The Reluctant Dragon (1941)

The Reluctant Dragon is a 1941 quasi-behind the scenes feature film of the newly constructed Walt Disney Studios with a handful of animated sequences through the film. The narrative structure is held together by, at the time, popular humorist Robert Benchley touring the Walt Disney Studios to pitch Walt the story of Kenneth Graham's The Reluctant Dragon to be made into an animated film. Benchley produced a series of short subjects for MGM that aired before feature films much like the comedy shorts of Laurel & Hardy or The Three Stooges.

This film was produced and released during the Studio Strike and became a target of the strikers. The purpose of the Reluctant Dragon was to bring in some much needed revenue into the Walt Disney Studios after the first releases of both Pinocchio and Fantasia had lost money. This was the first of the package features. Although this title song is heard instrumentally in the film, the lyrics are never sung.

Written by Ed Penner, T. Hee, & Charles Wolcott

Performed by Richard Himber & His Orchestra

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.