A six-minute Disney short, previously thought to be lost, has been recovered from the national archive of the British Film Institute.
Sleigh Bells was made in 1928 and it features the first EVER Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Oswald was around before Mickey Mouse even made an appearance and hard-core Disney fans are sure to know all about him.
Screen Daily reports that it hasn’t been viewed since its original release and was only discovered in recent weeks when a researcher from the BFI chanced upon it in an online catalogue.
Speaking about the film, Robin Baker, head curator at the BFI said: “What a joyful treat to discover a long-lost Walt Disney film in the BFI National Archive and to be able to show Sleigh Bells to a whole new audience 87 years after it was made.
“The restoration of this film will introduce many audiences to Disney’s work in the silent period – it clearly demonstrates the vitality and imagination of his animation at a key point in his early career”.
If you happen to be in London on December 12th, the film will be screened at BFI Southbank but if not don’t worry because Walt Disney’s president, Andrew Millstein has hinted that there could be more discoveries to come.
