The Swansong of Walt Disney
By the mid-60s, Walt Disney was nearing the end of his life. Thirty years after he changed the landscape of cinema with Snow White, and forty years after Steamboat Willie, Walt was about to oversee and produce his last animated film. He was still heavily involved in the “Florida Project”, but the mixed reaction to Sword in the Stone saw him move back into his original, and more participative role in the studio’s next film.
His health was deteriorating, and he must have known his end was near, so it’s entirely possible that he felt some sort of yearning to return Disney animation to it’s former glory before his time came. He had taken a back seat during production of the studio’s last two films, so Walt decided to take a more direct role in the production of the Jungle Book, based on the 1894 Rudyard Kipling novel of the same name.
In 1963, Bill Peet, flushed with two successes under his belt, wrote the initial story treatment for the Jungle Book on his own. His version was very close to the tone of the novel, including creating the character of Louie, the orangutan who enslaves Mowgli to teach him how to make what the jungle calls the “Red Flower”. The original ending had Mowgli encountering a hunter who was going to burn down the jungle, ending in a confrontation in which Mowgli kills the hunter with his own gun.
After a few decades of light fare, Peet wanted to explore more adult themes and he felt quite proud of the dark treatment he had given to this appropriately dark book. Sadly, this wasn’t what Walt was after, and he wanted a more family - friendly version, especially after the confused tone and direction of the Sword in the Stone. But Peet refused to alter his writing, abruptly left the studio in 1964 and never came back. After this calsh, Walt became more involved in the overall production. He hired Larry Clemons to rework what Bill Peet had written and Walt took an active role in the story workshop meetings, even acting out the roles, creating gags and pushing Clemons to develop more emotional resonance in all the sequences. Walt kept a close watch while Clemons kept Peet’s treatment characterisation but threw out everything else. The tone was lightened, the story, simplified; and Wolfgang Reitherman was tasked with directing his second successive film after the Sword in the Stone, and the foundation was laid for the work to begin.
THE STORY
Bagheera the panther finds a “man - cub" on a crashed boat on a river in a jungle of India, who he delivers to a wolf pack so they can look after him. After ten years, the boy, Mowgli (Little Frog), has grown up to be the favourite playmate of all the young wolf cubs. But, Bagheera knows that some day, Mowgli will have to go back to the world of men. Then, it transpires that Shere Khan, the tiger, has returned to that part of the jungle. Shere Khan hates all men, because when they enter the jungle, they come with guns and fire, which Shere Khan fears. So the plan is for Bagheera to deliver Mowgli safely to the “man - village” and hopefully, keep the news of his existence a secret from Shere Khan.
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So, this film is the first time the animators based the designs of their characters on the mannerisms of the voice actors. Comedian Phil Harris was hired to voice Baloo the bear, and Baloo looks and acts just like him. In a huge departure from the novel, in which Baloo is a strict disciplinarian who teaches Mowgli and the wolf cubs the Laws and words of the Jungle. Likewise with the villain, Shere Khan, who looks just like his actor, George Sanders. New Orleans jazz singer Louis Prima brought King Louie to life, who was now portrayed much more comically to match Prima’s outlandish persona. And, again, several Disney veterans were brought in to voice certain parts. Like Sterling Holloway as Kaa the snake, a villain in the film, but in the book, a very grey character who, while he likes Mowgli, will also attack whoever surprises him. Holloway also played the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, among others; Pat O’Malley as Colonel Hathi the elephant, who is a classic “pompous windbag, old soldier” type of character; again in a departure from the book, in which Hathi is pretty much the lord of the jungle. And, in her final film role, the legendary Verna Felton, who had voiced some of Disney’s most beloved characters, playing Hathi’s wife, oddly named Winifred. Finally, in what would have been the publicity coup to end all publicity coups, Walt originally wanted the Beatles to voice a group of mop - topped vultures; which Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, was totally on board with. But John Lennon refused to be in something as “frivolous” as an animated film, which came out as ridiculous since Yellow Submarine was made three years later. Nonetheless, the vultures ended up in the film with voices that sounded eerily similar to John, Paul, George & Ringo, Liverpool accents and everything.
Initially, when the film still had the dark treatment, the songs were all written by Terry Gilkyson, but when Bill Peet’s treatment was abandoned, most of his songs were, too. With one exception, the Bear Necessities, that ironically became the most enduring number in the film, and ultimately the track that got an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, which it lost to “Talk to the Animals”, from Doctor Dolittle. Gilkyson was replaced by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert, who were still in euphorics over winning two Oscars for Mary Poppins in 1964. The brothers created seven original tracks, including the swinging(ly racist) " I Wanna Be Like You”, the ominous “Trust in Me” and the military - inspired “Elephant March”. The soundtrack was released in two versions, one with original songs from the film, and one with reworked jazz versions of all the songs, all done by Louis Prima and his band, and the album is entitled the “Jungle V.I.P.s”.
Since it had proven so useful for Dalmatians, the Xerox machine was used again for this one to keep costs low and production more efficient. With direction from art director Ken Anderson, the character design has composed of rough, artistic edges, which gave the film a very different aesthetic to some of Disney’s earlier work. The designs were not quite realistic animals (they turned Baloo into a teddy bear), Anderson and his team made a menagerie of memorable, if not exactly great, characters. The hand - painted backgrounds, though nowhere near as detailed as previous films, were without question, the most stunning that Disney had produced in a decade, and they marked a brief return to Disney seeming to focus on crafting a film as visually impressive as it was entertaining. However, with this said, it’s obvious that the budgetary restraints affected the final product, the pencil lines were evident in certain scenes and some finalised sketches were clearly done very hastily.
The key messages in the Jungle Book are of friendship, family and finding your rightful place in the world. And those messages are eternal, along with the idea of slowing down and enjoing the pleasures of life. Above all, however, the Jungle Book is a coming of age story that follows many familar tropes, but to some, therein is the charm.
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So… here is where things start to get a bit heavy: In early November 1966, Walt was diagnosed with lung cancer after a lifetime of heavy smoking. At the end of November, he fell gravely ill and was taken to St. Joseph’s hospital in Burbank. Walt made the decision to hide his sickness from the studio, and Roy told everyone that Walt was going in for a minor neck operation, when really Walt was having a part of his lung removed. But thankfully, at first that seemed to do the trick and he showed signs of improvement and was sent home in time for Thanksgiving. But soon his health deteriorated and he was brought back into hospital for his 65th birthday. Over the next ten days, he lost an enormous amount of weight and became pale and gaunt as the lung cancer dug in its claws. No one at the studio was aware of the situation because Walt didn’t want anyone at the studio to see or remember him like that. Roy stuck by his little brother’s side, always rubbing his cold feet and trying to make him comfortable.
Luckily, St. Joseph’s Hospital was right across the road from the studio and Walt could see the studio from his ward window. And Roy ordered the lights to be kept on every night so Walt could see the building from his bed. On his last night, Walt sent his wife Lillian home so he could speak privately with his brother. In their final conversation, Walt imagined the entire floorplan for what would soon become Disney World and outlined the map with his finger on the ceiling of the hospital.
On December 15th, 1966, at 9:30 AM, Walt Disney passed away from circulatory collapse caused by his cancer. The shrieks of disbelief and sadness echoed through the studio when the news reached them; because no one knew how sick Walt really was. His administrative team considered closing Disneyland for the day, but they kept it open, because they thought Walt would have preferred that; and they half masted all the flags on Main Street in tribute, and many park attendees stopped and silently prayed. The news was front page the next day and even many anchors couldn’t quite keep it together reading the story that night.
The film was released ten months later and, thanks to the nostalgic sentiment over his passing, it became a box office sensation. Produced for $4 million, it took in an $11 million initial U.S. run, and $23.8 million worldwide, making it the most successful Disney film during its initial run. It was the first big hit after a number of box office disappointments. However it proved to be redundant without the boss and Disney would not flourish again for another twenty years.
MY VERDICT
Here’s the thing: I fully accept the fact that this film is the unmitigated end of an era. This was the last film Walt personally oversaw after thirty years of creating and ruling an empire, and for that reason you cannot hate this film. With that said, the best way to view this film, at least for me, is without ever having read the book. As soon as I read the dark, suspenseful, BRILLIANTLY written novel, this film was ruined for me. I WISH that Walt had stuck with Bill Peet’s original treatment. As it is, the best adaptation of this book I’ve seen is the Netflix version, because what that film lacks in convincing CGI, it compensates for with brilliant writing and acting and an appropriately dark story.
Is the Jungle Book a Disney Classic? By virtue of being the last film Walt ever oversaw, this is undoubtedly a Disney Classic.
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