Many studios wanted to film inside DISNEYLAND, but other than official Disney productions, nobody was allowed to film inside Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. That changed in 1962 when Universal Studios was permitted to film inside the park, approved by Walt Disney himself. Starring Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette, the film featured 20 minutes of vintage DISNEYLAND in vivid color.
In the film, Tony Curtis plays a casino manager in Lake Tahoe who cannot step foot in California because of his recent divorce. Despite being an alimony deadbeat, he's portrayed as the good guy in this because his ex-wife is a shrill harpy. A degenerate gambler loses his shirt to the casino and promises he'll get the money, but must fly to California to do so. The gambler leaves his daughter for security and embarks on a flight that crashes, killing all aboard. The daughter, who was left in the care of the casino's lead singer (played by Suzanne Pleshette) is kept blissfully unaware. They decide to take her to DISNEYLAND before breaking the news to her, but Tony can't go to California... Or can he? He sneaks off to the Magic Kingdom where he is eventually caught in the parking lot.
While the movie takes many liberties (Tony Curtis is shown looking down Main Street from the monorail platform, a total impossibility) it is a glorious look at DISNEYLAND in the time of Walt Disney and remains a marvelous treat for any DISNEYLAND or Tony Curtis fan.
The film had been out of print for years, seemingly lost to the world until 2010 when Universal Studios and Amazon.com teamed up to produce the Universal Vault Series, an automated system that produces professional quality DVDs when the order is placed. This film was one of the first to be released using the new system.
