Q: I am a student researcher studying depictions of Chief Sitting Bull in film, and I’m very interested in any information the Disney Archives could provide about the Disney production Tonka (1958). Are there any production notes or other information that might help me to analyze this production?
Michael, Valencia, California
A: The Walt Disney Archives is not open to researchers from outside the company, but it has no story research files for Tonka (1958). The film had a screenplay by Lewis R. Foster and Lillie Hayward (who must have kept their own research files), based on the book Comanche by David Appel.
Dave Smith