Grand Canyonscope

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

The Little Ranger enjoys his job as guide at the Grand Canyon, until tourist Donald and a ferocious Mountain Lion give him a really bad day...

This enjoyable little comedy doubtless got its name as it was one of Disney's first releases in Cinemascope. It also marked the final appearance in a Disney cartoon of the Mountain Lion, who retired to a cave in California's Hollywood Hills. Clarence "Ducky" Nash provided the voice for Donald; Bill Thompson did the honors for Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Ranger Woodlore stars in this one...one of the only shorts I can remember that also doesn't star Humphrey the Bear. In this one, his nemesis is Donald Duck and Donald is simply AWFUL...but funny.

The story is set in a national park a lot like the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon combined. As the Ranger tries to conduct a tour, Donald keeps doing the most awful things which could destroy the natural beauty of the place. Sadly, when I visited the Grand Canyon and Bryce I actually saw many folks doing similar stuff--such as climbing over barriers to get 'the perfect shot'! In the end, Donald and a mountain lion end up destroying everything!

While the art style is very 50s and was thereby simple and a shadow of the great shorts by Disney of the 30s and 40s, this IS fun...which is most important. I also like how this first Cinemascope cartoon by Disney makes fun of itself. Well worth seeing despite the subpar art style.

Donald Duck never has followed orders and this is no exception. He is part of a tour group, and despite warnings, he manages to constantly disobey, causing havoc on the great canyon. It is certainly well done and colorful, showing Mr. Duck to be about as destructive as one can be.

Donald Duck is a tourist visiting the Grand Canyon who gives the tour's guide fits due to his continuous shenanigans including an encounter with an ill-tempered old lion.

This cartoon short is diverting enough in its goofy slapstick fashion only really I wonder if it really needed Donald Duck as its lead at all. In fact, this one seems better suited to Goofy himself to me as really there's no point here where we see Donald Duck's temper rise, which is usually said character's most entertaining aspect. Honestly most any character could have probably fit into the role which makes one wonder if they just didn't pick a popular character's name out of an hat to use for this one.

This Donald Duck short starts with some nice laughs. Donald Duck is in the Grand Canyon and a tourguide must stop him from doing some crazy stuff. The part in the middle is very boring, where Donald and the tourguide meet a lion. In the end we have a few laughs again and that is about it.