TV Show Review: Elfego Baca and The Swamp Fox - Walt Disney Treasures

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Lavish productions about two heroes

Cons: A tad slow; last episode a downer

The Bottom Line:

Selected stories

Or American legends

With Disney touches

Walt Disney Gives Us More Televised History

After the huge success of Davy Crockett during the first season of the TV show "Disneyland," Walt Disney began searching for other heroes from American history he could use for his Frontierland segments. Two of the ones he settled on are Elfego Baca and The Swamp Fox. Three episodes each of their TV runs are included in this two-disc set.

Disc one features Elfego Baca (Robert Loggia). He was a Mexican American who lived in New Mexico during the late 1800's. He started out as a sheriff but gave that up to become a lawyer. He always helped out the poor and downtrodden, as long as they were innocent. We get episodes 1, 2, and 5. I think they skipped to 5 since that episode featured Disney vet Annette Funicello. In the first episode, we get the most famous story about him. He was trapped in a house over night with a lynch mob outside. Even though 4000 bullets were fired into the house, he survived. The second episode features exploits from his days as sheriff. And episode 5 shows him defending a client framed for a bank robbery.

Disc two takes us even further back in time to the Revolutionary War. Francis Marion, aka The Swamp Fox (Leslie Nielsen), was a hero of the war who led his troops in many raids against the British in the Carolinas. This set features the first three episodes and includes Disney vet Tim Considine as the Swamp Fox's nephew. These three episodes show several raids that the Swamp Fox was involved in as well as the tension between the Tory and the Rebel colonists. They end on a downer, and the teaser for the next episode is included. Man, it makes me wish they had more in the set.

Both shows feature lavish costumes and sets. The stories are a little slow by today's standards, but I still got into them and hated to see the discs end. The acting is excellent as well. And yes, that is Leslie Nielsen of Airplane and Naked Gun fame playing The Swamp Fox. Not that you'd know from watching. He makes a great dramatic actor as well.

Each episode not only includes the complete episode but also the opening and closing. The heart of the episodes is color, but the wrap around is sometimes black and white and sometimes color. The fact that these shows were filmed in color to be shown on a black and white TV just shows how much Disney wanted to do everything right. And I'm glad he did because the color is so rich it is a joy to watch. Anyway, Walt himself opens each show with a little background on what we are going to see. The ending includes a preview for the next episode, which isn't always about these characters. This bit of TV history is fun to watch as well.

Unfortunately, The picture has many flaws, betraying the show's age. There are bits of grain and dust fairly regularly on the screen. Still, they are very watchable and look like the lavish productions they are. Extras include an interview with Robert Loggia on disc one and a documentary on Disney's history lessons on disc two.

Even though the shows are almost 50 years old, they are still entertaining. Fans of history or Disney will be glad to add this set to their collection.