serializd and Letterboxd