one of the 26 oswald titles from the early 20th century is the original big-eared creation of walt disney. >> absolutely essential to the disney story you. could say possibly there wouldn't be a mickey mouse without oswald. what i think is really interesting if you do the kind of compare and contrast of oswald the lucky rabbit alongside mickey mouse, you see real similarities. you'll see a visual smile that is very much the beginning of the kind of shaping of mickey mouse. >> although the duration of the silent film isn't very long, its place in global cinema history is immeasurable. >> to be able to find a film that is such kind of key little story from when the history of world cinema. and i think the great thing about disney is we all feel we own it. it is the in the west most people's childhoods. we all have that involvement.