The One That Forgets Its Own Name
The end of WW2 brought everyone at Disney back to work, but they returned to work at a studio struggling to survive. After a decade of bad box office takings for the package films and no more government funding for army training and propaganda work, Disney was on the brink of bankrupcy. Even the shorts were beginning to suffer, because none of them had won an Oscar for years, and the Academy, and the people, were now more interested in TOM & JERRY of all things. So, desperate for enough to keep the studio running, Disney begged RKO to re release Snow White in 1944, which did bring some relief, if only temporarily.
Even though WW2 was over, the bank was refusing to fund anymore production on full length films. So for the fourth time, they had no choice but to put together another package film and hope it would keep the studio alive. Mickey was still experiencing a drop in popularity, so Walt decided to bring him back to the cinema. After Steamboat Willie, Mickey saw his popularity declining within a decade, Fantasia brought him back, but by the mid 40s, Donald Duck, Goofy & Pluto were far more popular. And in other areas of animated film and TV, the Looney Tunes, Porky Pig & Tweety, etc. were becoming more and more famous and beloved; as well as the aforementioned Jerry from Tom & - quickly becoming America’s new favourite mouse… And he never says a word about it… graceful in victory… I like it.
So, to boost Mickey’s popularity again, Walt envisioned him in a retelling of the famous English fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk. As far back as 1922, this story inspired a silent cartoon produced by Walt’s Laugh - O - Gram Studios; plus two later shorts called Giant Land & Brave Little Tailor in the 30s. Pre - prod started in May 1940, with Donald and Goofy as the sidekicks. At the same time, pre - prod had started on another full length film called Bongo, based on a 1930 short story called Little Bear Bongo by Sinclair Lewis; first American to win a Nobel Lit prize. Bongo was originally gonna be a sequel to Dumbo with several characters from that film appearing as supports in this one. The script was finalised the day after Pearl Harbour. Complicating matters was WW2 and the animators’ strike. All work on animated films was halted and both shorts were shelved, along with several other films already in pre prod. Luckily production on both films was already well underway, so Walt decided to trim both films down and combine them into the fourth package film. Plus, it was also felt that the animation already done wasn’t quite strong enough to hold back for the time when everything got up and running again.
As with all package films, a framing device, a common thread if you will, was required to tie everything together. And who better to tie a story or two together than one of the most beloved characters in Disney history, Jiminy Cricket, who was brought back to intro the shorts and fatally attempt to explain the film title. According to Jiminy, the films both share a “fun and fancy free” theme, but this is, in fact, complete bollocks.
THE PLOT
The film begins with Jiminy wandering through a stranger’s house, while stressing the importance of not taking life too seriously and living life as he does, Fun & Fancy Free. Forgetting six years of war and 75 million people dying as a result. HAKUNA MATATA… my bad, we’ll get to that one. As he enters a kid’s room, he runs into a very morose looking teddy bear and a sad and tired - looking doll. So to lighten the mood, he whacks on a vinyl of Dinah Shore narrating and singing the tale of Bongo. Bongo is a circus bear who spends his night performing to adoring crowds, but is locked in a cage immediately afterward. He longs to return to the wild and be where a bear should be, so one night, he gets on his unicycle, escapes from the circus train and into the forest. Two days later, he meets, and is instantly smitten by, Lulubelle, but then he also meets his competition in the form of a big, angry bear named Lumpjaw, who is also smitten by Lulubelle. Obviously two guys can’t have the same lady, so… FIGHT TO THE DEATH!! The one visual jewel in this whole film is when this segment takes an abstract turn in a love sequence in which Bongo & Lulubelle bond. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many hearts outside of a Valentine themed party. Heart - shaped clouds, glasses, balloons, etc. THEY’RE IN LOVE, WE GET IT!!! Jeez...
The guys turned to Bambi for realistic depictions of forest animals, especially the leads, but when the short was combined with Mickey & the Beanstalk, Walt felt the leads needed to be designed to look like those leads; Mickey, Donald and Goofy. So Bongo and Lulubelle more closely resemble teddy bears than actual bears, which makes a pretty odd combo when you throw in the realistic supporting characters.
So, we go back to Jiminy, and the doll and teddy bear both have contented smiles on their faces, so he’s thinking mission accomplished. As it turns out, Jiminy was in the home of famous Disney child star Luana Patten the whole time; she who had just appeared in the film that few dare speak of, Song of the South. Has any one seen that? And she's been invited to a party hosted by her neighbour across the road, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, and his puppets, Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy.
Jiminy decides to gatecrash as well, and comes just in time to hear Edgar telling the story of Jack & the Beanstalk. And as the animated tale begins, it fades to Mickey, Donald and Goofy as three happy go lucky residents of Happy Valley, which is kept alive and thriving by a magic singing harp. But one day, the harp is stolen by an unknown thief, and Happy Valley is reduced to a poverty stricken wasteland and the three friends are left with barely any food. In a bout of hunger driven mania, Donald nearly slaughters the family cow in a rather startling sequence. From there, the story goes almost exactly the same way as Jack & the Beanstalk, so I won’t ruin it for anyone who may not have heard it before.
MY VERDICT
While there’s nothing groundbreaking in this film, the sole fact that this is the last time Walt ever provides the voice of Mickey Mouse on film will give this movie a place in the annals of Disney history. Walt's voice was so messed up by years of chain-smoking that he could no longer reach Mickey’s pitch. So sound effects artist Jimmy Macdonald would take over that voice for the next 30 years. Willie the Giant is voiced by the same guy who voiced Sneezy the dwarf way back in Snow White, and his signature sneeze is employed a few times in this movie, nice little homage. Plus Clarence Nash as Donald and Pinto Colvig as Goofy, are very enjoyable.
So, this film has a bit of a job juggling it’s theme and it’s title, and the result doesn’t make much sense. Perhaps without the framing, it might. But like all the package films, this one serves it’s purpose well of raking in enough money to keep the studio doors open and avoiding bankruptcy for a time.
Is Fun & Fancy Free a Disney Classic? When compared to other package films, this one shines a little dimmer than some others. Certainly not a Disney Classic.
No comments:
Post a Comment