The One That Lifted Our Hearts Through the Big Top Roof
In the early 40s, the financial situation at Disney was beginning to look really bad. Pinocchio and Fantasia hadn’t made back the money they cost to make (though, in the case of Fantasia, how could it have?), and those losses took a toll on both the studio and Walt. WW2 was continually screwing up their chances to make money in the European box office, so they had to make their next film at a drastically decreased cost and hope for better box office returns to keep the studio up and running
Luckily, in 1939, Walt had aquired the rights to a children’s book by Helen Aberson - Mayer & Harold Pearl called Dumbo the Flying Elephant, so he decided to make that next. However, unlike his other films which he had two years to make, this one he had to get out in October, so in early 41 he told the team to make it as quickly and cheaply as possible so they could. To his credit he made this easier by saying it didn’t need to be an incredibly lavish spectacle like Fantasia, so he bluntly told everyone to keep the production very simple. Which, in the best possible way, is exactly what they did.
THE STORY
Mrs, Jumbo, one of 6 elephants in a circus in Florida, is longing for a baby. But when the storks drop a baby into every pen in the “Winter Quarters” except hers, she once again thinks she’s missed out. Until the next day, when a lost stork delivers “Jumbo Jr.” to her in a sack as she and the other elephants are on the train to begin the circus tour. At first, the pup seems like your typical, adorable baby, until he sneezes, and the biggest ears ever seen on even an elephant pop out. Rather sporadically, the other elephants, besides his mother turn on him and rename him “Dumbo”. And thus begins one of the most heartbreaking films in Disney history. And that’s saying alot.
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But then, big problems came on the 21st of May 41, when the majority of the gang went on strike and production on Dumbo just… stopped. Dead in its tracks. Up to that point, Walt had created almost the ideal family environment at the studio with himself as the patriarch, he gave 20% of profits from shorts and films to employee bonuses, and they enjoyed better wages and working conditions than almost anyone else in the industry, which in turn stopped people joining the Screen Cartoonist’s Guild. But when Pinocchio & Fantasia failed, Walt laid many people off and the bonus structure system was abandoned entirely. Of course, it didn’t help that the pay structure was already a mess; some animators got paid $300 a week while others got $12. So, many people grew dissatisfied and joined the SCG, including the man responsible for some of Disney’s most beloved characters, Art Babbitt, who ended up becoming a union leader, which Walt took as a personal betrayal and fired Babbitt along with 16 others on the spot; the very next day 200 other members went on strike, including some from other studios. The strike lasted for nine weeks, at which point Walt, bitter and exhausted, begrudgingly signed a union contract from the National Labour Relations Board. And he was forced to temporarily rehire Art Babbitt, even though by then they both hated each other and he left permanently in the 50s, but several others walked away in that period, never to return, such was the damage in the studio.
And yet, despite all this, Dumbo was still completed in time for it’s October premiere. It still stands as not only the shortest film in the canon, at 64 minutes, but also as the cheapest at $950,000. RKO tried to add ten minutes to it, but since it would also add at least another 500 grand to it’s budget, Walt refused. And thus, his plan to make a cost effective film paid off and the box office result genuinely saved the company. If it hadn’t been the success it was, no one knows what would have become of Disney and personally I don’t want to think about it.
MY VERDICT
This film is a masterpiece, by all conceivable standards. The watercolour backgrounds that were used to save time & money, are not only stunning regardless but perfect for a small, quaint film like this; The design of Dumbo himself, by Disney Legend Vladimir Tytla, is a work of Einstein level genius. With adorable blue eyes and, of course, oversized ears, the elephant pup will capture you, heart and soul the moment you see him, despite the fact that he never says a word in a little over an hour; and his journey will leave you sobbing like a child and his arc will leave you with a smile every single time you even think of it. Plus, once again, the supporting characters are the backbone of the film. Timothy the mouse, who befriends and protects Dumbo at a time when no one else does, to the extent of becoming a surrogate parent while his mother is, quite wrongly, indisposed. Timothy’s words of wisdom literally lift Dumbo up at a time when he most needs it, such as, and I quote “The very things that held ya down, are gonna carry ya UP, AND UP, AND UP!!!”
The hidden, and often overlooked, strength of Dumbo is in its message, which is one of the most powerful in any Disney film yet. Callously cast aside for being in any way different to any other elephant, Dumbo is repeatedly mocked, ridiculed and LITERALLY turned into a clown, because of the way he was born. As you might imagine, this holds a very special place in the heart of any other outcast, whether it be for skin colour, gender, sexuality, or disability. And this is also why I love those freaking crows so much. The first people to treat Dumbo with anything resembling respect. And this is because they, too, are a group of creatures who have been ostracized, ridiculed and bullied by everyone they see. Plus, they get the best song in the whole dang movie, so there’s that.
Is Dumbo a Disney Classic? It saved the studio from bankruptcy. If that doesn’t make a classic, I don’t know what does.
P.S. Just before anyone wonders, I never saw the live action remake and I’m never going to.
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