The Bootleg Files: Uncle Walt

BOOTLEG FILES 927: “Uncle Walt” (1964 student film that was unavailable for many years).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Internet Archive.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A student film made without the clearance of the rights owners of the original classic.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.

One of the sad truths of locating films that are either lost or have been otherwise unavailable for decades is that the discovered titles are often far less interesting than the mystique that surrounded them during their absence from view.

A case in point is “Uncle Walt,” a 1964 short film made by Robert Swarthe when he was a student at the UCLA Animation Workshop. Swarthe would later enjoy a successful Hollywood career as an animator and special effects artist, receiving two Academy Award nominations during his career. “Uncle Walt” was never intended for theatrical release and only had one known public screening back in 1972 at the American Film Institute as part of a presentation titled “50 Years of American Animation.” In the years that followed, the film was nowhere to be seen and rumors arose of a lost classic.

Well, the film was never lost. Swarthe donated a print to the Academy Film Archive, where it was preserved as part of a collection of the filmmaker’s output. One or perhaps two 16mm prints have surfaced on eBay, and in 2024 the Thunderbean Animation label promised that “Uncle Walt” would be part of a Blu-ray collection called “Public Domain Mouse Adventures!” that included the first three Mickey Mouse cartoons whose copyrights expired. But Swarthe found out about this planned release and threatened to file a lawsuit if his film was released on Blu-ray, which resulted in it being withdrawn.

However, an online denizen known as Unckie NPC obtained a print and uploaded it to YouTube and the Internet Archive for everyone to see – whether Swarthe is aware of this is unclear.

“Uncle Walt” opens with a dedication to the memory of Perri, which is followed by a view of hundreds of tombstones marked “Perri.” This is a reference to the long-forgotten 1957 Disney live-action film “Perri” about a squirrel. That’s followed by several photos of Disney himself before we get to the reason for the film.

Swarthe serves up animation with Mickey and Minnie Mouse as they appeared in the late 1920s, with Mickey playing a banjo while Minnie dances on a piano. A stereotypical Black cannibal (in full Sambo appearance, complete with a bone on his head) watches the scene through a window. Minnie exits and goes to an outhouse, where an Arab stereotype exits.

The cannibal comes inside, stands on the piano, and runs a spear through Mickey’s banjo. Mickey shoves the piano out of the room and the cannibal flies outside and lands in the outhouse with Minnie. Mickey and the cannibal fight and the Arab gets impaled with a spear and beheaded.

A group of cannibals and another group of Arabs emerge with their weapons drawn and start to fight each other before agreeing to unite against Mickey and Minnie. For some reason, Minnie is trying to hold up the outhouse to prevent it from falling off a cliff. But the cliff cracks and Minnie and the outhouse fall to their doom.

From within the cavern below the cliff, it seems like the cast of “Fantasia” is hanging out. Fairies emerge to “Dance of the Sugarplums” and give wings to walking naked infants, who become flying cherubs. Elsewhere in this odd world, female centaurs stand around like streetcorner hookers while Goofy appears to be their stylish pimp. Then, the viewer is in a movie theater populated with an audience of rabbits who watch clips from several Disney cartoons – most notably the Evil Queen’s magic potion transformation sequence in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The film ends with the Seven Dwarfs genuflecting in sorrow around a glass coffin containing a dead Mickey Mouse – or, according to a sign, a “Mouse-ka-mausoleum.”

After reading about the history behind “Uncle Walt” – to be frank, I was unaware of the film until the YouTube posting was brought to my attention – I have to say that I wasn’t particularly impressed with the short. Yes, it deserves respect for being among the first under-the-radar animated shorts to take snarky aim at beloved pop culture icons. But for the most part, it isn’t very funny, with dull and often obscure gags.

I assume Swarthe is not eager to share it because of the racist imagery used in depicting the cannibals (and considering that was made during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, one must wonder what in the world he was thinking back in 1964 when animating the work).

How long “Uncle Walt” remains online is anyone’s guess. If Swarthe doesn’t fight to take it offline, there is also the issue of copyright protected footage that could pique the interest of the Walt Disney Company’s legal team. Along with the “Snow White” footage, there are clips from “Sleeping Beauty,” “Mickey’s Gala Premier,” and “Gulliver Mickey” that were used without permission. Disney-specific animated characters such as Goofy, the Seven Dwarfs and Br’er Bear, could also raise some intellectual property concerns.

Until it gets yanked, here is “Uncle Walt” on YouTube – proceed with caution:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.

Listen to Phil Hall’s award-winning podcast “The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall” on SoundCloud and his radio show “Nutmeg Chatter” on WAPJ-FM in Torrington, Connecticut, with a new episode every Sunday. You can also follow his book reviews at The Epoch Times.