The Reluctant Dragon starts off in black and white but changes to colour when Robert Benchley enters the paints department and remains in colour for the rest of the film.
But why did it start in black and white? Was it for economic reasons?
I guess they wanted to repeat this same scenario in The Wizard of Oz.
I love Disney!!
I assumed it was to highlight the magical Technicolor world of animation; to make it appear even more spectacular and special compared to the B&W opening.
"Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency."
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Only the first 20 minutes of "The Reluctant Dragon" (the feature, not the short at the end) are in black and white. The rest of the film - animated sequences and live-action - is in Technicolor. It was likely done that way, as presumed above, to pull off the same trick "The Wizard of Oz" does, as the first color sequence is of the multiplane camera room and the rest of the film makes very conspicuous use of Technicolor (there is a montage of animation paint being mixed that is essentially a Technicolor demo reel)
Disney's first live-action color sequences appear in the bridging sequences for"Fantasia" in 1940.
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