In 2019, Leslie Iwerks took audiences behind the scenes of The Walt Disney Company’s creative department, with the six-part miniseries, The Imagineering Story. To this day, the series remains one of the most incredible pieces of content on Disney+ as it explored the history of the creation of all the Disney Parks, and the creative minds that brought it all to life.
Disneyland Handcrafted, once again finds Iwerks (herself a third-generation creative working with Disney), diving into Disney archival footage, this time to discuss the creation of Disneyland. The film employs Disney’s archival footage along with clips from ABC television and audio from engineers, architects, executives, and even Walt Disney himself taken from various interviews.
This remix and remastering of existing audio and video is masterfully constructed to tell the improbable tale of the one-year journey of building the park — taking it from literal orange groves to the opening day of The Happiest Place on Earth.
Iwerks and her team took the raw 16mm film footage and time-lapse photos and remastered them via high resolution scans to create a film that films rich and robust for the 4k resolution era, while still maintaining a rich, nostalgic, and most importantly authentic feel that 16mm film gives.
Yet, there’s more to these visuals than its restoration — it’s the choices of shots selected by Iwerks and her team. They focus on the literal “handcrafting” of Disneyland. We see countless shots of men on scaffolds painting Cinderella’s castle, workers trying to pull the Mark Twain River Boat to shore, and men in massive construction vehicles trying to tame seemingly unmanageable terrain.
These shots are flooring. In a vacuum it’s almost impossible to wrap your mind around the fact that there were countless workers who built this iconic institution by hand. It was sweat on the brow, old school labor that brought this park from sketches and models to reality.
These shots also underscore the improbable, (or impossible) timeline of the one year Disney had to complete this construction. Iwerks is able to take this reality, and build an underlying aura of suspense throughout the film. You often find yourself wondering how on earth Disney is going to hit their deadline. And that’s the sign of terrific filmmaking. We all know what’s going to happen, yet one can’t help finding themselves swept up in it all.
Disneyland Handcrafted deftly employs ASMR-style audio to bolster the handcrafted nature of this build. Hearing bricks being laid, metal clanking together, water rushing, even cigarette lighters flicking make the documentary even more intimate. You feel like you’re on the build with these workers from 70 years ago. These sounds bring you in closer to the entire process, and give a sense of reality and gravity to the process. Simply put, the film feels like a living, breathing document instead of a historic documentary told from 1,000 yards away.
Leslie Iwerks has created another masterpiece with Disneyland Handcrafted, and here’s hoping that a second season or continuation of The Imagineering Story is down the road.
