23rd Feb 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#25 The Black Cauldron (1985)

BACKGROUND

The Black Cauldron is potentially Disney’s most controversial film.

It was barely referenced in the Disney theme parks, even back in the 1980s, was locked up tight in the “Disney Vault” for years, and it was one of those films that Disney would rather you just didn’t know ever existed – and if you were born after 1985, chances are many of you didn’t know it existed until many years later.

For those who were around in 1985, either you watched The Black Cauldron or you didn’t, and if you did, you may not have liked it so much. Then again, you may have liked it back then, and still like it today. Either way, I’m not judging but I think the Walt Disney Company would probably rather you just forgot all about it, because it is not their proudest or finest moment.

Opinions have always been split over The Black Cauldron and its strange concept. The mostly negative reviews of the film are down to two key reasons. The first is that this was the first Disney animated movie to be given a PG rating, meaning that it is much darker and more intense than the types of movies Disney had been releasing at the time, and therefore may have put parents off letting their children watch it – or they did let them watch it and potentially traumatised them.

The other reason is that The Black Cauldron was developed within a particularly difficult time for the Disney Animation department. In the 1980s, there was a huge shift in the management as people from other film studios came in to shake up the company, especially the animation department, which had been struggling with its movies even before then.

More on those difficulties later, but nowadays The Black Cauldron has gained a cult following, especially amongst those who are fans of light horror and fantasy. I am not one of those, which is probably why it doesn’t appeal to me so much, but even though I don’t particularly like it, I have still seen The Black Cauldron a handful of times. It wasn’t for years after its release though, and was actually in the late 2010s when the UK and some of Europe had access to an early version of Disney+, an app called DisneyLife that had many of Disney’s animated and live-action movies available to watch.

To be honest, I find The Black Cauldron kind of boring in places and I think it looks quite grotesque, which isn’t something that appeals to me. I struggle with the look of Pinocchio (1940) and this is much worse for me! However, I do like the lovable little sidekick Gurgi, and find the ending of the film quite moving, so even I can find some positives here.

PLOT

The Black Cauldron follows Taran, an assistant pig-keeper – that’s his actual job title – who works for a man called Dallben, looking after his clairvoyant pig Hen Wen. Dallben is trying to hide Hen Wen’s powers from The Horned King, who wants to use Hen Wen’s visions to find the long-lost Black Cauldron and use it to raise an army of undead soldiers, to make him an invincible ruler. Dallben sends Taran off with Hen Wen to go into hiding.

Taran, annoyed at his lesser state in life, with dreams of being a warrior, spends too much time daydreaming on this journey, and Hen Wen runs off alone. As Taran searches for Hen Wen in the forest, he meets Gurgi, a strange fluffy greedy creature who, in exchange for an apple, will tell Taran where Hen Wen went. Unfortunately, we see that Hen Wen is being chased by dragons, minions of the Horned King, and Gurgi runs away frightened, leaving Taran to retrieve her himself. He fails, but follows the dragons to a run-down castle, the home of The Horned King. Taran enters the castle and saves Hen Wen before she can reveal the location of the Cauldron to The Horned King. Taran throws Hen Wen into the castle moat so she can swim to safety, but Taran is captured and thrown in the dungeon.

Here, Taran meets Princess Eilonwy, a fellow prisoner, captured for her magical bauble which The Horned King thought would help him find the Black Cauldron; needless to say, it didn’t. As the two team up to escape the castle, Taran finds a magical sword which can vanquish any opponent, including the Horned King’s guards, and they find Fflewddur Fflam, a minstrel who is also being held captive by the Horned King.

They all manage to escape the castle into the forest, where we see Gurgi again. And he runs away – again – when Hen Wen’s tracks lead them to a vortex in a lake. Instead of taking them somewhere awful as Gurgi expected, it actually takes them to the kingdom of the Fair Folk, who are fairies living underground. It turns out they have rescued Hen Wen, and will return her home to Dallben. They also tell Taran that the Black Cauldron is in Morva, with a trio of witches, as Taran and the others seek to destroy it once and for all. The Fair Folk take Taran and his friends to Morva.

At the home of the three witches, Taran, Eilonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam find that these witches don’t like humans and like to turn them into frogs, however, Fflewddur has captured the attentions of one of the witches, so he is safe. The witches listen to Taran speak of the Black Cauldron, but they never give anything away, so they allow Taran to try to bargain for the Cauldron. They spot the magical sword that Taran possesses and want that in exchange for the Black Cauldron. Reluctantly, Taran gives up the sword and the deal is done; they have the Cauldron and the witches have the sword, except they forgot to tell Taran that the Cauldron cannot be destroyed, and that its dark powers can only be stopped if someone sacrifices themselves to it, which will kill them.

All look’s lost for the humans, as they find that their bargain didn’t get them any further, and worse still, The Horned King’s dragons have found them and take they back to the castle along with the Black Cauldron. Now, the Horned King can enact his plan. He casts a spell over the Cauldron, which allows him to raise an army of the undead. Taran, Eilonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam can do nothing but watch, horrified, as The Horned King wins.

Except, luckily, Gurgi returns to save the day, freeing the three of them from their shackles, but the Black Cauldron’s powers have not stopped. Taran decides that he must be the one to sacrifice himself, and tells the others to leave. However, Gurgi sees this and does not want his friend to die; Gurgi throws himself into the Cauldron instead, saying that “Taran has many friends, Gurgi has no friends” in a truly sad moment for the film… The army of the undead begin to die right in front of The Horned King’s eyes. He blames his henchman, Creeper, and goes to see what is happening by the Cauldron.

Instead of running out of the castle, Taran tries to retrieve Gurgi from the Cauldron, telling the others to run, but the spell is too powerful and Taran struggles against it. The Horned King, and his henchman Creeper, find Taran by the Cauldron and The Horned King plans to throw Taran into the Cauldron to finally defeat the boy so he can try the spell again. But The Horned King ends up being pulled into the Cauldron and is destroyed forever. But Creeper is free to not be tortured and tormented for the rest of his life, so a small win for him!

As the three finally leave The Horned King’s castle via a boat, the Black Cauldron reappears in the water in front of them. The witches of Morva plan to take it back as it has no use for the humans anymore. Fflewddur Fflam reminds them that they always like a trade. The magical sword is returned to Taran, but Taran doesn’t want it anymore and would rather have Gurgi back. The witches take the sword and the Cauldron back, but don’t seem to want to return Gurgi. After Fflewddur Fflam claims they don’t have the power to do it, they leave Gurgi in the Cauldron’s place and vanish in a cloud of smoke. It seems that Gurgi isn’t alive, but when Taran picks him up, he is revived, wanting some more “munchies and crunchies”. Typical Gurgi! Everyone is thrilled to see him alive again and in a final moment of annoyance from Gurgi, he pushes Taran and Eilonwy’s heads together so that they kiss. The film ends with the four heading home through the forest as heroes, with Dallben seeing this through one of Hen Wen’s visions, saying Taran did well on his quest.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Taran is the “hero” of the story, though I find him to be arrogant at times, and unfeeling towards others. Throughout the movie, he constantly moans about how he is just an assistant pig-keeper and wants to be a brave warrior, so he is overjoyed to find this magical sword that seems to have infinite powers, but he isn’t bothered by friendship at this point. In fact, he is rude to Princess Eilonwy when they first meet and he is cruel to Gurgi, calling him a thief and a coward almost every time he sees him. But eventually, Taran does seem to understand the value of Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi’s friendship and it is quite a touching moment when Taran tries to stop Gurgi from throwing himself into the Black Cauldron and then when he bargains for Gurgi’s return. I guess Taran did learn a lot on his journey. He also finally understands why Hen Wen needs to be looked after by him, because she has powers that can be abused by evil people, so again, he learns that too! Speaking of Hen Wen, the name means “Old White” in Welsh, and is a character in Welsh mythology, however, in the myth, Hen Wen, or Henwen, is an enchanted pig whose offspring were meant to cause devastation to Britain. Obviously, that is not mentioned in the Black Cauldron but she is still enchanted. Taran was voiced by Grant Bardsley here, who was a child actor in the 1970s and 1980s, and appeared in the BBC television adaptation of Wuthering Heights (1978) and in a couple of episodes of The Famous Five television series (1978-79).

Of all the human characters in The Black Cauldron, Princess Eilonwy is generally the most likable, as she is confident, kind, and smart. She is the one who manages to get Taran out of the Horned King’s dungeon, with the help of her magical bauble, and she is kind to both Gurgi and Fflewddur Fflam when Taran isn’t. Although her introductory line of “I’m Princess Eilonwy” sounds just a bit precocious. Eilonwy was voiced by Susan Sheridan, who voiced the characters of Noddy, Tessie Bear, and Dinah Doll in the British children’s series Noddy’s Toyland Adventures (1992-94), and voiced Trillian in the radio series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1978. Sheridan continued to do voice work up until her death in 2015. In a behind-the-scenes documentary at the Disney Studios in 1981, Hayley Mills, who starred in the Disney live-action films The Parent Trap (1961) and Pollyanna (1960) as a child, stated that she was back at Disney to read for the part of the Princess Eilonwy in The Black Cauldron[1]. It is unclear why she did not end up voicing the part.

Fflewddur Fflam is the minstrel who is captured by The Horned King and seems to just be tagging along with Eilonwy and Taran for the ride, instead of escaping when he has the chance! He is a little bit annoying and kind of bumbling, so he needs to be saved much of the time by either Eilonwy and Taran, but in general, he doesn’t come across badly – he does help convince the Witches of Morva to do the right thing for example – but Fflewddur is just sort of there! Unfortunately, Fflewddur Fflam seems to have been unlucky with his portrayal in The Black Cauldron, as Fflewddur Fflam seems to have had a significant number of his lines cut from the movie, therefore, we don’t get to see, or hear, too much of him[2]. Fflewddur Fflam was voiced by English actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne, best known to Disney fans as the voice of Professor Porter in Tarzan (1999). He also starred in the British sitcoms Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister (1980-88) as Sir Humphrey Appleby, and won a BAFTA for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George III in the movie The Madness of King George (1994). Sir Nigel Hawthorne died in December 2001.

Then the final hero to talk about is Gurgi. Gurgi is my favourite character of them all, but again, he doesn’t appear all that much in the film, though he is the one who saves the day, and I’m glad he is revived at the end by the witches. We don’t really know what sort of creature he is, just some sort of fluffy thing! He runs away a lot, yes, but all he wants is a friend, because he seems so lonely out in the forest on his own. That’s why he’s hungry and steals food from people. Taran is just heartless for being mean to him; Gurgi is the best character in the whole film. John Byner voiced Gurgi, saying that he added child-like inflection to his lines because he is supposed to be fun and greedy, wanting to eat anything he can get his hands on! Byner is a comedian, actor, and impressionist, who voiced characters in the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark (1969-71). He went on to appear as a guest in many television series including the sitcom Soap (1977-81).

The Horned King is a terrifying villain. He looks terrible, with glowing red eyes, and a strange skeletal form. I’m not sure if he’s meant to be human or not – I think he is in some way, but he’s also very demonic. He’s the main reason for this movie being too scary for children. The Horned King was voiced by legendary actor, Sir John Hurt. Hurt stated that to get the voice of The Horned King he dredged the voice “from the bowels of the Earth” to get that really deep, evil sound[3]. Hurt played Ollivander in the Harry Potter film series and starred in major movies such as Alien (1979); The Elephant Man (1980), for which he was nominated at the Academy Awards in the Best Actor category and won the BAFTA for; and The Midnight Express (1978), where he was nominated at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, and won it at the BAFTAs. Hurt was no stranger to voice acting at the time of The Black Cauldron either, having voiced Hazel in Watership Down (1978) and Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings (1978). Later in his career, he also voiced The Great Dragon in the BBC series Merlin (2008-12). Sir John Hurt sadly passed away in January 2017.

The Horned King has many scary-looking henchmen, but then he also has his goblin sidekick, Creeper, who’s always being mistreated for his incompetence. I think Creeper is meant to be the comic relief in the film, because he is always getting things wrong and letting people escape. When The Horned King gets sucked into the Black Cauldron, Creeper realises he is now free, and at the end of the film, he flies away on the back of The Horned King’s dragons, knowing he no longer has to serve him and risk his wrath whenever he does something wrong! Creeper was an original character for the film and did not appear in the original books that the film is very loosely based on. Phil Fondacaro voiced Creeper in one of his earlier screen roles. Fondacaro went on to appear in the film Willow (1988) as Vohnkar, as well as appear in the television movie Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993), alongside Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Later in the 1990s and early 2000s, Fondacaro had a recurring role as Roland in the series Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Those are the characters who get the most screen-time, however, there are a few others to mention. Dallben is Taran’s employer and we only really see him at the start, when he is scared about Hen Wen’s powers being used by The Horned King. He doesn’t seem to think much of Taran at the start of the film, but sees that he did a good job on his quest by the end. Dallben was voiced by Freddie Jones who appeared alongside John Hurt in The Elephant Man (1980) and played Sandy Thomas in the soap Emmerdale from 2005 to 2018 in his final appearance before his death in 2019.

Then there are the trio of witches. In the original book series, the three witches resembled the Fates of Greek mythology. They used a loom to control the destinies of everyone living, but they were not good or evil. In the film, the witches appear only for a short amount of time, unlike the book series where there was more time to establish the characters, therefore making the film’s witches not particularly memorable characters. Yet the witches are involved in the two most important moments of the film, trading Taran’s sword for the Black Cauldron so it can be destroyed, and returning Gurgi to the group after the task has been completed. The Witches of Morva are named Orddu, the leader of the group; Orgoch who is the most disagreeable; and Orwen, the curvaceous, flirty one, who is in love with Fflewddur Fflam. The witches were voiced by Eda Reiss Merin, Billie Hayes, and Adele Malis-Morey. Hayes went on to voice characters in many animated series such as TaleSpin (1990-91), Rugrats (1991-2004), and Johnny Bravo (1997-2004); The Black Cauldron was her first voice role[4]. Hayes passed away in April 2021.

PRODUCTION

The really fascinating thing about The Black Cauldron isn’t the movie itself, but the production and making of it. It had so many difficulties and complications it’s a wonder it was even made at all. The troubles go back to the 1970s, when the Disney Animation department was still struggling after the death of Walt Disney in 1966. The lack of guidance was sorely missed, and as a result, the films of the 1970s, like Robin Hood (1973) and The Aristocats (1970) were criticised for missing the original charm of Disney’s earlier films. Therefore, Disney knew they needed to take a risk to try to get back on top.

Ron Miller, then-Disney president, and husband of Walt Disney’s daughter Diane, was looking for an idea for a new film. He believed that The Chronicles of Prydain, a five-part book series written by American author Lloyd Alexander and published between 1964 and 1968, had the potential to be the Snow White of their generation. The rights were bought around 1973 by Disney. The book series is a fantasy series based on creatures and characters from Welsh mythology. Despite having fantasy elements that could have rivalled those of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis’ books, The Chronicles of Prydain have only been adapted once for the screen, with Disney’s The Black Cauldron. Due to the amount of material and the complexity of the plotlines within the five books, story man Mel Shaw was tasked with reading all the stories and condensing the storylines and characters into a workable story for a screen adaptation. He made close to 250 coloured pastel sketches of key moments from the books and put them into a twenty-minute presentation to pitch his version of the story[5].

The original stories had over 30 main characters with the storyline encompassing many years. Producer Joe Hale planned to combine the story elements of only the first two books of The Chronicles of Prydain: The Book of Three (1964) and The Black Cauldron (1965) to deal with this. The originally minor character of The Horned King was made into the main villain of the story.

Despite the rights being purchased in 1973 and the early work of Mel Shaw, not much more happened with The Black Cauldron for many years due to issues around management and the differing generations of animators. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were three different generations of animators. The youngest artists were overzealous and full of energy, wanting to get started and make their mark on Disney Animation. The older veteran artists were due to retire shortly, and the second generation felt they were underutilised and underappreciated, showing a lack of harmony between the three sets.

Ron Miller wanted a new style of animation for The Black Cauldron, but felt that the younger artists weren’t ready to tackle it yet, so they were assigned to The Rescuers (1977). They were then put back onto The Black Cauldron, with a release date of 1980 being chosen. But it was put on hold again in 1978, to then be released in 1984, because Miller felt the artists were still not ready for this assignment so they were put on The Fox and the Hound (1981), during which production the remaining members of Walt’s original animators retired. Don Bluth, one of the second generation of artists, was fed up waiting to be given his opportunity to show what he was capable of, and ended up leaving the Walt Disney Company, taking half of the animators with him. This pushed back The Fox and the Hound by six months[6]. Don Bluth would later go on to produce and direct such films as An American Tail, which would beat out Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective at the box office in 1986; The Land Before Time (1988); Thumbelina (1994); and Anastasia (1997). He also made his directorial debut with The Secret of NIMH (1982) during Disney’s production on The Black Cauldron; it was well-received, putting more pressure on the Disney artists.

The Black Cauldron was finally officially put into production in 1980, with a $15 million budget assigned to it, but the troubles were still not over as there were constant changes in the artists and directors working on the movie, due to clashes over “artistic differences”, delaying progress. John Musker was one of these people who left to make the (more successful) movie The Great Mouse Detective (1986). Another was Tim Burton whose character designs were considered too “out there” for Disney, so he left the company altogether. He seems to be doing well, from what I’ve heard…

Eventually, the movie seemed to be getting somewhere, though the budget had grown to $40 million, and they wanted to now use CGI to push their designs further, after The Black Cauldron producer Joe Hale saw it being using in The Great Mouse Detective, which was in production at the same time. CGI was therefore used on scenes of the Black Cauldron itself, as well as Eilonwy’s magical bauble. They had also decided to shoot The Black Cauldron in Super Technirama 70mm, the first Disney film to do this since Sleeping Beauty (1959), and 6-track Dolby Stereo sound, as well as introducing the first in-theatre holographic effect in an animated film, during the sequence of the raising of the undead army. This scene just looks blurry when watching on a home release now.

Then, plot-twist, Ron Miller was removed as CEO in 1984, with Frank Wells, who had previously worked at Warner Bros., and Michael Eisner, coming from Paramount Pictures, taking over. They became the first people to have been brought in to Disney management from “the outside”. Eisner and Wells then employed Jeffrey Katzenberg, also from Paramount Pictures, to take over the Animation Department, however, his background was in live-action, not animation, so he didn’t understand the process or the artists themselves. This caused issues between him and the animators, especially when, on seeing the work on The Black Cauldron, Katzenberg was appalled by the film’s length and the graphic, violent scenes. He wanted to edit the movie, but the animators said this couldn’t be done at this stage, however, Katzenberg disagreed and showed them that this could be done, by cutting twelve full minutes of finished animation from the final movie cut. These cuts included a scene of The Horned King’s henchmen dissolving, and a man’s throat being slashed with the sword[7]. Some of the edits are actually quite obvious, as sometimes the characters’ mouths do not match with the words; some are still talking when there is no sound coming out; and some of the jumps to new scenes are a bit clumsy.

Despite these edits, The Black Cauldron could not escape being given a PG rating, making this the first Disney animated feature film to have a PG rating. It was also the last to have been made at the animation building at the Disney Studios in Burbank, as the Animation Department was then moved to Glendale in December 1983 as their building became used for live-action productions. Glendale was a less than inspiring place to work and the animators spent a few years fearing for their job security…

MUSIC

The Black Cauldron was also the first Disney animated film not to have any songs within the movie. The score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Trading Places (1983), and at the Grammy Awards for his work on Ghostbusters (1984) whilst working on The Black Cauldron[8]. Sadly, I don’t recall much of Bernstein’s score, probably because I’m too stunned by just how grotesque some of the movie looks, but listening to the score separately, it does highlight the fantasy and mystery elements of the story well.

RECEPTION

After almost five full years of work, yet another delay to the release date, and at an official cost of $25 million, which may actually have been closer to $40 million, The Black Cauldron was finally released in the US on 24^th July 1985. However, The Black Cauldron only managed to gross $21 million at the US box-office. It was even beaten out by The Care Bears Movie, which had been released in March 1985, this being a huge blow to the team who worked on The Black Cauldron[9].

Not only that, but it received mixed reviews. Some heralded it as a return to Disney animation, enjoying the more gruesome and perilous elements of the story, whilst others called it mediocre and thought it was a missed opportunity given the potential of the book series. It generally considered too dark to be a family film. Some said the plot was convoluted and the characters were dull. Lloyd Alexander, author of The Chronicles of Prydain series, said in an interview with Scholastic Inc. before his death in 2007, that Disney’s The Black Cauldron bore little resemblance to his books, but that he had enjoyed the film, just watching it as a movie, without the context of the source material. Alexander also said that there was a possibility of Disney making more movies based on his works, such as Time Cat, but this never happened[10].

For a brief time around 1990, Disney re-released The Black Cauldron under the new title Taran and the Magic Cauldron, in an attempt to brand the movie more “family-friendly”. It avoided mentioning the evil Horned King and the dark powers of the Black Cauldron too much, and chose to focus on the magical elements of the story, like Taran’s sword, and the hero’s journey. This was reflected in both the trailer and the movie poster, where The Horned King was no longer overlooking the heroes walking through a scary looking forest and the Cauldron was no longer pouring out green smoke. Instead, the poster for Taran and the Magic Cauldron is light and bright, with sparkles coming from the Cauldron and the sword. The movie was re-released in this way in some cities in the US and some international markets, but it did not help change audience opinion on the movie. The Black Cauldron then was not released on VHS until 1998, thirteen years after the initial release, where it found a new audience and became a “cult classic”[11].

LEGACY

You’d think a movie like The Black Cauldron would not have been featured at all in the Disney theme parks, given its reputation, right? Wrong! At the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, what is now the food stand Friar’s Nook in Fantasyland used to be named Gurgi’s Munchies and Crunchies, from 1986 to 1993; “munchies and crunchies” is one of Gurgi’s catchphrases. Before being named after Gurgi, the outdoor quick-service location was named Lancer’s Inn, and after 1993, was named Lumière’s Kitchen, where it generally operated on a seasonal basis. It has been named Friar’s Nook since 2009.

There is photo evidence that walkaround characters of Princess Eilonwy, Taran, and Gurgi did exist at some point after The Black Cauldron’s release in 1985, however, it is unclear exactly what year, or years, they did so, and in which parks, however, given the dates, it would have to have been either Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Tokyo Disneyland, as these were the only Disney theme parks open in the 1980s. It is unlikely that the characters appeared after this decade, given the financial flop of the film.

Speaking of Tokyo Disneyland, the biggest and most surprising reference to The Black Cauldron is actually the Tokyo Disneyland attraction the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour, which ran from 1986 until April 2006. I had never heard of this attraction until I watched a video on YouTube and it is so interesting. The “tour” was a guided tour by a cast member through the basement area of Tokyo Disneyland’s Cinderella Castle. It started off with a speech about various Disney heroes and heroines like Pinocchio, Aurora, Snow White – and Taran. The group would then be interrupted by the Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)who would awaken the villains. The group would be led down tunnels, showing the Evil Queen’s lair, Maleficent’s goons, and a projection of Chernabog from Fantasia, before arriving at a tapestry about The Black Cauldron. At this point, the guide would have to recount the plot of The Black Cauldron because chances were not many of the guests had actually seen the film. A member of the group would also be chosen at this stage to hold the Sword of Light before going into the next room, to come face-to-face with a huge animatronic of The Horned King, standing over the Black Cauldron, saying how everybody in the room would be sacrificed to the Black Cauldron so he could raise his army of the undead. At this point, the Sword of Light would be pointed at The Horned King, shooting beams of light and defeating him, and then the tour group could leave the castle.

It sounds bizarre but also kind of cool, especially if you are a fan of Disney villains, like me. I’m surprised this was designed for a Disney theme park given The Black Cauldron’s reputation, but to then run for twenty years is impressive. It was quite popular too, at least at the beginning, and it clearly didn’t matter if you’d seen The Black Cauldron or not[12].

As The Black Cauldron had its 35^th anniversary in 2020, naturally, a MagicBand was released that year that featured The Horned King, Taran, and Gurgi. As part of the 1980s Disney100 Decades Collection, for the Disney100 celebrations, a new MagicBand+ with The Horned King and Gurgi was then released in 2023. There are also Funko POP figurines of The Horned King and Taran available, however, merchandise around the film or its characters continues to be hard to come by for any fans of the movie.

Outside of the theme parks, clips from The Black Cauldron were used for part of the plotline of the direct-to-video film Once Upon a Halloween, which was released in the UK in September 2005. It featured clips and songs from many of the Disney villains as the Evil Queen planned to conquer Halloween. It also featured other under-appreciated villains such as Alameda Slim from Home on the Range (2004), Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).

On screen, there has been talk around whether The Black Cauldron will be remade as a live-action film, especially given how many remakes of animated films have been announced in recent years. It was said that Disney had re-acquired the rights to The Chronicles of Prydain in 2016 in order to look into developing a live-action series. There was then further talk around this in 2020, but no further news has been released since. Though many fans would like to see this remade, especially as fantasy films have been successful in recent years, like The Lord of the Rings franchise, and the fact that they could do so much more with the original stories for a modern audience, it is unlikely to happen because The Black Cauldron does not have a huge fanbase so would not be able to bring in the same number of viewers as big hits like Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994).

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Black Cauldron is just ok for me. I actually don’t mind the plot so much; it is generally quite fast-paced. My main issue is just how horrible it looks at times, especially when compared to the majority of Disney animated films. You probably only get about ten minutes total of lush landscape in The Black Cauldron, with the majority of the film being quite dark and eerie, with lots of brown, yellow, and green, with detailed animated scenes of skeletons rising from the dead, and The Horned King’s flesh being torn from his skeleton, and his bones being burnt to nothing… That is a bit too much for me.

As I said earlier, The Black Cauldron is a cult classic and there will be some people who are fierce fans of it, whether that is for the artistic qualities, the fantasy themes, or the darker elements of the movie. If you’re looking for a family-friendly film, full of humour, bright colours, and enchanting magic, this is not one to watch. It is not one of Disney’s best animated films and they certainly could’ve done more with the source material.

However, it is still worth giving The Black Cauldron a go if you want to understand a bit more about the history of Disney Animation. It took a lot of work and a lot of hassle to finish, and let’s not forget that by making these mistakes, the Disney animators learnt from the experience and managed to give us some of their best work just a few short years later.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (1981).

[2] Credit: Mark Davies, ‘The Troubled History of Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” & The Lost Cut Scenes’, Yesterworld YouTube Channel, uploaded 17^th May 2021.

[3] Credit: Disney, The Disney Family Album: Voice Actors (1985).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Black Cauldron’s Witches of Morva’, CartoonResearch.com, 10^th July 2020.

[5] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes #265’, CartoonResearch.com, 3^rd June 2016.

[6] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[7] Credit: Jim Hill, ‘Why For did Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” fail to connect with audiences back in 1985?’, JimHillMedia.com, 10^th September 2010.

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Black Cauldron (1985)’, pp. 73-75.

[9] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes #144’, CartoonResearch.com, 3^rd June 2016.

[11] Credit: Mark Davies, ‘The Troubled History of Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” & The Lost Cut Scenes’, Yesterworld YouTube Channel, uploaded 17^th May 2021.

[12] Credit: Kevin Perjurer, ‘The History of Disney’s Scariest Attraction, Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour’, Defunctland YouTube Channel, uploaded 26^th October 2018.

16th Feb 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#5 Bambi (1942)

BACKGROUND

The release of Bambi in 1942 signalled the end of the Disney “Golden Age”.

After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, everyone was waiting to see just what else Walt Disney and his artists could do with the medium of animation; Snow White had them all captivated and they wanted more.

Sadly, in 1939, many countries were enduring the impact and horrors of World War II, which began in September of that year. The United States of America did not join the war until December 1941, but this still did not make it an easy time to own a film studio.

The next Disney releases to come after Snow White were Pinocchio and Fantasia, both released in 1940. Because European markets were closed off due to the war, these films did not do particularly well financially, and their production budgets were even higher than that of Snow White. Pinocchio was received well by critics, but Fantasia was not, because of its new concept of setting animated scenes to pieces of classical music, an artistic concert of sorts, which did not appeal to the masses.

Dumbo (1941) would do much better just a year later, both critically and financially, but if Walt Disney hoped for a similar response to his realistically animated nature film Bambi, he was disappointed, as not only had World War II caused problems, but the Disney Animators’ Strike of 1941 had sullied the Studios’ reputation and disrupted their film production for around four months, plus Bambi annoyed and angered some viewers because of its anti-hunting stance. Back in the 1940s, it was not considered the beautiful, environmentally conscious masterpiece it is seen as by many today.

I’m not sure I’m allowed to say I don’t like Bambi, but… I don’t like Bambi.

I am not a fan of nature documentaries, and this feels very much like one, albeit a slightly more fun one. It details the life of animals, and it doesn’t always end happily for them – and that is certainly the case for poor Bambi. I think that’s my reasoning for not liking the film much, although I am happy to admit that it does have an important lesson attached to it, of being respectful of nature because it is as much alive and full of feeling as we are, and that’s a very good lesson to teach people of any age.

PLOT

I’m sure many people first watched Bambi as a child and were mildly traumatised by it, so let’s relive that trauma with a plot summary. Bambi follows the life of a young male fawn, and his two friends, Thumper, a young rabbit, and Flower, a skunk, as they grow up. One day in the forest, all of the creatures, like mice, birds, and the creepy-looking Friend Owl with his huge eyes, who go to see “the new Prince of the Forest-to-be” as Bambi’s mother gives birth to the fawn, Bambi. Almost immediately, Bambi tries to walk, but he struggles, and Thumper tries to help teach him how, despite the fact rabbits walk in a very different way to deer. The next day, Bambi tries again and succeeds. Thumper then teaches Bambi how to talk, learning the words “bird” and “flower”, at which point, they see a skunk in a flower patch. Bambi mistakenly believes the skunk is a flower, so the skunk becomes a new friend called Flower. It soon begins to rain with the “drip, drip, drop” of an April shower and the three friends return home. The rain shower becomes a huge thunderstorm, which scares most of the younger forest inhabitants.

Some time later, Bambi goes out to the meadow with his mother, where Bambi is warned by his mother to be careful not to run into open spaces as they can be unsafe. Bambi’s mother checks it is clear and they come out into the open. He then meets Faline, one of his mother’s friend’s children and is very awkward around her! But he begins to learn more about his species from the other deer, instead of learning how to do everything from either his mother or Thumper. They then see a group of stags running through the forest, where Bambi meets The Great Prince of the Forest, his father. The Great Prince tells all the deer to leave the meadow. Bambi becomes separated from his mother, but is helped by The Great Prince. A gun shot is heard… But Bambi’s mother is ok…for now. This is where Bambi first hears about “Man”, as he is told “Man was in the forest”.

Autumn comes and then turns to winter, and Bambi sees snow and ice for the first time. Thumper teaches Bambi how to ice skate, though he isn’t exactly a natural at it! The two also go and visit Flower, who is hibernating and probably shouldn’t be woken up. After a while, Bambi becomes bored of winter and there not being enough food. Luckily, he soon sees the first signs of spring coming in the form of fresh grass, but as Bambi and his mother are about to settle down to eat, his mother hears something and tells Bambi to run to the thicket and not look back. Another gun shot is heard… But Bambi keeps running like he was told to do. Eventually, Bambi stops and is concerned that his mother has not followed him. Cue one of the most well-known and most heart-breaking moments in movie history. Bambi cries out for his mother, searching, but she is nowhere to be found. The Great Prince tells him “Your mother can’t be with you anymore”, and tells Bambi to “come, my son”, as he leads him away in the snow.

One year later, Bambi, Flower, and Thumper learn about “twitterpations”, or “falling in love” to us humans, as they see all the birds twittering around as they find mates, being told by Friend Owl that it makes you weak in the knees, puts your head in a whirl, makes you feel as light as a feather, like you’re walking on air. All three thinks this sounds awful, confirming that it won’t happen to them but they soon find love interests of their own. Flower first, as he tries to ignore a female skunk, but finds he’s powerless to do so. Then Thumper, and finally Bambi with childhood friend Faline, after he fights a stag competing for her affections. We then find that Man is back in the forest, but this time not from the sound of a gunshot. Instead, Bambi is woken by the smell of smoke and follows it to find a campfire in the distance. Going deeper into the forest, Bambi learns that this is a hunter camp. Bambi is separated from Faline as everyone flees after a bird is shot, with dogs trying to hunt down Faline. Bambi fights them off but is shot. Meanwhile, Man’s campfire has spread and caused a huge wildfire. The Great Prince tells Bambi to get up and move. The two jump down a waterfall to the safety of a riverbank, where Bambi is reunited with Faline and his friends.

The next spring, Faline gives birth to twins. Bambi and his father share a glance as they watch over the scene at the top of a hill. The Great Prince then walks away, silently signalling to Bambi that he is now The Great Prince of the Forest.

It’s not exactly the most thrilling plot, with quite a lot of the action taking place “behind the camera”. It’s more or less a coming-of-age story, watching Bambi grow, with notes about how humans need to take responsibility for their actions within natural environments or risk damaging consequences for nature and the animals that live within it.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Though the film has many supporting characters, other animals living in the forest, the plot follows Bambi, his mother and father, and Thumper and Flower, so it benefits from this focus on core characters only. It also benefits from only having around 950 words of dialogue in total, which allows for moments of silence during those tense scenes and a time for reflection on the beauty of nature, as well as the threats to it.

Bambi begins life as an awkward, gangly young fawn, who doesn’t have much idea of how to act or behave in the forest. As a newborn, unsurprisingly, he can’t walk or talk so has to be taught how to do these things, by his mother and randomly by a rabbit, but this is a Disney movie after all. Over time, Bambi learns more about what life is like for animals in the forest, and is taught to be careful of his surroundings and not to trust that everything is necessarily safe; that Man could be in the forest and something bad might happen if he is. Once his mother dies, Bambi has to grow up quickly, as his future is to be The Great Prince of the Forest. He starts to take responsibility for others and the security of the forest, being the one to find the hunter camp first and trying to get the rest of the animals to safety. By the end of the film, Bambi has fully transformed into The Great Prince of the Forest, and watches over everything as the new protector.

Donnie Dunagan voiced young Bambi, when he was six-years-old, and he said that his lines were read by a voice coach and that he had to repeat them, with the same inflection to get the correct meaning across. He also stated that he was never told that Bambi’s mother was dead or that she was shot, only that she was injured and Bambi was trying to find her, when he was being given his “motivation” for the scene. Actor Hardie Albright then voiced Adolescent Bambi, with producer John Sutherland voicing Young Adult Bambi.

For Bambi’s mother and The Great Prince of the Forest, Bambi’s father, naturally Bambi’s mother takes on most of the parenting of Bambi. She is a caring mother, very protective of Bambi and very cautious when out in the open areas of the forest, as she is aware of the dangers of hunters. The death of Bambi’s mother is the most tragic moment of the film, especially when we hear Bambi calling for her, not realising how bad the situation is. Walt Disney’s daughter Diane was horrified to find that Walt had decided to keep the scene of Bambi’s mother being shot in his movie version of Bambi. She had read the original book, as Walt reminded her at the time, but she thought he would’ve changed it for his film as he had altered many elements of books and fairy-tales for his other film projects before[1]! Paula Winslowe voiced Bambi’s mother in this film, and she also voiced the Pheasant. She was married to John Sutherland, voice of Young Adult Bambi.

The Great Prince of the Forest is stoic and fairly emotionless, needing to keep himself calm in his role as the protector of the forest. He’s not exactly a great fatherly figure for Bambi though, not being particularly caring even when he tells Bambi that his mother “won’t be around anymore”. He also tells Bambi to get up and move after he’s just been shot in rather a harsh way, but I suppose he is just trying to keep him safe! Fred Shields voiced The Great Prince. Shields went on to narrate other Disney shorts, including those within the film Saludos Amigos (1942) and the segment “The Flying Gauchito” in its sequel film The Three Caballeros (1944).

Now to Thumper, who I personally find kind of annoying and overly energetic! Thumper was not an original character from the Bambi novel but was created for comic relief purposes. Animator Ollie Johnston liked the fact that Thumper is quite bossy when he’s trying to teach Bambi how to do things, and how he gets into trouble a lot. This is what I don’t like about Thumper but I’m ok disagreeing with Ollie on this one! Peter Behn voiced Young Thumper, and much like Donnie Dunagan, he had his lines recited to him and he just repeated the lines until he got them right. To be fair, Thumper does have some very good lines, such as him reciting his father’s talk about how good it is to eat your greens, though he thinks they taste awful, and “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”, which is actually a double-negative, but we get what Thumper means; he is just a kid! Tim Davis voiced Adolescent Thumper and Sam Edwards voiced Young Adult Thumper. Edwards later made a few appearances as banker Bill Anderson on Little House on the Prairie between 1978 and 1983, and also had supporting roles in some of Disney’s live-action films, such as The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Escape to Witch Mountain (1975).

Flower is the shy and soft-spoken skunk that I always used to think was a girl but that is most definitely not the case – oops, my bad. I think of the three “kids”, I like Flower the best, because he’s not running around all the time being crazy; he’s just sitting in his flower patch having a nice time. I also feel sorry for him when Bambi and Thumper are trying to wake him up during his hibernating time. Stan Alexander voiced Young Flower, with Tim Davis voicing Adolescent Flower also. Legendary Disney voice actor Sterling Holloway then voiced Young Adult Flower. Holloway voiced many well-known characters for Disney movies from the 1940s to the 1970s, including the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Kaa the python in The Jungle Book (1967), and most notably, Winnie the Pooh.

One other voice actor I would like to mention is Cammie King, who voiced Young Faline in Bambi. She also portrayed Bonnie Blue Butler, Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter, in Gone with the Wind (1939).

MUSIC

All the songs in Bambi are played in the background, so none are sung by any characters, which is not unheard of in Disney animated films, but not particularly common. This was decided to be the best approach to the music due to the fact that, given its realistic subject and animation style, it would not be appropriate for the forest animals to burst into song, as it would disrupt the feel and mood of the film.

For the soundtrack, four original songs were written, with all lyrics being written by Larry Morey and all music for the film being composed by Frank Churchill. The two had previously collaborated together on the soundtrack for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Churchill had also contributed to the music on many other Disney projects from the time he joined the Studios in 1930, such as the song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” for the Silly Symphony short The Three Little Pigs (1933); “Baby Mine” from Dumbo (1941), co-written with Ned Washington, and the score for Dumbo, co-written with Oliver Wallace, both of which received Oscar nominations; and the song “Never Smile at a Crocodile”, which is a deleted song from Peter Pan (1953) and was co-written with Jack Lawrence. Churchill sadly passed away from suicide in May 1942, just three months before the release of Bambi.

The first song is the main title song “Love is a Song”, playing over the Opening Credits, and also appears as the finale song. This song was actually nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards, where it lost out to Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” from the film Holiday Inn (1942). The next number to appear in the film is “Little April Shower”, which is the most well-known song from Bambi and likely one that you’ve either sung yourself as it starts to rain outside, or someone else has sung it to you. The music slowly builds in volume and drama as the rain gets heavier and a storm begins. The animals are all scared of the storm and can’t wait for it to be over. Though I don’t generally mind the opening few lines, I really dislike the storm as the singers just wail like ghosts as a way of imitating wind and it doesn’t sound pleasant to my ears. Originally, an early song was meant to be sung from the point of view of the raindrops; it was called “The Rain Song”. It was an incredibly repetitive song, almost like the rain was chanting, so very weird too and I’m glad they didn’t use it! To animate the drops of rain, the artists studied slow-motion photography of drops of milk to show the detailed splash patterns, which would have vanished quickly in normal time. The animators drew many of these to create the shower[2].

Following on from that is “Let’s Sing a Gay Little Spring Song”, which plays when the birds are finding their partners during the spring. It annoys Friend Owl a lot, who tries to get all the birds to fly away from him and leave him in peace. It is a bit cutesy and sweet, not to mention repetitive, so I can see where Owl is coming from!

Finally, we have “Looking for Romance (I Bring You a Song)”, which is the love ballad for Bambi and Faline as they begin to fall in love with each other. It’s the customary love song that every film needs, but personally I don’t like any of the songs within Bambi. That is probably down to the fact they are not sung by the characters, and I can understand the reasoning for that, but it means I don’t end up connecting with the characters emotionally through their songs, unlike other Disney movies, such as Beauty and the Beast (1991) or The Little Mermaid (1989), something those Disney “Renaissance” movies are known for. The other reason is because all four songs are performed by a forty-voice choir, the Disney Studio Chorus, with Donald Novis, which gives the music that odd whispery sound that was particularly prominent in earlier Disney movies. I find it a bit creepy and haunting at times…

The score for Bambi was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, but lost to Max Steiner’s score for Now, Voyager (1942). The score does well to contribute to the atmosphere of the forest and the events surrounding the characters, without taking away focus from the central action. The instrumental that plays during Bambi and Thumper’s time in the snow and on the ice is probably the best of the score for me, though of course the scoring of the forest fire and Bambi’s mother do make those scenes seem more threatening and heartbreaking for the viewer.

PRODUCTION

Bambi took around five years to make, with development starting in 1937, when the film rights for Bambi, a Life in the Woods, a book written by Felix Salten, were passed over to Walt Disney after discussions with the original rights owner, Sidney Franklin. The original novel by Salten was first published in 1923. It is debated what the true meaning of the novel is as it has been lost in translations, however, some suspect that the novel is actually meant to be a parable about the inhumane treatment of Jewish people and other minorities. As Salten lived in Austria at the time of publication, around this time, the Nazi party was beginning to rise up within Germany and its influence would later spread outside of the country into Austria and surrounding areas. This threat of a more fascist world is seen by some as evidence that Bambi, a Life in the Woods was actually a political statement. Even more evidence of this is that in 1935, the book was banned by the Nazis, who saw the novel as a political allegory and copies of the book were burnt. Salten fled Austria in 1938 when Germany annexed Austria, and went to Switzerland. Salten had experienced discrimination and abuse as a Jewish person in Austria throughout his life. In a similar way to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, having the story be based around animals meant that the true meaning could be hidden within another layer of story. Salten later sold his film rights for $1,000 dollars to film producer and director Sidney Franklin[3].

The first English translation of the novel, by Whittaker Chambers, sold 650,000 copies between the years 1928, when it was first published, and 1942, when Disney’s Bambi was released. It was later translated again in 2022, when the original novel entered the public domain, and a new English translation was published under the name The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest, by Jack Zipes. It’s been claimed that Chambers’ translation sanitised the novel and stripped it of its actual meaning.

There are many conflicting views on just what the original Bambi novel really means. It could have been political propaganda; it could have been anti-war in general; it could have been existentialist; or simply a coming-of-age story, or environmental story. Basically, it’s up to anyone who has read the original novel to decide what it means for them[4]. I have not read it, so I am not informed enough to discuss Salten’s novel, and nor do I need to because this is about Disney’s film. The only thing to be aware of is that Walt Disney and his children would have read Chambers’ original English translation of the novel.

Regardless of what Bambi was meant to mean, this translation remains bleak and gruesome at times, due to its references to injured animals, intense scenes of hunting, and general social commentary. It was up to Walt Disney and his story men to make the story more child-friendly and similar in tone to what audiences were expecting from the Disney Studios. Disney added in humour and lighter moments to tame the material, as well as new characters. Humans are referred to as “Man” and not “He”, as they are in the original story.

Bambi was intended to be the second Disney animated feature, to be released right after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), but in actual fact, it became the fifth full-length animated feature film from the studio. This was down to the need for the animators to be able to capture the forest and its animals truthfully, as well as spending time dealing with the story to make it “more Disney”. Walt had realised that Bambi would require a different type of sophistication in the artwork that they had not done before, and to do it justice, the animators needed time to create and perfect this new style. Sidney Franklin, who owned the film rights to Bambi, had hoped to make a live-action film with voice-overs. After watching Snow White, Franklin contacted Walt to see if he would like to collaborate on the movie. It was decided that this live-action movie wasn’t going anywhere and that Walt Disney could make a better film if it was fully animated, so the rights were sold to Walt, however, Franklin remained an active consultant on the film and ensured the authenticity of nature remained. A dedication to Franklin appears at the end of the opening titles.

Story men were first assigned to the picture in 1938. Early attempts at the story included a scene of two leaves talking about the end of their life together as they are about to fall from their tree. This is an interesting scene in the novel that Walt particularly liked, however, it didn’t work in the context of the film, so it was cut. There were many other characters who were created but never used, such as a grasshopper and a colony of ants, and a rabbit called Bobo, who eventually became Thumper. There was also a different version of the sequence of Bambi seeing snow for the first time, where Bambi and the rabbits were chasing each other. This scene was re-worked to show Thumper teaching Bambi how to walk on ice instead. Real-life human models were used as reference material for this scene. Another story idea that never came to light on screen was to have a charred corpse of “Man” be discovered by Bambi and The Great Prince. At a test audience, this scene was shown to the audience and they did not like it so naturally, it was cut. They also considered showing Bambi’s mother injured on the ground, but again, decided against it[5]. It’s interesting that Disney chose not to show the death of their “first parent” in Bambi, but quite happily did so in 1994 with Mufasa’s death in The Lion King, traumatising an entirely new generation of children!

To correctly capture the authenticity of the animals as well as the environment of the forest, artist Jake Day was sent to Maine for several months to photograph and sketch animals and their environments. Artists also sketched animals at the Los Angeles Zoo[6]. They studied deer and fawns closely. Two fawns, named Bambi and Faline, were imported from Maine and housed behind the studio for this purpose. However, as they eventually began to act like pets, footage of wild deer in their natural environment, exploring and going about their day, was used to get the authentic action shots required. There needed to be a big leap in how the deer were represented in Bambi to how they were in Snow White, where animator Eric Larson described them as being drawn like sacks of wheat. They weren’t bothered by the anatomy of deer then, but this time, they had to study it and get it just right.

However, once they had drawn the animal characters true to their real-life anatomy, they then needed to get them to develop of range of emotion, as a Disney character is not just muscles and fur. The amazing characterisation of the animals in Bambi is great, and that is mostly down to the work of Marc Davis, one of the Disney animators, who went to a lot of effort studying child psychology books and children’s expressions, to replicate those same emotions within two-dimensional drawings of animals. He then showed the rest of the Disney animators how best to show this emotion on their animated characters[7].

In terms of capturing the essence of the forest, firstly, Walt Disney sent photographers to the forests of Maine, Oregon, Washington, and California. Some film was taken too, which would go on to inspire Walt Disney to make his True-Life Adventures nature documentary series in later years[8]. The problem with having such detailed pictures to use as reference points was that the animators ended up drawing the forest with too much detail, so that the action and the animals would not be as sharp on the screen as they needed to be. Artist Tyrus Wong was the one to create simple, impressionistic paintings for the backgrounds, which would create and suggest an atmosphere instead of being precise depictions of real-life. This suited the picture well and helped the team move forward. The multi-plane camera was used extensively for Bambi to move through these backgrounds, deep into the forest[9].

RECEPTION

Bambi opened in August 1942 with a US premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The world premiere for Bambi had actually been held in London on 9^th August 1942, meaning this was the first Disney full-length animated feature to hold its world premiere outside of the US. The world premiere was meant to be held in Maine, however the State objected as they felt hunters would be offended by the film.

The State of Maine turned out to be right because when Bambi was first released, it received mixed reviews with some of those specifically about the hunting aspect of the movie. In a 1942 edition of Outdoor Life magazine, Bambi was denounced as “the worst insult ever offered in any form to American sportsmen”. It seemed as though the whole US hunting community had taken offence to Bambi, which was never Walt Disney’s intention; Bambi is not an anti-hunting film, but sought to show the dangers of irresponsible hunting.

Not only that but his depiction of animals in Bambi was blasted by some. In a story printed in the 22^nd March 1952 issue of the Saturday Evening post magazine it stated that Walt Disney had been confronted by a woman at a dinner party in Palm Springs. She claimed to be an expert on American wildlife and proceeded to tell Walt in great detail everything that was factually wrong in Bambi. Eventually, Walt was able to give his response: “How right you are. And do you know something else wrong with it? Deers don’t talk.”[10].

Other critics found the film was too dramatic and not as fantastical as Disney’s other fairy-tale stories, and felt that some of the scenes, such as the shooting of Bambi’s mother, were not suitable for children, hence why so many children over these last eighty years have remembered this scene as being one of Disney’s most traumatic and horrifying. Yet some enjoyed the fact that the Disney Studios had taken themselves away from their typical style of film, and the realistic animation was appreciated.

Alongside the Academy Award nominations for music, Bambi also received another nomination for Best Sound Recording, but did not win. Bambi underperformed at the box-office, which may have been partly due to the wartime era in which it was released. However, given the age of the movie, it has benefited from multiple re-releases both in theatres and on VHS or DVD and Blu-Ray over the years, which has boosted its overall takings in the US and worldwide. Bambi was the last Disney animated movie to be re-released during Walt Disney’s lifetime, in Spring 1966[11]. Nowadays, Bambi is considered a classic and one of Disney’s best films, both for its amazing animation, moving moments, and for being one of the first movies to have a message around environmental awareness.

LEGACY

As Bambi’s reputation as a film began to recover, it has been referenced in other Disney projects. One of these is its direct-to-video sequel, Bambi II (2006). This sequel takes place just after Bambi’s mother is shot, and shows Bambi being taken care of by The Great Prince of the Forest, Bambi’s father, during the spring that followed. Alexander Gould, voice of Nemo in Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003), voices Bambi here, and surprisingly, Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94) and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, amongst many other roles, voices The Great Prince. What a strange choice of role for Patrick Stewart; I hope he had fun with it! Like all other direct-to-video sequels by Disney it received a mediocre response from critics.

At the Disney theme parks, there aren’t too many nods to Bambi or its characters unfortunately. Bambi has never been a walkaround character, however, his friend Thumper is – as is his girlfriend or wife, I guess, Miss Bunny. Thumper and Miss Bunny have been spotted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort, as well as at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. As they are rabbits, they may appear around Easter at the US parks and in Paris, however, over the years, the two have been less frequently spotted, so they are very much rare characters and may only appear at Special Events now. Bambi’s other friend, Flower the skunk, was a walkaround character for a time, but has not been seen since the 1970s apparently.

Outside of character appearances, at Tokyo Disneyland, at the Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel, some of the main guest rooms are described as being decorated with characters from films such as Bambi on their website, however, I have not found anything concrete online that shows that. I assume it is small touches in their décor.

There are similar touches like this at woodland-themed Disney hotels such as the Sequoia Lodge at Disneyland Paris, Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, and the Wilderness Lodge Resort at Walt Disney World. There probably would’ve been more Bambi theming in the Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge Resort at Walt Disney World that was planned as a new Disney Vacation Club Resort but was confirmed to be cancelled in 2022.

At the actual theme parks, within Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of it’s a small world, you can see figures of Bambi and Thumper skating on top of an icy mountain at the start of the attraction. At Shanghai Disneyland, within their Garden of the Twelve Friends walkthrough area, representing the Chinese Zodiac, Thumper used to be the representative for The Rabbit, however, in 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, Thumper was replaced with Judy Hopps from Zootopia (2016).

Elsewhere, at Walt Disney World, as part of the 50^th anniversary celebrations, fifty statues of different Disney characters were added to all four parks in a collection called the Fab 50. A statue of Thumper and Bambi, with a butterfly on his tail, was built and is currently situated at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Fab 50 statues all still remain at the parks. Also at Disney World, but this time in Epcot, for the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival held in spring, there is normally a topiary scene of Bambi and his friends.

Alongside this, clips or music from Bambi may be included in other Disney shows, parades or fireworks shows. There is also lots of Bambi merchandise available to purchase, including plush toys, pins, bags, and clothing.

Outside of the parks, Bambi has continued to build its presence. Bambi and other characters from the film were used for the original poster for the “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” campaign in 1944 by the United States Forest Service. Walt Disney had allowed these characters to be used in their campaign for one year. As the forest fire prevention campaign had proved popular with these additions, this led to the Forest Service creating Smokey Bear, their own character, to head future campaigns. This shows that the general public did take notice of the film’s message.

Another thing taken from Bambi is the phrase “Man is in the forest”. This phrase was used by some of the Disney animators to alert others to the fact Walt Disney was walking around the studio! [12]

Bambi is a favourite film of many people, including Walt Disney himself, and Osamu Tezuka, creator of manga series such as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. Paul McCartney also said that the film Bambi had a major influence on his attitudes towards animal rights. Not only that but the film’s off-screen villain, Man, was placed at #20 on the Villains list of the American Film Institute’s 100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains list in 2003. Stephen King also named Bambi as the first horror movie he ever saw.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The message of Bambi, as well as some of its more controversial moments, have continued to stick with viewers for many years after the film was first released in 1942. It certainly should make people sit up and think about their attitudes to nature and how they can improve their own relationship with their surroundings.

As I said, Bambi is regrettably a Disney film that I just don’t like much. It’s not exciting enough for me, and I don’t feel I get as absorbed into the lives of the characters as I do with some of the other Animated Classics, though I do appreciate the meaning behind it.

But this was a key moment in the history of animation as they pushed even more boundaries with the release of Bambi. It is a favourite amongst nature-lovers – it’s just unfortunate that I am not one of them.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Bambi Fun Fawn Facts’, MousePlanet.com, 26^th July 2017.

[2] Credit: Disney, Bambi: The Magic Behind the Masterpiece (1997).

[3] Credit: Donna Ferguson, ‘Bambi’: cute, lovable, vulnerable…or a dark parable of antisemitic terror?’, The Guardian (online), 25^th December 2021.

[4] Credit: Kathryn Schulz, ‘“Bambi” Is Even Bleaker Than You Thought’, The New Yorker (online), 17^th January 2022.

[5] Credit: Disney, The Making of Bambi: A Prince is Born (1994).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Bambi Fun Fawn Facts’, MousePlanet.com, 26^th July 2017.

[7] Credit: Disney, Bambi: The Magic Behind the Masterpiece (1997).

[8] Credit: Jim Fanning, 10 Facts from Walt Disney’s Bambi, D23 (online), 6^th September 2012.

[9] Credit: Disney, Bambi: The Magic Behind the Masterpiece (1997).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney Animation Anecdotes’, MousePlanet.com, 14^th December 2022.

[11] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Bambi Fun Fawn Facts’, MousePlanet.com, 26^th July 2017.

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Bambi (1942)’, pp. 13-15.

9th Feb 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#19 The Jungle Book (1967)

BACKGROUND

After years of Disney animated films increasingly becoming average and uninspiring, Walt Disney decided to get his Animation Department back on track. Walt had been distracted with other pursuits, like his Disneyland theme park and the world of television, however, after the disappointment of The Sword in the Stone (1963), he wanted to be fully involved in their next picture: The Jungle Book.

This turned out to be a good call, as The Jungle Book was well-received on its release in October 1967, becoming Disney’s second-highest-grossing animated film in the US and Canada at the time; a much better response than the Disney Studios’ previous release of The Sword in the Stone.

With all that being said, though, The Jungle Book is also remembered for an entirely different reason. Sadly, The Jungle Book was the last animated feature that Walt personally oversaw, but Walt never even saw the finished picture. He died in December 1966, almost a year before the film was released.

The Jungle Book therefore signified an ending at the Disney company. Walt Disney had been such an important figurehead to everyone at the Studios that it meant, with his passing, they all felt a bit lost. Many people were affected by Walt’s death. They appreciated and needed his wisdom in overseeing their projects.

The Jungle Book was also the last film to be released during the “Silver Age” of Disney Animation, and was considered to be the last “good” one for a while, as both pre-1967 and post-1967, Disney Animation released some movies that entirely missed the mark, in terms of both their story and animation quality, especially as the “Bronze Age” began.

When I was younger, though I liked some of the songs, I never thought much of the movie. It is about animals, after all, and I’m much more interested in stories that predominantly involve people. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found I like The Jungle Book much more than I used to. It’s still not one of my favourites, but I do enjoy the music and the friendships between the characters. I have more appreciation for the history of the movie now, and know just how important it was to the Disney company, and to Walt Disney himself.

PLOT

As most people know, Disney’s The Jungle Book follows Mowgli, a “man cub” who is separated from his parents and raised in the Indian jungle by wolves. Ten years later, the wolfpack is made aware that the tiger, Shere Khan, is returning to their part of the jungle. As Shere Khan has a deep hatred for man, due to their hunting and his fear of fire, the wolfpack are certain that Shere Khan will try to kill Mowgli and insist he leaves the jungle for his own protection. Bagheera, a black panther, volunteers to take Mowgli to the “man village”. They leave on their journey, despite Mowgli’s constant protests about wanting to stay in the jungle. They sleep up in a tree on their first night, where Mowgli and Bagheera meet Kaa, a hypnotising python, who tries to eat Mowgli. Bagheera manages to stop him, and Mowgli then pushes Kaa out of the tree, to keep him away from them.

The next morning, Bagheera and Mowgli are woken by Colonel Hathi and his elephant patrol marching and singing “in a military style”. Mowgli wants to join them, and befriends the smallest elephant, Hathi’s son, however, Mowgli doesn’t have the discipline or military know-how to fit in and besides, Hathi doesn’t want a human in his patrol, so Bagheera takes him away again and continues the journey. The two argue as Mowgli still does not want to go to the village, so Bagheera, frustrated, leaves him on his own. Mowgli then meets Baloo, a sloth bear, who teaches Mowgli how to live in the jungle and just relax. Bagheera hears a bear growl and rushes back to help Mowgli, only to find that the growl was just Baloo, who he thinks is a “stupid jungle bum” anyway, and leaves them to it; Baloo can take care of Mowgli instead. Except he can’t, because shortly after, Mowgli is kidnapped by a group of mean monkeys, and Baloo has to ask Bagheera for his help in getting him back.

Mowgli is brought by the monkeys to King Louie, who lives in some old palace ruins. King Louie makes a deal with Mowgli that he can stay in the jungle if Mowgli tells him how to make “man’s red flower”, fire. Bagheera and Baloo soon come to rescue Mowgli, which is handy because Mowgli doesn’t know how to make fire, but in the chaos of this fight, King Louie’s palace comes crumbling down. Oops… Bagheera and Baloo then discuss Mowgli’s future, where Bagheera convinces Baloo that Mowgli must go to the “man village” for his own safety, to protect him from Shere Khan. Baloo reluctantly agrees and plans to take Mowgli there himself. But as they set off, Mowgli gets angry at Baloo for trying to trick him and runs away. Bagheera and Baloo try to find him before Shere Khan does, however, as Bagheera is asking for the elephant patrol to look out for him, Shere Khan is actually listening in on the conversation and now knows Mowgli is alone.

Shere Khan suspects Mowgli has been “detained” again by Kaa, the python, as he hears the snake singing to someone. Shere Khan warns Kaa off trying to keep the “man cub” for himself, and leaves. Mowgli escapes Kaa’s coils and pushes him out of the tree again, much to Kaa’s annoyance who thinks he’s too much hassle to eat now, and slithers off. Mowgli then finds himself in a deserted part of the jungle, where four vultures are arguing about what to do today. They spot Mowgli and go over to talk to him, teasing him, where Mowgli reacts angrily. The vultures apologise and offer to be his friend with a very catchy song. However, Shere Khan comes in at the end to spoil the party. Mowgli stands up to Shere Khan, saying he isn’t afraid of him, and won’t run away. Shere Khan doesn’t care, and lunges at him, only for Baloo to arrive at the perfect time to pull him back and away from Mowgli. Baloo tries to hold the tiger off, but soon Shere Khan viciously attacks Baloo. At that point, lightning strikes a nearby tree, setting it on fire. The vultures distract Shere Khan so Mowgli can grab a burning branch. Mowgli quickly ties the stick to Shere Khan’s tail who reacts in horror, and runs off scared, deep into the jungle.

Baloo is seriously hurt, believed to be dead by Bagheera, who laments his death. Baloo wakes up just as Bagheera has finished his speech. Despite the fact this should be a happy moment, Bagheera is furious and embarrassed that he has been caught saying nice things about Baloo! The trio find their way to the village, but Mowgli still doesn’t want to go. That is until he sees a pretty young girl collecting water from the lake just outside. Curious, Mowgli gets closer to take a look at her. The girl has already spotted Mowgli and “accidentally” drops her pot of water. Mowgli refills it and offers it back to her. The girl simply walks into the village, and Mowgli follows, carrying her water pot. He smiles back at Bagheera and Baloo and goes into the village. Baloo is upset at losing Mowgli, wanting him to come back, but Bagheera tells him it was the right thing to do. Baloo and Bagheera head home again, as friends, glad that Mowgli will be safe now.

Disney’s version of The Jungle Book is nice and simple, basically just Mowgli having funny encounters with different animals in the jungle on his way to this “man village”. The Disney movie has very little resemblance to the original source material: the novel The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1894, which consists of multiple stories and poems that link together. The vultures and King Louie are not characters in the novel but created by Disney for the movie. As King Louie is an orangutan, he shouldn’t even be in the Disney movie as they are not native to India, but oh well! Shere Khan arrives at the very start of the novel, being fought off by Mowgli’s wolfpack family. He is more of a scary presence in the movie as Disney needed to create a real villain for the story. Kaa has more of a use in the novel though, actually saving Mowgli from the monkeys that capture him. Mowgli also joins the human village about halfway through the novel rather than at the end, like in the film. There are many more characters in the novel than there are in the Disney movie, but the biggest difference is that the Disney film, unsurprisingly, is much lighter in tone, with the overall mood of the novel being quite dark and brooding[1].

CHARACTERS & CAST

Obviously, Mowgli is the central figure of both versions of The Jungle Book. He’s around eleven years old at the time of the movie, which means he’s a bit petulant and stubborn. Mowgli just wants to stay in the jungle, and nobody can tell him otherwise, even if it’s for his own safety. He doesn’t seem to like authority much, so he struggles to listen to Bagheera – even if it puts him at risk of being killed by a tiger with a grudge! The friendship he has with Baloo is very sweet though, and the end scene where he believes Baloo is dead is heart-breaking to watch. Mowgli just wants to be a kid and have fun, and because he comes across as being quite innocent, you can forgive him for being a bit difficult!

Bruce Reitherman voices Mowgli. Bruce is the son of director Woolie Reitherman, and had voiced the role of Christopher Robin in the Winnie the Pooh shorts, though he had no formal acting experience. He replaced the original voice actor, David Alan Bailey, whose voice had broken during the four years of production so could no longer voice the role. This is quite a common occurrence. Bruce Reitherman had fun recording his lines, and being involved in the movie, though he found the hardest part was laughing on cue[2].

Bagheera is a black panther, and the authoritarian figure in the film. Having said that, he is caring towards Mowgli as we see multiple times throughout the film, including at the beginning where he finds Mowgli the wolf family to live with, and when he volunteers to take Mowgli to the “man village” and protects him from harm numerous times on the journey. Bagheera gets frustrated with Mowgli, yes, and doesn’t think much of Baloo, who he thinks has too much fun and is too relaxed for his own good, but, by the end of the movie, Baloo and Bagheera actually become friends, and Bagheera learns to not be so uptight all the time. They are the two best characters for me. Bagheera is voiced by Sebastian Cabot, who voiced Lord Ector and narrated The Sword in the Stone (1963), as well as narrating the Winnie the Pooh shorts in the 1960s and 1970s. Cabot also narrates The Jungle Book.

Baloo is a fun-loving, carefree sloth bear, who spends most of his time just relaxing, eating, and sleeping! Him and Mowgli become close very quickly in the movie, and he becomes a sort of fun uncle figure to Mowgli, saying he can stay with him and Baloo will keep him away from anyone that’s forcing him to go to the village, though he does eventually recognise that Shere Khan is a threat to Mowgli and that he isn’t safe in the jungle. He doesn’t want to take Mowgli to the village, but he feels like he has to, and you can see just how devastated he is by it. Baloo protects Mowgli fiercely, even more so than Bagheera, as he throws himself into the path of Shere Khan and gets hurt quite badly from the tiger’s attack, and also barrels in to the palace of King Louie to try to distract the apes so Bagheera can rescue Mowgli. He’s quite impulsive but his heart is definitely in the right place.

Phil Harris is the voice of Baloo. The team had been struggling to find a convincing voice for Baloo the bear, until one day, Walt heard Phil Harris at a party, telling jokes, and instantly knew he’d be perfect for Baloo, so they brought him in. Initially, Harris was reluctant to voice the role, and ended up improvising many of his lines to make them feel more like something he’d naturally say. This was the first time that a Disney movie had used “celebrity actors”, and Phil Harris was one of those, as he had such a recognisable voice, thanks to his roles in radio comedy and from his time as a band leader. Phil Harris would go on to voice two more notable Disney characters: Thomas O’Malley in The Aristocats (1970) and Little John in Robin Hood (1973).

Louis Prima voices King Louie, the orangutan. King Louie is quite a flamboyant sort of character; he’s loud and talkative, always singing or dancing. He’s determined to find out the secret of how to make fire, even going so far as to kidnap the “man cub” to try to make a deal with him to find out. It’s a bit creepy if you think about it, but he’s so much fun and his song, “I Wan’na Be Like You”, is one of the catchiest in the movie, so you just have to go along with it all, like Mowgli does. The character was very much based on Prima’s own expressions when leading his band, and both his and the band members’ movements when recording the song were used as inspiration for many of Louie and the monkeys’ dance moves. Louis Prima was a famous singer, bandleader and trumpeter at this time, and was a frequent performer in Las Vegas in the 1950s, with his jazz, swing and “big band” music.

Then there’s the villain of the film, Shere Khan, the tiger. Disney decided they wanted to make him a straight, evil character, who is overly confident and calm, and feels superior to others. It’s a great idea for a character who is a tiger, as most people would think to make that character very vicious and angry. Shere Khan is completely different because he seems so above everything, and lets his reputation precede him. Walt Disney thought of George Sanders for the role instantly after seeing the drawings of the character and hearing about the personality choice. George Sanders was a British actor and singer, known for his bass voice and upper-class English accent. He is known for playing the role of Jack Favell in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), and Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950), where he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1951. He was another recognisable “celebrity voice” that Disney used for this movie[3].

Kaa the python is a funny sort of sidekick character. He isn’t menacing, though he frequently tries to hypnotise multiple animals into falling asleep so he can eat them; he’s just hilarious because he fails so often, and has a very soft sort of voice so you can’t even take him seriously as a villain. This is more evidence of clever character personality choices by the team at Disney, much like Shere Khan, by veering away from the obvious idea. Kaa is voiced by veteran Disney voice actor Sterling Holloway, who is best known for voicing the Cheshire Catin Alice in Wonderland (1951), and, of course, Winnie the Pooh.

Rounding out the cast, there is J. Pat O’Malley who voiced multiple characters in other Disney films such as the Walrus and the Carpenter in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Jasper and Colonel the Sheepdog in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). O’Malley voices Colonel Hathi, the leader of the elephant patrol, obsessed with relieving his glory days in the service, despite the reluctancy and obvious annoyance of the other elephants, including his wife Winifred, who is voiced by Verna Felton, another known Disney voice actor, who brought us The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950), the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Flora, one of the three Good Fairies, in Sleeping Beauty (1959). The Jungle Book would be her final film, released after her death in 1966.

MUSIC

As well as having memorable characters, the music is a vital part of The Jungle Book. The music was written by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert Sherman. The duo had worked on numerous Disney projects before this film such as the live-action movies The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap in 1961, and Mary Poppins in 1964. They also wrote the music for The Sword in the Stone (1963). The Sherman Brothers had written some Disney attraction theme songs by this point too, such as “It’s a Small World (After All)” for the boat ride of the same name, and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” for the Carousel of Progress, both attractions at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

The Sherman Brothers wrote five songs in total for The Jungle Book, with George Bruns composing the score. Kaa’s song, “Trust in Me”, came about from a scene that animator Floyd Norman had developed. Kaa is hypnotising Mowgli to sleep, and then moves Mowgli over his coils, turning them into stairs, a slide, and a hammock. I both love this scene and the song; it should be a scary scene as Mowgli is about to get eaten by a python, yet Disney made it funny. The song was inspired by an unused song that was originally written by the Sherman Brothers for Mary Poppins (1964), called “The Land of Sand”. It’s a mysterious tune that fits perfectly into this scene with the sneaky antics of Kaa.

“That’s What Friends Are For” is performed by the group of vultures that Mowgli meets near the end of the movie, who may seem familiar to some, with their floppy hairstyles and Liverpudlian accents. The song was originally meant to be recorded by the Beatles, so it was created as a soft rock song, however, when the Beatles’ schedule meant they could not be involved in the picture, it became a barbershop quartet instead, with other actors coming in to voice and perform the vultures’ lines. It was also thought that having a Beatles-style song included might date the movie. This is another great song, the harmonies are excellent, and I particularly like the final line that Shere Khan sings solo.

For “I Wan’na Be Like You”, the Sherman Brothers had Louis Prima in mind for the part of King Louie when they wrote the song. The Sherman Brothers specifically went to Prima to play him the song to try to get him on board with the role. Luckily, he didn’t need much convincing! They wanted it to feel very “Vegas”, and quite wild and crazy, which Prima and his band managed to do very successfully in their recording.

To round out the Sherman Brothers’ contribution to the movie, they also wrote “Colonel Hathi’s March”, for the elephant patrol scenes, which was inspired by both of the brothers’ military service, and “My Own Home”, the song sung by the girl from the village at the end of the movie. “My Own Home” became a reprise of George Bruns’ main theme of the score, which is woven throughout the film, so it became a fitting end to the story to write a song based on that. I actually like all of the songs in The Jungle Book, and some of them get stuck in my head for days!

The score by George Bruns is good too, never being too scary even in the final fight scene with Shere Khan, and upbeat in other places. The main theme is my favourite instrumental piece though. Bruns had composed the score for many other Disney movies, including Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Sword in the Stone (1963).

PRODUCTION

Walt Disney first became interested in the story The Jungle Book in the 1930s, yet Disney only managed to get the rights to adapt the novel in 1962[4]. Walt Disney had leaned on one of his best story men, Bill Peet, to develop ideas for new animated features, especially when other things had taken Walt’s attention. Bill Peet was instrumental in the Animation Department, and was used to having to adapt storylines for the new features. He had practically storyboarded the whole of The Sword in the Stone (1963) on his own. Peet was given the go-ahead by Walt to start adapting The Jungle Book. Staff numbers had been reduced around this time so there was a Master Animator, Woolie Reitherman; Art Director, Ken Anderson; and four Supervising Animators, including Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas; and then Bill Peet, as the Story Man, as opposed to around forty people working in Animation during Disney’s “Golden Age”, so naturally, Bill Peet would have had much of the control around the movies at this time.

However, Walt was not going to let Peet take all the creative reins as he had done with The Sword in the Stone (1963), as that had not gone well and Walt was not happy with the final product. This was ultimately his reasoning for being so involved in The Jungle Book. Walt found out that Bill Peet had kept very true to the original novel, but Walt didn’t want that; it was too dark. They couldn’t agree on how to move forward so Peet left the studio and never returned. Larry Clemmons was brought it to put together the story instead, along with other new talents, such as Floyd Norman. Walt wanted to make his version of The Jungle Book that wasn’t focused on the book. He wanted it to be a fun adventure, without the heavy stuff, but with plenty of heart[5]. The Sherman Brothers took over the music from Terry Gilkyson, whose compositions had matched the dark, mysterious tone of Peet’s version of the story, though one of Gilkyson’s original songs remained in the movie by popular demand: “The Bare Necessities”, which embodies heart and fun, so fit the new tone well. I’m glad it was kept in the movie as it is one of the most recognised songs.

Floyd Norman said in an interview, along with Richard Sherman, that when they were brought on to the team to make The Jungle Book that Walt had initially asked everyone if they had read the original novel. They admitted that they had not, expecting Walt to be annoyed that they “hadn’t done the homework”, but he was glad they hadn’t so they wouldn’t be influenced by anything in the novel, and would be on board with Walt’s tone for the story, of being bright, full of story, music, sight gags, and strong characters with personality[6].

For the look of the movie, some previous methods from other Disney movies of the 1950s and 1960s were used, such as xerography and hand-painted backgrounds, which would’ve made the animation process easier and less costly. There was also strong emphasis on creating the right background styling, specifically requested by Walt Disney, as Walt had not been a fan of the styling in The Sword in the Sword (1963), as he felt there was too much colour in the backgrounds, and wanted the backgrounds to be more monochromatic for The Jungle Book to give a nice backdrop for the characters[7].

Furthermore, The Jungle Book reused previous footage from other Disney animated films, such as Mowgli being licked by the wolfs, which came from a scene in The Sword in the Stone (1963) with Arthur and the dogs, and the wolf cubs originally being puppies from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)[8]. This favour was returned though as Baloo would be used as strong inspiration for the character of Little John in Robin Hood (1973), as well as some of the dance sequences from “I Wan’na Be Like You” being copied into that film.

Production continued, and many comical sequences had been completed, with Walt’s vision for the movie being realised. However, as is natural, some scenes and ideas ended up on the “cutting room floor”. Firstly, there was a character called Rocky the Rhino. Rocky would’ve been in the scene with the vultures. Rocky was meant to be half-blind and dumb, with character actor Frank Fontaine to be the voice. The original idea was for Mowgli to meet Rocky, and for the vultures to coerce the rhino into attacking Mowgli. As the rhino was blind, he would keep missing Mowgli until Mowgli punched him, at which point, the vultures would ask Mowgli to be part of their group and they would sing the original version, the rock, Beatles-inspired version, of “That’s What Friends Are For” together, with Rocky joining in at the end. Walt did not like the character, and went off the idea of Rocky and the voice of Frank Fontaine so the character was dropped[9]. I agree; it doesn’t sound like the best scene!

Secondly, there was an alternate ending to the film, which involved Bagheera taking Mowgli to the village, where it was guarded by a man with a gun, who goes to shoot Bagheera, but misses and then tries to shoot Mowgli as he reaches the gates to the village. Luckily, the villagers protect him, as the hunter thinks Mowgli is a leopard enchanted to be a boy, and Mowgli’s real parents rush to him. One day, Mowgli hears the hunter lying about killing Shere Khan, and jumps in to say that it wasn’t true as he’d encountered Shere Khan and that he’d tried to kill him. Mowgli also recounts some other tales from his time in the jungle, though nobody believes him, so he runs out of the village, carrying a lit torch. He uses the fire to scare the other animals, including Shere Khan and decides to live in the jungle, using the fire to protect him. Bagheera and Baloo are horrified to find he’s brought fire into the jungle and leave him. Shere Khan waits for the fire to go out, but just as he is about to attack, the village hunter appears and orders Mowgli to take him to the treasure at the palace ruins, where King Louie lives. Mowgli is ordered to carry the treasure back to the village. Then, the hunter suddenly stops, and tells Mowgli to go into the jungle, where he will set it on fire. Mowgli grabs the torch and throws it into the lake. Then, Shere Khan attacks the hunter, killing him, before turning on Mowgli. Mowgli finds the hunter’s gun and shoots Shere Khan dead. Bagheera and Baloo find Mowgli and escort him back to the village, proud of what he’s done. Mowgli is now a hero, and spends time in the village and the jungle[10].

That sounds way too dark for a Disney film, so I’m glad they settled on the ending with the little girl. But this wasn’t an easy decision. They had struggled to think of an ending originally, not knowing how best to finish the story. It was actually Walt’s idea to have a little girl encourage Mowgli to follow her into the village. Not many people were convinced it would work, but Walt insisted they tried it and it did. Walt loved the ending and the song, but would unfortunately not be able to see the full movie[11].

Nobody knew Walt was as unwell as he was during production on The Jungle Book. They knew he was going into hospital, but they assumed it was for an old polo injury in his neck. Walt would actually be diagnosed with lung cancer. In December 1966, Walt visited the studio for what would be the last time. He was thin, gaunt and grey, and it was quite clear he was very ill. A week later, the team were told that Walt Disney had died. With Walt’s passing, the mantel of animation was passed onto the remaining “Nine Old Men”, with Woolie Reitherman taking over the Animation Department. They completed The Jungle Book in the way Walt had wanted[12].

RECEPTION

The Jungle Book premiered in theatres on 18^th October 1967, to overwhelmingly positive reviews, praising its simple storyline, use of colour, and for its music, with “The Bare Necessities” even being nominated for Best Original Song at the 40^th Academy Awards. It lost out to “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Dolittle (1967). The Jungle Book grossed approximately $23.8 million against a budget of $4 million during its initial release. It is impossible to tell whether Walt’s death may have increased the popularity of the movie, with audiences wanting to see the last film he had been a part of, but either way, it was a hit.

LEGACY

The movie was such a success that its characters and music continue to feature at the Disney theme parks. At Disneyland Paris, during Summer 2019, they held an event titled The Lion King & Jungle Festival. For The Jungle Book, there was a show and parade that travelled all over the park with floats, dancers, and performances of some of the songs from the film, as well as characters like King Louie, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy. It was called The Jungle Book Jive. Also in Paris, in Adventureland, there is a restaurant named Colonel Hathi’s Outpost Restaurant, formally named The Explorer’s Club. Despite the vaguely jungle theming, it serves Italian fare, such as pizza and pasta.

At Disneyland in California, at the Fantasyland Theatre, there was a stage show titled Mickey and the Magical Map, which ran from May 2013 until 2020, when the park was closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak; it did not return. This show had King Louie sing “I Wan’na Be Like You” alongside dancers and a trumpet player in a short segment. Also as part of Disneyland’s version of the nighttime show Fantasmic!, King Louie appears on a floating barge with his monkeys, whilst a 100-foot-long puppet of Kaa slithers over the stage.

At Shanghai Disneyland, the stage show Mickey’s Storybook Adventure features a section themed to The Jungle Book. Within this “magic book” that Mickey finds, Baloo appears to perform “Bare Necessities”, followed by King Louie who sings “I Wan’na Be Like You”. This show opened in June 2021. The same show, but with the title Mickey and the Wondrous Book, also exists at Hong Kong Disneyland and opened in November 2015. Also at Hong Kong Disneyland, within their version of the it’s a small world attraction, you can see figures of Baloo and Mowgli. At Tokyo Disneyland, there is a shop named Jungle Carnival within Adventureland themed to The Jungle Book. The building features two different carnival-style games which guests can play to win prizes.

Finally, at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, at Epcot, during the now-defunct fireworks show Harmonious, during the “India” section of the show, the song “I Wan’na Be Like You” was re-recorded to give it more of an authentic Indian film, and dancing puppets of characters from the film were shown on the screens on the barges.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom. there were multiple references to The Jungle Book, however, sadly they have all since closed. One of these was the hilarious KiteTails show, with The Jungle Book being one of two different stories reenacted via huge inflatable kites at the Discovery River Theater from October 2021 to September 2022. Guests particularly enjoyed seeing the kites crash-land on to the empty stands so they could be deflated!

There was also a stage show at Animal Kingdom in the Theater in the Wild, which now houses Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond!, called Journey into the Jungle Book. It opened with the park in April 1998 before closing a year later in April 1999 to make way for a new show, Tarzan Rocks! There was also a brief show held over Summer 2016, which was a nighttime show, called The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic. It used lit-up barges, dancers, water effects, and musical performances of songs from the film. It was a temporary show to fill in until the delayed Rivers of Light nighttime show could debut, which it finally did, running from February 2017 to March 2020. Still at Walt Disney World, at the Pop Century Resort, within the 1960s area of the park, you can find a huge statue of Baloo and Mowgli outside one of the buildings. For any fan of the film, it makes a good photo opportunity.

In terms of character meet-and-greets, at Walt Disney World, you are most likely to meet King Louie or Baloo at Animal Kingdom. Mowgli even appeared here back in 2013, but this was an unannounced, very rare appearance. Baloo was also spotted in the lobby of the Art of Animation Resort in June 2022. King Louie and Baloo from TaleSpin have been announced as appearing at the Jollywood Nights event for the holidays in 2024 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. At Disneyland, it looks like characters from The Jungle Book are only likely to be seen at Special Events, though again, it is likely to only be Baloo and Louie. At Disneyland Paris, there appears to be a dedicated meet-and-greet location for Baloo in Adventureland, though Louie has also been seen with him at times. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Baloo and Louie were seen in the last year or so, whereas at Shanghai Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, it seems that these two are rarer characters, though at Shanghai, Louie and Baloo are listed on their website as characters that appear at the Meet Disney Jungle Characters at Happy Circle location in Adventure Isle.

When I was younger Baloo and Louie were so easy to meet at Walt Disney World, but it seems like they aren’t as prevalent now, perhaps due to other more recent movies having more in-demand characters. However, The Jungle Book does still feature in Disney merchandise, through clothing, bedding sets, mugs, accessories, and ornaments.

As well as this, The Jungle Book had a direct-to-video sequel in 2003, The Jungle Book 2. Since the sequel was released thirty-six years after the original movie, many of the original voice cast were no longer with us. John Goodman replaced Phil Harris as the voice of Baloo; Jim Cummings, current voice of Winnie the Pooh, replaced Sterling Holloway as the voice of Kaa, naturally, as well as that of Colonel Hathi; Tony Jay, voice of Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), took over from George Sanders as the voice of Shere Khan; and child star Haley Joel Osment became the voice of Mowgli. Voice actor Bob Joles replaced Sebastian Cabot as the voice of Bagheera. The Jungle Book 3 was pitched in 2005 but was not made.

There was also the animated television series TaleSpin that aired from 1990 to 1991 originally. It primarily followed Baloo, and a cast of new characters, however Louie and Shere Khan also appeared at times too, as versions of themselves from the movie. Tony Jay and Jim Cummings voiced characters here. This was followed by another animated television series Jungle Cubs (1996-98), which was a prequel to the movie and showed all the animals of the jungle, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, and Shere Khan, as “cubs”. Jim Cummings voiced Kaa here. I remember watching this show on weekend mornings in the UK.

There were also three live-action films that followed the animated The Jungle Book. The first was the 1994 film Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, or simply The Jungle Book. It adapted the stories more closely than the animated film, and the animals here do not talk. It starred Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli, who later went on to voice the part of David in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He also portrayed Böri Khan in Disney’s live-action Mulan (2020), as well as Benny, Lahela’s father, in the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. (2021-23). The Jungle Book also starred British actors John Cleese, Lena Headey, and Jason Flemyng, as well as New Zealand actor Sam Neill.

In 1998, another live-action movie was made by Disney titled The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story. This time the animals did talk, as Eartha Kitt, voice of Yzma in The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), voiced the character of Bagheera. Wallace Shawn, Brian Doyle-Murray (as Baloo), and Stephen Tobolowsky also voiced animal characters.

Then in 2016, the big live-action remake happened. This time The Jungle Book became a live-action/CGI remake of the animated film. Voice and motion capture work was used for the animal characters, with big names voicing roles, such as Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and Christopher Walken as King Louie. The film was directed by Jon Favreau. It received positive reviews and grossed around $960 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016. The Jungle Book won the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and the BAFTA for Best Visual Effects. It also won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, amongst other accolades. A sequel to this film is currently in development.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Jungle Book is a big part of Disney Animation history with it signifying both an ending and a new beginning for everyone. It is one of those “must-see” Disney films, which everyone has seen, no matter their age. It’s a great movie, with catchy music, lovable characters, and an easy-to-follow plot; it doesn’t take itself too seriously. I think that is why it’s continued to stay popular throughout the decades.

It is plain to see that Walt Disney’s version of The Jungle Book embodied his love of story and characters with strong personalities, and his involvement and passion for the project come through strongly. That, along with the success of this movie, gave the company confidence in animation again, and the determination to move forward without their respected leader.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Emily Whittingham, ‘Disney’s The Jungle Book: 10 Differences Between The Book And The Animated Movie’, ScreenRant (online), 6^th August 2021.

[2] Credit: Anna Tims, ‘How we made The Jungle Book’, The Guardian (online), 29^th July 2013.

[3] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).

[4] Credit: Disney, Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (1997).

[5] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).

[6] Credit: Disney, Music, Memories & Mowgli: A Conversation with Richard M. Sherman, Diane Disney Miller and Floyd Norman (2014).

[7] Credit: Bri Bertolaccini, ‘The Jungle Book (1967): A Disney Hand-Drawn Animation Masterpiece’, The Walt Disney Family Museum (online), 28^th September 2022.

[8] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Today in Disney History, 1967: ‘The Jungle Book’ Debuted in Theaters’, WDW Magazine (online), 18^th October 2022.

[9] Credit: Disney, Deleted Scene: The Lost Character – Rocky the Rhino (2014).

[10] Credit: Disney, Alternate Ending: Mowgli and the Hunter (2014).

[11] Credit: Disney, Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (1997).

[12] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).

2nd Feb 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#30 Beauty and the Beast (1991)

BACKGROUND

Ask anyone the question: “what is the best animated Disney film?” and I’m sure many people will say The Lion King (1994) …. The amount of people who love that film is unreal…

But if you asked them again and told them to choose another one, I bet a large number of answers would be Beauty and the Beast. That’s not to say I mean that it is everyone’s favourite Disney film, because it’s not mine, though it definitely makes my Top 5, but nobody would argue with the fact that Beauty and the Beast is one of the greatest animated films of all time.

After Disney’s success with The Little Mermaid (1989), the company felt that just maybe they’d found the perfect formula for their movies: taking a fairy-tale, injecting it with some humour and a touch of Disney magic, and set it to a Broadway musical-style soundtrack. It had worked for Ariel, so let’s see if it worked for Belle.

But in the middle of the two films, Disney Animation actually released another movie: The Rescuers Down Under (1990). This film had very disappointing box-office results and because it was created digitally, its budget was incredibly high as well. This was not a fairy-tale, nor did it have a musical soundtrack though, so it just proved that perhaps they needed to replicate what they’d managed with The Little Mermaid.

And wow, did they succeed! Beauty and the Beast was even nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, the first time an animated film had ever received approval like this, and it became a huge hit, with children and adults alike. At the time, Disney had not received attention like this for one of their animated movies before, which then set off a wild decade for the Disney company.

I personally think Beauty and the Beast is close to perfection. The animation is stunning; the music is typical of a Broadway musical style; the characters are comical and lovable, as well as complex and flawed; the story is romantic and full of meaning – it’s just overall a brilliant movie, and is one of my favourite Disney films. There’s not much else to say on it; Beauty and the Beast was a total phenomenon.

PLOT

I doubt many people in the world have not seen Disney’s Beauty and the Beast but here’s the plot anyway. As told in the prologue, a selfish prince refuses shelter to an old beggar woman one winter’s night. She turns out to be an enchantress who curses the prince, his castle, and all who live there for his cruelty. She leaves a red rose that will bloom until his 21^st year and will then start to wilt; if he can find someone to love him, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls, then the spell will be broken; but if not, then he will forever remain a beast.

The film then jumps to a small French village, where Belle is dreaming of greater things for herself, as she doesn’t fit in with the others and wants something more than “this provincial life”. At the same time, she’s having to defend her inventor father, Maurice, from the others who think he’s crazy, and trying to avoid Gaston, the village hunk, who’s determined to marry her. Her chance comes when her father is captured by a beast on his way to the fair to show his latest invention, and she goes to the castle to save him. As the Beast will not let him leave, Belle offers to take his place. The Beast accepts and Maurice is taken back to the village. Maurice enters the village tavern, trying to find help to free Belle; instead, they all laugh at him and he decides to find her himself. Gaston uses Maurice’s outburst to his advantage by using him as leverage: Maurice will be sent to the asylum if Belle refuses to marry him. Now, he just has to wait for her to return…

In the meantime, Belle and the Beast constantly clash, though she does make friends with his “staff”, who have been turned into enchanted objects, such as Butler Cogsworth becoming a clock, Mrs. Potts the cook becoming a teapot, and Lumière the maître d’ becoming a candelabra. They want to help Belle settle in as they believe she could break the spell and turn them human again, however, things come to a head when she enters the forbidden West Wing, the Beast’s living quarters in the castle, and he scares her away. Belle rushes out of the castle, only to find herself in the middle of the forest with a pack of wolves hunting her. Luckily, the Beast comes to her rescue, and from this point, we see the two, slowly but surely, start to fall in love.

One night, after a lovely dinner and a magical dance in the Grand Ballroom, the Beast gifts Belle his magic mirror, so she can see the outside world and check on her father. Through the mirror, Belle sees her father is ill, lost in the woods; the Beast frees her from the castle so she can be with him – he doesn’t expect her to ever return to him. Belle and Maurice return home, where Gaston is waiting for her. Despite Maurice being forced into the back of a van to be sent to the asylum, instead of agreeing to marry Gaston, Belle just proves the Beast’s existence with the mirror, sending Gaston into a jealous tirade, as he believes she loves the Beast. Belle and Maurice are locked in their cellar, whilst him and a mob of villagers storm the castle to kill the Beast.

The Beast, heartbroken at losing Belle and his only chance to be human again, doesn’t fight back and allows them to enter his castle. Soon, Gaston finds the Beast and tries to goad him into a fight, but the Beast does not want to fight back – until he sees that Belle has returned to help him. Beast and Gaston fight on the castle roof. Beast has hold of Gaston, ready to throw him to his death, but decides against this, providing he leaves the castle. Beast climbs up the castle to be reunited with Belle, but Gaston, still jealous and enraged, stabs Beast in his side. Belle holds onto Beast and pulls him to safety; Gaston falls to his death. As the Beast lays dying, Belle finally realises her love for him, saying the words out loud just as the last petal falls. All looks lost for Beast and the servants, but suddenly, magic seems to fall from the sky, and the Beast is transformed back into his prince form. The curse is broken and the two stay together forever, living happily ever after. Aww.

CHARACTERS & CAST

The characters in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast are particularly likeable and memorable. Belle, along with Ariel, is one of the first modern princesses that Disney created, making her proactive in her story, instead of just waiting for something to happen to her as some of the earlier Disney fairy tales had done. Unlike Ariel, Belle is looking for adventure, not love, which makes her even more progressive, however, just like Ariel, Belle doesn’t feel like she fits in in her community; Belle prefers to read and dream, instead of just marrying and becoming a wife. Mark Henn and James Baxter were the main animators who worked on Belle, making sure she had heart and soul, and not focusing on making her the most beautiful character ever. I like Belle because she doesn’t follow the crowd; she was inspiring to me for not just doing what everyone else was doing, and not caring what people think.

Belle is voiced by actress Paige O’Hara, who started out her career on Broadway, playing the role of Ellie in Show Boat in 1983 and Ado Annie in Oklahoma! in 1986. After the success of Beauty and the Beast, O’Hara returned to the stage to portray Fantine in Les Misérables in 1995. Since 1991, she has returned to voice Belle for Disney. It makes such a difference to the movie by having a Broadway actress, instead of a “big name” like movies tend to do these days, in the voice cast. You really feel that this film is like a Broadway show, with the people involved knowing exactly how they should convey that atmosphere.

Beast was animated by Glen Keane, who successfully made him articulate without needing any words, as he managed to show signs of love and feelings of guilt and emotion purely through his eyes. Keane used inspiration from many animals he’d seen at London Zoo, while production was based there, and made Beast a combination of multiple animals, including wolf, bear, buffalo, and lion. The Beast, although having to seem menacing and terrifying at the start, goes through the most development in the story, gradually becoming kinder and less angry. It’s a clear journey that we see throughout the film, and he had to be the complete opposite to Gaston. Beast is voiced by actor Robby Benson, who began his career as a “teen idol” in movies such as the sports films One on One (1977) and Ice Castles (1978). I have only seen him as Sabrina’s father in Series 1 of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-97). I was so surprised to find he was the voice of the Beast; he’s so soft-spoken in real-life! Like O’Hara, Benson has also returned to Disney to voice Beast.

Andreas Deja worked on Gaston, and he said it took a while to find his look, as Gaston needed to look like a prince, but have this evil quality within him. Gaston is a good villain; he’s not particularly scary or menacing, but he becomes the way he does purely through jealousy at having lost Belle to the Beast. At the same time, he’s also completely clueless that he’s even the villain of this piece, because how could someone as handsome as him possibly be the bad guy? As much as I like him as a character, he definitely deserved to die for stabbing the poor Beast in the side. Gaston is voiced by another theatrical star, Richard White. White appeared as a performer in regional performances of musicals like Show Boat and Carousel in 1985, and Oklahoma! in 1992. On Broadway, in 2013, he appeared as Sir Danvers Carew in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. White has also returned to Disney to voice Gaston. I think White’s singing voice is particularly impressive in this movie, and I’m glad that, again, Disney avoided hiring a famous actor, because it makes Beauty and the Beast seem much more like a Broadway production.

The magical objects were the most fun to animate, as the animators got to figure out how each character would walk and talk without human limbs, as well as matching their personality, and job title, to the type of object they are. For example, Cogsworth, voiced by David Ogden Stiers, is the Head Butler, so naturally, he’d be a nervous, anxious clock, always wanting things done precisely and correctly. David Ogden Stiers had a long history with Disney, having voiced not only Cogsworth, but Governor Ratcliffe and Wiggins in Pocahontas (1995); the Archdeacon in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996); and Dr. Jumba Jookiba in Lilo & Stitch (2002) amongst others. He also starred as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in the series M*A*S*H from 1977 to 1983. He died in 2018. I like Cogsworth, and I think him and Lumière are a great duo together, bouncing off each other constantly with their differing, often conflicting, personalities.

Speaking of Lumière, he is maître d’ of the castle, so he’s quite personable and eager to please the guests, even if that means going against the Beast’s orders. He gets a great song to show off his talents with “Be Our Guest”, and is entirely at odds with Cogsworth over both the song and giving the dinner to Belle, as the Beast has forbidden it. Jerry Orbach voices Lumière, perhaps best known amongst younger audiences as being Baby’s father in Dirty Dancing (1987) but he was also well-known for being a Broadway and stage actor before starring in movies, having appeared as Billy Flynn in Chicago from 1975 to 1977 and as Julian Marsh in 42^nd Street from 1980 to 1985. I don’t think any other iteration of Lumière has ever, or will ever, come close to Orbach’s brilliant accent. Orbach returned to voice the character up until his death in 2004.

Then there’s Chip and Mrs. Potts, the mother-son duo, who are a cup and teapot, respectively, as Mrs. Potts is the cook and housekeeper. She’s the motherly, kind figure of the movie, making sure Belle gives Beast a chance and that Beast controls his temper. She is voiced by Angela Lansbury, who brings typical British vibes to her role. Well, she is a teapot after all! Lansbury has appeared on both stage and screen, winning numerous Tony awards for her roles in musicals and plays, such as Gypsy (1975), Sweeney Tood (1979), and Blithe Spirit (2009). On screen, she is well-known for her performance as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running crime drama series Murder, She Wrote (1984-96). Lansbury later voiced the character of the Dowager Empress in 20^th Century Fox’s Anastasia (1997), but returned to Disney to introduce a segment in Fantasia 2000 (1999) and made a cameo in Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Lansbury sadly passed away in October 2022.

A final note on the voice cast, not for any particular reason, is that Tony Jay voiced the character Monsieur D’Arque, the warden of the Asylum. Jay would go on to voice Judge Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).

PRODUCTION

The idea for a Disney version of Beauty and the Beast actually goes back to Walt Disney’s era. Beauty and the Beast had been attempted by Disney animation in both the 1930s and the 1950s, however, they hadn’t managed to do much with it, as it was a challenging story to adapt, so it never went any further – until it was found again in the 1980s, during a time when Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew, wanted animation to be reinvented and revitalised with fairy tales like The Little Mermaid. They kept going back to Beauty and the Beast to fit this new direction, even though it was daunting for this team of animators who thought: if Walt’s team couldn’t do it justice, then how could they?[1]

Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast is very different to the source material, La Belle et la Bête, a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in 1756. This story follows a merchant and his daughters, the youngest and most beautiful being called “Beauty”. The merchant, struggling with debts from his cargo ships, becomes lost on his return from a voyage and seeks shelter in a castle. When trying to get a rose for Beauty as a present, the Beast threatens to kill him for stealing from his garden. The Beast allows him to take the rose if he returns with one of his daughters to take his place at the castle. Beauty agrees to do this, and the Beast caters for her every whim for months, giving her good food, fine clothing, and other luxuries. Every evening, he’d ask her to marry him, only for her to refuse. She dreams of falling in love with a handsome prince, and even when a fairy appears to tell her “not to be deceived by appearances”, she doesn’t change her mind. After months of this, Beauty asks to return home to see her family. The Beast allows this, providing she returns in two months. Beauty does not, only to have visions of the Beast dying alone in the castle, so she returns to him to find the visions were true. At this point, Beauty realises she does love him, and agrees to marry him that night. The next day, she finds the Beast has transformed into the prince of her dreams. Disney were very right when they said they had to make the story more interesting and exciting because it is mostly just about someone going to dinner and being asked to marry each time! We also find that the prince was turned into a beast in this version of the story because he refused the advances of an evil fairy…Um, ok…

Disney’s original version of the story, in the 1980s, was to be quite true to the original source, set in 18^th Century France, quite dark, and a non-musical. This was being worked on with Don Hahn as producer, and Richard Purdum as director in London. The first twenty minutes of the film was shown to Jeffrey Katzenberg and Peter Schneider, the heads of Disney animation at the time, who told them to scrap it and start again. Don Hahn relayed this back to the team, with the news that they were to go to France for a research trip to soften the blow! The production was moved back to Burbank from London, and the leadership was changed up, with Purdum leaving the project and Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise coming on as directors, after their latest work on the pre-show of the now-defunct Epcot attraction, Cranium Command. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, off the back of their musical success on The Little Mermaid (1989) were also persuaded to join the team to take over the music. It was good to be given a fresh start, however, one year of the three-year production deadline had already been taken up with the first attempt, so they only had two years to complete it. Katzenberg brought in these release schedules, which hadn’t really existed before, as motivation.

A scriptwriter, Linda Woolverton, was brought in by Katzenberg with the animators being told just to animate Woolverton’s script. The animators had never worked that way before; Walt Disney had always gone off storyboards, not scripts, so it took a while for the two sides to mesh, with Woolverton becoming annoyed at her scenes being constantly changed from one day to the next, and the animators not informing her of changes. In the end, Woolverton knew she had to work more closely with the animators, and from then on, the process was much more harmonious[2].

In terms of the actual animation, Beauty and the Beast was technically ahead of its time as it was only the second Disney film to use the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). It had first been used for Rescuers Down Under (1990), however, the investment in this technology had not proved itself with that movie. CAPS was designed by Pixar and allowed digital inking of hand-drawn cells and automation of a depth effect without the need for a multi-plane camera. The ballroom scene is the most obvious example of this technology use in Beauty and the Beast. The success of the scene gave Disney the motivation to continue to try out this new animation technology in their later films[3].

The look of the movie is beautiful. The prologue starts with charming animation of a forest before telling us the Beast’s backstory through colourful stained glass. I think this gives the scene more of a story-telling quality, and more historical feel, to show that this event happened away from Belle and her village, and a few years previous. The backgrounds are impressionistic, resembling paintings, which I like, whether they are dawn, dusk, night, or day scenes. The use of colour was important too, with the ballroom scene using a lot of gold and blue to create the right emotion for the romance of the scene. Belle is also dressed generally in blue for the very specific reason of making her stand-out against the townspeople in her opening scenes, to show that she doesn’t fit in. “Be Our Guest” was an opportunity to show more colour and fun, even though it is set within quite a cold, dark castle[4]. It’s in complete contrast to the scene that follows of Belle within the West Wing, with its blackness, and torn and broken furnishings. The final scene of Belle and the prince – who I thought was called Adam, but apparently not officially – is also lovely, with the two dancing in the ballroom with many people watching, though I did think it looked very familiar. It is actually the exact same sequence that ends Sleeping Beauty (1959) with Princess Aurora and Prince Philip dancing together. This was apparently done to save time as the film was nearing the end of its production deadline.

MUSIC

Ashman and Menken proved to be a vital component of the film-making process here. Ashman was key to the idea that Beast could be a kind of “anti-hero” with flaws, and that as he goes through the most development in the movie, it has to be his story[5]. The duo was able to comment on the story and characters being created, as well as write terrific music, because they understood how the music had to be, and brought their love for both animation and Broadway musicals into it. The music ties the whole story together in Beauty and the Beast. The songs are catchy, and very Broadway-esque.

“Belle” was the first song to be written and not only does it encapsulate some background to the story, but it introduces both Gaston and Belle to the audience, as well as their wants and dreams. It is an ensemble number, with solo moments for Paige O’Hara and Richard White as Belle and Gaston. Belle’s particular hopes and dreams are expressed by herself through the reprise of “Belle” just a few minutes later. Ashman and Menken were originally concerned that Disney would not be happy with the length of “Belle”, especially as an opening number, as it is around six minutes long. I really like it, and I feel it gets the viewer involved in the story right away.

On the opposite side, we have the song “Gaston”, another ensemble piece with solo moments for Gaston, which, although about the villain of the piece, is not the villain’s song, in my opinion. “Gaston” is really just a love letter to him from all of his sycophantic hangers-on. I do like “Gaston”, mostly for its ridiculous lyrics – “and every last inch of me is covered with hair” being one of them. Menken apparently laughed-out-loud at some of these lyrics when he first heard them. “Gaston” also shows that the villain doesn’t have a clue he’s evil, because he looks like a prince. This was a first for Disney. “Gaston”, like “Belle”, was also reprised just a few minutes later by the song’s title character, with his own “want” song; the reprise details Gaston’s devious plan to have Maurice imprisoned at the asylum so that Belle will have to marry Gaston to ensure Maurice’s release.

The actual villain’s song in my opinion is “The Mob Song”, where Gaston rallies all the villagers to go and attack the Beast. To the villagers, this seems to be a song of strength and bravery, but in reality, Gaston just wants to have the Beast killed so that the object of Belle’s affection can be eradicated; it’s all about jealousy, and also works as an ego boost for Gaston, as it proves that people will do whatever he tells them to without question. Well, everyone, except Belle and Maurice. I do like it a lot; it’s one of the better Disney villain songs, because it’s so dark and dramatic. There is even a reference to Shakespeare buried in the lyrics, a line from Macbeth: “Screw your courage to the sticking place”.

Now to the love songs. The most well-known and celebrated song is “Beauty and the Beast”, though I don’t like it all that much, probably because it’s been overused by Disney in so many shows and productions! I like the ballroom scene that goes along with it though, as well as the scene just after when Beast and Belle are talking on the balcony, because the scene is so romantic and elegant, with the night’s sky full of stars. Plus, no real-life version of Belle’s gold dress has ever come close to looking as lovely as the animated one. “Beauty and the Beast” is sung by Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts. It was recorded in New York, and on the way there, Lansbury’s plane had been forced to make an emergency landing for a bomb threat, but she arrived later that day for the recording after some delay! Lansbury recorded the whole song in one take, which she was pleased with, as she had not expected the first take to have been accepted[6]. But before this, we have another love song, “Something There”, which isn’t openly romantic, but talks of Belle and Beast’s developing feelings for each other. This is the best of the two love songs for me, because it clearly expresses the awkwardness and uncertainty of the early stages of a relationship. It’s also funny to see the two at this point having snowball fights and slurping on porridge together!

The final song to mention is the fun “song-and-dance” number “Be Our Guest”. As well as enjoying all the images of different dishes, I like how Lumière transforms into a proper showman, with everyone else, apart from Cogsworth, being there to back him up. Again, Disney do use this song a lot in their shows, but I still enjoy it, particularly when it builds to the big finale at the end. It feels like a whole Broadway show in just a few minutes.

But as well as the songs, Beauty and the Beast has a particular good score. “Transformation” is my favourite instrumental within the score, and one of my favourite Disney instrumentals in general, as well as the scene that accompanies it. When we think the Beast is dead, the music seems so hopeless, but then, all of a sudden, something magical happens and the Beast is lifted into the air and transformed into a prince. And then there’s the necessary happy ending back in the ballroom with everyone back to their human forms just to top it off. The prologue is great too, wonderfully narrated by David Ogden Stiers. It sounds so mysterious and almost haunting. Menken based the prologue on a riff of sorts on “The Carnival of the Animals” by Saint-Saëns[7].

The soundtrack was well-received and won numerous accolades, including Best Original Song for “Beauty and the Beast” and Best Original Score at the 64th Academy Awards; “Be Our Guest” and “Belle” were also nominated in the Best Original Song category. The score and “Beauty and the Beast” also won at the Golden Globes. The soundtrack received eight Grammy nominations, and won five awards, including Best Album for Children, Best Instrumental Composition, and Best Song Written for Motion Picture.

RECEPTION

The marketing was a big help to Beauty and the Beast being such a big success. A press event was help in New York to show some clips and play some songs from the movie. It was such a high for the Disney team working on the movie, however, after the event, some of the team rushed to see Howard Ashman in the hospital. He had been ill during the whole production of Beauty and the Beast, and would unfortunately die from complications related to HIV in March 1991, never having seen the full finished movie. He was wearing a Beauty and the Beast sweatshirt in the hospital and said he’d always known the movie was going to be a success[8]. The movie was dedicated to him.

To cement Beauty and the Beast’s future, an unfinished version of the film was screened at the New York Film Festival on 29^th September 1991. This was an incredibly risky move, not only because the film was only about 70% finished, and included some coloured footage, some black-and-white scenes, unfinished drawings, and storyboard sketches, but also because this was a prestigious showcase of movies, with a highbrow film enthusiast crowd to match, who would not have expected to see a “children’s cartoon” within the programme. The directors of the festival got a lot of flak for agreeing to do this, but it was to be the big test for Disney to see if the resurgence that had started with The Little Mermaid in 1989, and had slumped with The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, could really stick. Surprisingly, the response was overwhelming, and showing the inner workings of animation was a good move for this film-literate audience. The audience applauded multiple times, like they were watching a Broadway performance, and even gave the film a full ten-minute standing ovation at the end. This was such an iconic event to happen in the New York Film Festival’s history[9].

As well as grossing almost $430 million worldwide, Beauty and the Beast was met with critical acclaim, receiving some of the best praise for a Disney animated film since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The film was awarded multiple awards, including the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, where Glen Keane also received an award for his animation, and the Golden Globe for Best Picture, the first full-length animated film to win this accolade. It was even nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, which made Beauty and the Beast the first animated feature film to be nominated in the category – only Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) have equalled that since. It showed that Disney films were no longer considered just children’s cartoons, but could be enjoyed by adults without kids in tow. Unfortunately, Beauty and the Beast lost the Best Picture Oscar to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), a very different sort of film.

LEGACY

Beauty and the Beast has become a huge part of Disney history, and created its own legacy. This includes three direct-to-video sequels: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997), Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World (1998), and Belle’s Tales of Friendship (1999), all of which take place within the timeline of the original film. The best of all of these is The Enchanted Christmas which I make sure I watch every year. I love the songs “Stories” and “As Long As There’s Christmas”. Many of the voice actors, including Robby Benson, Paige O’Hara, Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers returned to voice their characters; Angela Lansbury only returned for The Enchanted Christmas. There was also a live-action television series called Sing Me a Story with Belle, which ran from September 1995 to March 1997. Disney animated shorts were inserted into each episode.

Then, there was the live-action, heavily CGI-reliant, remake of Beauty and the Beast in 2017, which starred Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, and Harry Potter’s Emma Watson, as Beast and Belle respectively. I didn’t like this much at all, and didn’t like some of the casting. I also did not like the CGI look of the Beast, but it did very well at the box-office.

Beauty and the Beast celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2021, and a special was aired on ABC in December 2022 called Beauty and the Beast: A 30^th Celebration. The show itself was a bit confused, with a mixture of storyboard images and scenes from the animated movie, as well as some scenes with a real-life cast. A particular highlight for me was Josh Groban singing “Evermore”, which, yes, was a song written for the live-action film, but I don’t even remember it in there, and Martin Short singing “Be Our Guest” as Lumière. As well as these two, the special starred H.E.R. as Belle and Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts. In 2018, a live concert celebration of the film took place at the Hollywood Bowl, with some of the cast including Zooey Deschanel as Belle, Rebel Wilson as LeFou, Taye Diggs as Gaston, and Kelsey Grammer as Lumière.

Beauty and the Beast has also been re-released multiple times, including being re-released in theatres in 2002 with a song cut from the original film, “Human Again”, where the enchanted objects sing about how they can’t wait to be human again; I’m not a fan of this song. The movie was also re-mastered in 3D in 2012, with another theatrical release.

Beauty and the Beast was adapted to a Broadway musical in 1994, with its premiere taking place at the El Capitan Theater. The musical included six new original songs, as well as the favourites from the original film; “Human Again” was revised and put in the Broadway show. The Beast in particular was given more struggle and sensitivity with his own songs, including “If I Can’t Love Her”. Susan Egan, who would later go onto voice Megara in Disney’s Hercules (1997), played the original Belle. Beauty and the Beast ran on Broadway from 1994 until 2007, but has also toured and been revived in many other countries, like the UK, where I had the pleasure of seeing it twice as two separate productions, Spain, Australia, Japan, and Canada, as well as many others[10].

Then, there are the number of references to Beauty and the Beast in the Disney theme parks. At Disneyland, there are two quick-service restaurants named for Beauty and the Beast. The first is Red Rose Taverne which resides in Fantasyland. This food location features murals of the characters from the film on the walls, as well as some props from the live-action movie, and the area has a vaguely French feel. The food is mostly just standard theme park fare, nothing very special, other than it sells “the grey stuff”. The other is a snack cart called Maurice’s Treats, named after Belle’s father, which sells pretzels and pastries.

Surprisingly, that it is for the Beauty and the Beast-themed areas of Disneyland. However, at Disneyland Paris, as part of Le Pays des Contes de Fées attraction, their version of the Storybook Land Canal Boats, you do go past miniature recreations of Belle’s village and Beast’s castle, something that is missing from Disneyland’s version. There is also a fine dining restaurant at Disneyland Paris named after Lumière, La Table de Lumière, which is at the Disneyland Hotel. The interior is inspired by The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles but also includes some touches that reference Beauty and the Beast. This is also a character dining experience, where you can see royal couples including Belle and her Prince, who may or may not be called Adam, it’s never been confirmed… Regardless, it is rare to see him as a human and not as the Beast. It seems strange to me to have a fine dining restaurant with character meet-and-greets, the two probably shouldn’t co-exist, but there you go.

At Shanghai Disneyland, at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, Lumière gets another restaurant, this time it is a character dining buffet named Lumière’s Kitchen. There is also Be Our Guest Boutique, a shop in Fantasyland which seems to sell mostly clothing and accessories. At Hong Kong Disneyland, there is only a Beauty and the Beast section within their Fairy Tale Forest walkthrough attraction, which shows the Beast’s castle in amongst some perfectly manicured gardens, with a couple of moving displays.

At Tokyo Disneyland, there is the only Beauty and the Beast-themed dark ride, housed within the Beast’s castle in Fantasyland, which opened in September 2020. Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast is a trackless dark ride, which takes guests through the story of the movie as they sit within huge teacups. It features some very impressive animatronics, with the dancing Belle and Prince at the end of the ride and the transformation scene being particular highlights. It does look like an incredible ride. Around this attraction, there is also a whole area themed to Belle’s village from the film and includes La Taverne de Gaston, a quick-service restaurant, and shops, with one even being themed to Belle’s favourite bookshop.

But the Disney theme park with the most references to Beauty and the Beast is Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, with Disney’s Animal Kingdom being the only one of the four parks to not have anything themed to the film or its characters. So, at Magic Kingdom, as part of the New Fantasyland expansion which took over the area that used to be Mickey’s Toontown Fair, a whole Beauty and the Beast area opened in December 2012. This area includes the shop Bonjour! Village Gifts and Gaston’s Tavern, a quick-service location which sells the iconic warm cinnamon roll, with a fountain of himself outside, much like at Tokyo Disneyland. More excitingly, the restaurant Be Our Guest allows guests “inside” Beast’s castle to dine on a quick-service breakfast or lunch, or a table-service dinner. The Beast even makes an appearance, parading into each of the three dining areas to welcome guests to his castle. These three dining areas are themed to different areas of the castle, with the main area being The Grand Ballroom, then The West Wing on one side, which houses the Enchanted Rose, and finally The Rose Gallery, which has artwork of Belle and Beast on the walls and a dancing figure of the two in the middle of the room. It is a great restaurant that everyone who visits Disney World should eat in at least once.

Also at Magic Kingdom, within Belle and Maurice’s cottage, you can take part in your own retelling of Belle and Beast’s love story in Enchanted Tales with Belle. As guests arrive in the cottage, they are soon taken into Beast’s castle via a magical mirror; it’s an impressive effect. Then they meet the Enchanted Wardrobe, who assigns certain guests different roles in the story. Then inside the library, Lumière directs everyone to reenact the tale with Belle appearing at the end to meet everyone. This experience is definitely more for children, but again, even adults should see it at least once, even if only for the magic mirror effect. Beast and Belle also appear during the Festival of Fantasy parade.

At Epcot, Belle has a dedicated meet-and-greet location at the France pavilion in World Showcase. During the holiday season, you may even see her in her dress from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997). You can also sing-along to a slight retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story within the cinema at the France pavilion. This used to house Impressions de France throughout the day, however, Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along now runs here for the majority of the day.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, since 22^nd November 1991, the general release date of Beauty and the Beast in the US, there has been a live Broadway-style show called Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage. Since 1994, it has been housed within The Theater of the Stars down the Sunset Boulevard area of the park. The show has changed slightly throughout the years, with the reopening of the show in 2021 after its closure from the COVID-19 pandemic being the biggest one, however, the show continues to be popular with guests. There was a version of this show at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, running from April 1992 to April 1995 at Disneyland, and from 1993 to 1996 in Paris.

Finally, at Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort hotel, you can further be immersed in Beauty and the Beast theming at The Enchanted Rose Lounge, as you enjoy vaguely French-themed snacks and drink fancy signature drinks.

Generally, during Mickey’s PhilarMagic, a 3D show showcasing some of Disney’s biggest hits as Donald tries to return Mickey’s sorcerer’s hat, the song “Be Our Guest” is played. Mickey’s PhilarMagic exists at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Disney California Adventure. At the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique locations, one of which exists in some form at each of the six Disney theme parks, children can choose to be made up to look like Belle, amongst other princesses. Belle and Beast are likely to be featured in shows and parades outside of the ones I have mentioned. Gaston is likely to appear in any show or parade featuring villains.

In terms of character meet-and-greets, apart from the ones already mentioned, Belle, Beast, and Gaston have been seen at Special Events and randomly in the parks. Belle is most easy to find, as she is one of the Disney Princesses, so has been spotted at each park recently, but Beast may also appear with her on occasion. For Gaston, him and Belle have been known to be seen together at times, at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, for example, and Gaston also meets guests by his tavern at Magic Kingdom. He is also likely to be part of the Disney Villains line-up at Halloween events. Human Prince “Adam” seems to only have ever been seen at Disneyland Paris.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Beauty and the Beast touched a generation and cemented itself within movie history as not just a “good” Disney film, a “good” animated film, but as a genuinely brilliant movie for everyone to enjoy. Not too many Disney Animated Classics can claim to be a part of that history. I believe those that can include The Lion King (1994), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Frozen (2013).

Along with these films, Beauty and the Beast is an incredibly special film to many, for the huge impact it had on its audience and the legacy it has built.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Tale As Old As Time: The Making of Beauty and the Beast (2002).

[2] Credit: Disney, Beyond Beauty: The Untold Stories Behind the Making of Beauty and the Beast (2010).

[3] Credit: Stephanie Shuster, ‘Disney History: Beauty and the Beast’, WDW Magazine (online), 10^th March 2017.

[4] Credit: Katie Strobel, ‘Beauty and the Beast at 30: From Production to Classic’, D23 (online), 22^nd November 2021.

[5] Credit: Disney, Tale As Old As Time: The Making of Beauty and the Beast (2002).

[6] Credit: Skyler Caruso, ‘Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About ‘Beauty and the Beast’ In Honor of the 30^th Anniversary’, People (online), 22^nd November 2021.

[7] Credit: Disney, Menken & Friends: 25 Years of Musical Inspiration (2016).

[8] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[9] Credit: Bilge Ebiri, ‘The Story of the 1991 Beauty and the Beast Screening That Changed Everything’, Vulture (online), 14^th November 2019.

[10] Credit: Stephanie Shuster, ‘Disney History: Beauty and the Beast’, WDW Magazine (online), 10^th March 2017.