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Walt Disney and Live Action

The Disney Studio's Live-Action Features of the 1950's and 60'sJohn G. West

In this definitive guide to Walt Disney’s live-action output, Dr. John West explores an often overlooked but important chapter in Disney cinematic history: the live-action films and television shows released by the Disney studio during Walt’s lifetime.

From blockbuster movies like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mary Poppins, and Treasure Island to such lesser-known efforts as Savage Sam and Monkeys, Go Home!, West describes the production of each film in detail, with backstage stories and complete cast and crew information.

The small screen output of the Disney studio is given similar treatment: over 70 episodes of Zorro, Texas John Slaughter, Davy Crockett, and other TV series are described and catalogued, along with in-depth analyses of the shows themselves.

Plus, the book features over 80 photos, many of them never seen before, including candid shots of Walt Disney in his office.

In addition to his detailed coverage of Disney’s live-action films and TV shows, West devotes several chapters to a fast-moving but comprehensive history of the Disney studio’s live-action productions, from the producers, directors, writers, composers, and set directors involved to the meanings behind Walt’s live-action films and the values he sought to impart on American culture.

Plaudits

An exciting, revealing, and rewarding read for anyone who ever loved and was moved by a Walt Disney movie.

Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, Academy Award-winning composers for Mary Poppins and other films

A captivating book that offers the most comprehensive look at Disney live-action productions ever compiled.

Paul Anderson, Disney Historian

John G. West

Senior Fellow, Managing Director, and Vice President of Discovery Institute
Dr. John G. West is Vice President of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute and Managing Director of the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. Formerly the Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at Seattle Pacific University, West is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker who has written or edited 12 books, including Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science, The Magician’s Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society, and Walt Disney and Live Action: The Disney Studio’s Live-Action Features of the 1950s and 60s. His documentary films include Fire-Maker, Revolutionary, The War on Humans, and (most recently) Human Zoos. West holds a PhD in Government from Claremont Graduate University, and he has been interviewed by media outlets such as CNN, Fox News, Reuters, Time magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post.