Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Disney Retrospective: The 50's


Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ongoing series of Disney Retrospectives, in which I look back upon the many, many animated films that have been produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. And today, we’ve actually come to the final part of this series as we’ll be covering the final collection of Disney animated films that I’ve yet to address; the Disney films that came out during the 50’s. Last time around I covered Disney’s first 11 features, which of course started with 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was then followed by the likes of Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. But then came World War II, which resulted in not only some of the studio’s staff members being drafted but also certain overseas markets being cut off. As a result, most of the Disney animated features during the 40’s were low-budget ‘package films’, a series of animated shorts that were not usually connected narratively. This included projects like Saludos Amigos, Fun and Fancy Free, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad just to name a few. It wouldn’t be until the 50’s when the studio returned to doing full-length feature films. And I must say, out of all of the decades that make up Disney Animation’s long history, the 50’s might arguably be the studio’s most iconic period. Obviously nowadays the decade that most Disney fans are probably familiar with is the 90’s AKA ‘the Disney Renaissance’. But as far as the 50’s is concerned, while there were only five films that were released during this time, pretty much all of them are considered to be some of the studio’s most classic films. So with that said, it’s time to look back upon the decade where the young woman put on the glass slipper, the girl fell down the rabbit hole, and the boy who never grew up explored the world of Never Land. These are the Disney Animated films of the 50’s.

CINDERELLA (1950)

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You might recall that I was a really, really big fan of Kenneth Branagh’s live-action reimagining of this film that was released last year. One of the reasons why I was really looking forward to it was because Disney’s original take on the story of Cinderella was actually one of my favorite Disney films growing up. And even though nowadays I sort of lean towards the live-action version for its improvements over the original film, namely a more developed relationship between Cinderella and Prince Charming, that doesn’t mean that I don’t still appreciate the great things that came from this Disney classic. It’s got some really nice animation, especially in regards to the creation of grand and gigantic rooms. It’s got a great collection of songs from Cinderella’s sweet melody ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ to the Fairy Godmother’s bubbly tune ‘Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo’. As noted before, Cinderella is generally viewed as one of the more passive Disney princesses, with some claiming that she does nothing the whole film and then gets rescued by Prince Charming at the end of it. But as I’ve also noted before, I believe that there’s more to her character than that. She deserves a lot of credit for managing to endure all of the crap that her stepmother and stepsisters put her through while still maintaining an optimistic outlook on life. That is why she’s one of the best Disney princesses in my opinion. And of course this film has plenty of great side characters as well from the aforementioned Fairy Godmother to Cinderella’s wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine to Cinderella’s friendly mouse friends, especially Jaq and Gus. So in short, I guess you can say that this is one of my all-time favorite Disney films; one that now has an excellent live-action version to serve as a companion piece, not as a replacement!

Rating: 5/5!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951)

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Also commonly known as the film that many love to joke about in regards to them claiming that Walt and his team were totally on drugs when they made it, Alice in Wonderland is exactly what you’d expect from a film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic story of a young girl’s adventures in the wacky world of Wonderland. It’s a world that is full of crazy characters in nonsensical situations and as a result, this film boasts some of the studio’s absolute best animation. Simply put, the animators perfectly captured the surreal imagery of the story as the animation is the perfect combination of vibrant colors and zany visuals. As for the plot, while I’ve never read Carroll’s original book, it seems as if the film follows the same general non-linear plot of the book in that it’s mostly just Alice getting into various situations and meeting a wide variety of goofy characters. Speaking of characters, Alice herself is a likable lead, voiced excellently by Kathryn Beaumont who would go on to voice another main character in the next Disney film. And of course the film also has plenty of memorable side characters, from the mischievous, always-grinning Cheshire Cat to the foul-tempered Queen of Hearts, who always orders “Off with their Heads!” whenever someone gets on her bad side. Alice in Wonderland is generally considered to be one of Disney’s finest animated classics and I can totally see why. All in all, it’s a very charming and light-hearted adventure through the strange world of Wonderland complete with a fun cast of characters and the studio’s usual excellent animation.

Rating: 4/5

PETER PAN (1953)

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In 1953, Walt Disney Animation brought J.M. Barrie’s iconic play/novel Peter Pan to life in what is generally considered to be the most famous adaptation to date of ‘the boy who would never grow up’. This was the final Disney animated film that was primarily supervised by Disney’s original core team of animators AKA ‘The Nine Old Men’. It was also notably the last film that Disney released as part of their distribution deal with RKO Pictures. Since then, the studio has released all of their films under their own distributor, Buena Vista. In that regard, this is certainly a great one to end on when it comes to the Disney/RKO partnership. That’s because Peter Pan is easily one of Disney’s best films. It really does have it all. All of the main characters are great, from Peter Pan to Wendy (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont in her second major Disney Animation film role) to Tinker Bell and so on and so forth. The villains are absolutely terrific. The notorious Captain Hook and his main lackey Mr. Smee are two of Disney’s most hilarious villains. They work off each other so well as the two bumbling buffoons that they are. Just look at the scenes in which Hook tries to avoid being eaten by a hungry crocodile. The soundtrack is excellent as well. The main theme ‘You Can Fly’ is simply iconic but ‘Following the Leader’ is a pretty darn fun song as well. Sure, in hindsight the film gets a lot of flak nowadays for its arguably fairly racist/stereotypical portrayal of Never Land’s Indians and it’s completely understandable if some people are offended by this. But aside from that, it’s pretty easy to see why Peter Pan is commonly regarded as one of the most famous films in the Disney canon. It’s just a really fun adventure that is guaranteed to capture the imaginations of young and old.

Rating: 5/5!

LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955)

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Sandwiched in between two of the most famous Disney animated films of all-time is 1955’s Lady and the Tramp, which is actually based off of a story titled Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog that was written by Ward Greene and published in Cosmopolitan magazine. The film focuses on the romance that develops between Lady, the beloved cocker spaniel of an upper-class family, and Tramp, a stray mutt. The romance that forms between the two of them is pretty nice, highlighted by the iconic ‘Bella Notte’ sequence in which they share a romantic candlelit spaghetti dinner while being serenaded by the owner of the Italian restaurant that provided them the food. Simply put, this is one of the most iconic ‘love story’ moments in the history of film. But the rest of the film is quite solid as well. One of the most interesting elements of the story is the fact that the majority of the film is seen from the perspective of the dogs. Lady refers to her owners as ‘Jim Dear’ and ‘Darling’ because that’s what they frequently call each other from her point of view. And when they have a baby, Lady doesn’t initially realize it at first when she finds that they start to become rather distant and we also see how the baby’s arrival ultimately affects her relationship with her owners. Granted, I wouldn’t really call this one of Disney’s absolute ‘best’ films. The story is rather simple and it is sort of like Alice in Wonderland in that it’s mostly just a random collection of moments involving the main characters. Still, with a likable lead duo, a solidly developed romance, and the usual nice Disney animation, Lady and the Tramp is still a pretty darn classic entry in the Disney canon.

Rating: 4/5

SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959)

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From an artistic perspective, Sleeping Beauty is definitely one of the most beautifully animated films that Disney has ever made. It was the second film that they’d ever shot in widescreen, after Lady and the Tramp, and the results really are fantastic. The grand landscapes that come from the format are excellent and have an excellent painting-like quality to them. The film also has some excellent music, which was adopted from Tchaikovsky’s 1890 ballet of the same name. ‘Once Upon a Dream’ is definitely a classic Disney love song. But when it comes to the writing, admittedly it’s rather flawed in some parts, namely the main characters. Princess Aurora is unfortunately one of the weaker Disney princesses, though that’s mostly just due to the fact that she spends a good chunk of the film asleep. Her prince, Phillip, is also a bit underwritten at times; in fact, once he goes off to rescue Aurora he never says anything for the remainder of the film. But despite a rather underdeveloped pair of leads, the film does have a great cast of side characters. The three fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are an excellent trio who work off each other well when it comes to the three of them trying to raise Aurora in secret without the help of their magic. And of course, there’s the main villain, Maleficent. Sure her motivations are rather weak, as she does what she does only because she wasn’t invited to the party celebrating the birth of Aurora, but her elegance and magical abilities easily make her one of Disney’s greatest villains. In short, Sleeping Beauty may not be perfect but it’s still a very enjoyable entry in the Disney canon. While it doesn’t really do much for its two main protagonists, the main villain, side characters, music, and animation do make up for that for the most part. Ultimately, though, Sleeping Beauty was actually an underperformer at the box office upon initial release, effectively resulting in Disney moving away from adapting fairy tales until The Little Mermaid three whole decades later.

Rating: 4/5


And with that, Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Disney Retrospective’ series officially comes to a close. As always, be sure to sound off in the comments below in regards to your own thoughts on the films discussed here today and be sure to also check out the previous Disney Retrospectives that I’ve done in the links below. However, this is not the end of my discussion of Disney Animation for now. You may have noticed in a few of the previous ‘Disney Retrospectives’ that I mentioned that I have something BIG planned for next month. Well, since we’ve reached the end of these Retrospectives, I figured that it’s time to finally reveal my big plan… so be sure to check back tomorrow for the big announcement of what is coming to Rhode Island Movie Corner this November.






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