Mickey Mouse is arguably the most famous character in the world.  Stop anyone just about any place in the world and show them a picture of Mickey, and they'll know who it is.  Now the release of Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume Two, the fourth Walt Disney Treasure volume of Mickey cartoons, all of the famous mouse's shorts are available on DVD.  This set is a real treat for animation and Disney fans because it contains some of Mickey's rarest shorts, including films that either have not been shown in years or appeared only in censored form.

This compilation of films does not take off from where the first volume left off chronologically, rather it fills in the holes that were in the previous DVD set.  It contains 40 Mickey cartoons released between 1928 and 1935.  While these aren't Mickey's absolute best films, they are very good and the set does include some truly great shorts.  In addition to the sheer entertainment value these films provide, they are also historically important.  Included are early appearances of both Pluto and Goofy, the last short the Walt Disney directed himself, and Mickey final black and white film.

It is interesting to note that a lot of these cartoons were made after Disney switched over to color for most of his other animated shorts.  Mickey was so popular that he didn't need to be in color.  People would flock to see him anyway.  So Disney decided to save money, color film was expensive, and keep the mouse in black and white.  Yet even though these are in black and white, they are technically superior to many of the cartoons being release at that time.  If you compare the level of animation and effects with other cartoons of the late 20's and early 30's, you'll see a drastic difference.  Disney was the best animation studio at the time, and these cartoons show why.
 
Some of the highlights of this set include Mickey's Mechanical Man, where Mickey builds a robot to fight Beepo the Gorilla in the ring.  A hilarious short that was my favorite on the disc.  Mickey and Minnie are captured by Peg Leg Pete and his pirate crew in Shanghaied, a great action-filled cartoon.  I also really enjoyed When the Cat's Away since it is one of the rare times that Mickey is mouse sized.  Mad Dog is a fun romp, is also very entertaining.  It's a great cartoon where Pluto swallows a bar of soap and the police think he's rabid.

The thing I like about these cartoons the most is the surrealistic quality many of them have.  Cartoons have always given personalities to inanimate objects, but the way Disney did it was just a little more strange and enticing than other studios.  Seeing a train clutch at the rails as it's chugging up a mountain or having someone get carried aloft by a soap bubble gives these cartoons a twist that you don't always expect.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed most of these, I have to admit that I did grow a little tired of the cartoons that featured Mickey and a lot of barn yard friends singing songs.  If I had the luxury of going through these cartoons at a leisurely pace, I probably wouldn't have minded them that much.  When watching all of the cartoons in a row the ones that are predominantly singing tend to wear on you.

Disney did a great job on the discs themselves.  The video on the early shorts is slightly window boxed on order to show the entire frame, something a lot of publishers wouldn't have gone to the trouble to do.  Also, when the main title music no longer exists they didn't dub in non original music.  Instead of recreating something that may or may not have sounded like the original, they wisely have the opening credits silent.

They also have included several cartoons with negative stereotypes of African-Americas and foreigners in a special section entitled From the Vault.  There is an introduction (non-skipable) by Leonard Maltin where he explains why these cartoons are segregated, but defends their inclusion in the set.  A very nice tact that I hope Disney, and other studios, embrace.
 
There is a play all which presents the cartoons in chronological order, and selection menus arranged both by title and chronologically where you can pick a single cartoon.  Like the other Disney Treasure tins, this is a great set that would be an asset to any video library.

The contents of this volume are:

Disc one:

The Barn Dance 1928 - 4th Mickey cartoon, done after Steamboat.
The Opry House 1929 - 1st time Mickey wears white gloves
When The Cat's Away 1929 - featuring a mouse sized mouse.
The Barnyard Battle 1929 - another mouse sized mickey takes part in a war when cats attack the farm.
The Plow Boy 1929 - Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar make their frist appearances
Mickey's Choo-Choo 1929 - Mickey sings "I've Been Working on the Rail Road."
The Jazz Fool 1929
Jungle Rhythm 1929
Wild Waves 1929
Just Mickey 1930
The Barnyard Concert 1930
The Cactus Kid 1930 - the last short that Walt himself directed.
The Shindig 1930
The Picnic 1930 -an early appearance by Pluto who was referred to as Rover, and Minnie's dog!
Traffic Troubles 1931
The Castaway 1931
Fishin' Around 1931
The Beach Party 1931
The Barnyard Broadcast 1931
The Mad Dog 1932
Barnyard Olympics 1932 - released during the opening of the 1932 Olympics

Disc two:

Musical Farmer 1932
Trader Mickey 1932 - Disney pulled this short from TV and theatrical release due to the film's portrayal of native Africans.  I'm surprised they didn't put this in their 'Vault' section.
The Wayward Canary 1932
Mickey's Pal Pluto 1933 - remade in 1941 as Lend a Paw which ended up winning an Oscar.
Mickey's Mechanical Man 1933
Playful Pluto 1934
Mickey's Steam-Roller 1934
Mickey Plays Papa 1934
Mickey's Kangaroo 1935 - Mickey's last black and white movie.

The following are included in the From the Vault section on disc two:

The Haunted House 1929
The Moose Hunt 1931
The Delivery Boy 1931
The Grocery Boy 1932
Mickey In Arabia 1932
Mickey's Good Deed 1932
Mickey's Mellerdrammer 1933 - parody of Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Early appearance of Goofy under the name Dippy Dog.
The Steeple Chase 1933
Shanghaied 1934
Mickey's Man Friday 1935

Audio:

The audio portion of this set was presented in two channel Dolby Digital mono.  The sound was excellent, if you take into consideration the age of the recording.  There wasn't much dynamic range, but hiss and dropouts were very minimal. There are captions for the hearing impaired

Video:

The video quality is nothing less than spectacular.  Given the age of these films, I would have expected them to look much worse.  These were all made on nitrate film which starts to deteriorate the minute it is printed, and to have all of these films in such good condition is remarkable.  A few of the early cartoons have some speckling, probably on the original cells, and there is a little grain evident in some of these shorts.  The detail and crispness of the image is amazing though.  I'd be willing to bet that most people who saw these when they were originally released weren't presented with an image this good.

Extras:

While not packed with extra material, there are some interesting bonus items included.  The first disc starts off with Mickey Mania: Collection Mickey Merchandise.  This 13 minute featurette has Leonard Maltin talking with Bernie Shine, an avid collector of Mickey Mouse memorabilia.  He has an incredible amount of items and the tour of his collection is very interesting.

Next up is Mickey's Portrait Artist: John Hench: a 4½-minute talk with the artist.

Mickey's Sunday Funnies is the reproduction of a story (Mickey Mouse and Rumplewatt the Giant) from the Mickey Mouse Sunday comic strip.  You can view the story in two manners, either by cursoring through the frames with your remote or there is a 'video comic strip' that presents the frames without out the use of the remote.  The video version has background music and a brief introduction giving some history on the strip.

There are also four art galleries.  They are separated into Background Paintings, Animation Drawings, Mickey's Poster Archive and Mickey Mouse, Fully Covered.  This last entry has magazine and book covers that featured Mickey Mouse.

Final Thoughts:

This is a great set, and one that all animation fans should run out and purchase.  The quality of the cartoons and the presentation is top notch.  A great addition to the Walt Disney Treasures line.  Highly Recommended.