Combining live-action and animation, the 1941 Walt Disney Production, The Reluctant Dragon, is basically a tour of the Walt Disney Studios, opened in 1939. Robert Benchley, a noted American humorist of the era, loosely "conducts" the tour, visiting several of the studio's production departments where he (and the viewing audience) is shown the various processes that go into making a Disney film. Although the majority of the film is live-action, the viewers will enjoy seeing the animated characters developed "from scratch" and come to life in glorious Technicolor.
Three Technicolor cartoons are included in the film, as well as a black-and-white animated short. Walt Disney appears as himself in the live-action lead up to the "screening" of The Reluctant Dragon vignette.
One of the more interesting and educational segments of The Reluctant Dragon involves a recording session of the film's score. Clarence Nash, who provided the "official" voice of Donald Duck for almost 50 years, is featured in this segment.
