Animation Celebration Saturday - The Wacky World of Mother Goose

Embassy Pictures/Videocraft (Rankin-Bass), 1967

Voices of Margaret Rutherford, Bradley Bolke, Bob McFadden, and Laura Leslie

Directed by Jules Bass and Kizo Nagashima

Music by George Wilikins; Lyrics by Jules Bass

First of all, Musical Dreams Movie Reviews will be going on vacation hiatus from the 18th through the 25th. Reviews resume the 26th. 

Second, we return to the wild world of Rankin-Bass for their first 2-D animated film. Having done Hans Christian Andersen stories and world history for their first two movies, they turned their attention to Mother Goose. These little rhymes go as far back medieval England, but the versions that are most familiar nowadays are Charles Perrault's Tales of Mother Goose from the 17th century. How does the story of Mother Goose (Rutherford) and her triumph over the Crooked Man (Bolke) look nowadays? Let's begin as Mother Goose and the chorus explain about their topsy turvy world over the credits and find out...

The Story: Mother Goose is nervous when she travels over the moon to visit her sick sister (Bryna Raeburn). She has good cause to be. Count Walktwist the Crooked Man and his enchanted army swoop down and kidnap Old King Cole's daughter Princess Harmony (Leslie) and her sweetheart Prince Robin. He holds them for ransom and forces Cole to give up the kingdom to him. All of the adults are made servants, and the knights become evil slaves to him. Upset at the loss of their parents, Little Jack Horner (Kevin Gavin) and Mary Quite Contrary (Susan Melvin) try to find a way over the moon to tell Mother Goose what's going on and bring her home to save them. They're later joined by cheerful egg Humpty Dumpty (McFadden). 

The Animation:  Some of the earliest design work from Paul Coker, Jr, and his only theatrical 2-D work. The caricature of Rutherford is spot-on, but other characters look bland or have strange designs. The Crooked Man is all green angles, while Princess Harmony is wispy and white. Where this stands out in the color. The vibrant primaries and black and white used for Mother Goose's world really pop, even on the copy currently at YouTube. 

The Song and Dance: Some decent songs and performances liven up this one. Bolke in particular makes a deliciously over-the-top Crooked Man. Melvin is funny and spunky as tough little Mary, who is determined to show that girls can be just as good on adventures as boys. Rutherford has some funny moments when we do see her.

Favorite Number: We open with Rutherford and the chorus performing "Great Big Wacky World" as she flies over the sights and landmarks of her kingdom; the chorus reprises it over the end credits. "Good-Bye" is a sort-of song for Rutherford as she wonders why she's leaving her beloved people. She talks the lyrics, but there's a rather lovely sad melody under them. Harmony tells her father that "I Still Believe In Fairy Tales" and romance. 

Humpty Dumpty reassures Jack that "It's Never Too Late" to save his parents and the kingdom in a charmingly upbeat duet. Mary asks stubborn Jack why he won't give her "Half a Chance" to show what she can do. Harmony and Robin complain that "I Can Predict" what the other will do, even while in the dungeon. The Cat with the fiddle gets the purple cow dancing to jump over the moon in a lively instrumental number. 

Trivia: Margaret Rutherford's last film. 

What I Don't Like: For a musical called The Wacky World of Mother Goose, this is neither all that wacky, nor does it have much of Mother Goose. In fact, Rutherford's role is limited to the first ten and last ten minutes and a few minutes in between at her sister's house. The story is downright dark for Rankin-Bass. Soldiers are turned into evil crooked versions of themselves; parents are kidnapped for slaves. Goosey Goosey Gander is a giant gray nightmare of a bird. They even manage to make that giant candlestick Jack jumps over look terrifying enough to give kids nightmares. Most of the characters are either as bland as the kids or annoying as heck. 

The Big Finale: Recommended only for those who must see everything Rankin-Bass or are looking for background noise for elementary-schoolers. 

 

Home Media: The DVD is out of print and ridiculously expensive. If you must see this, it can currently be found for free on YouTube and the Internet Archive.

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YouTube

Internet Archive

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Daydreamer

Rankin-Bass (Videocraft International)/Embassy Pictures, 1966

Voices of Paul O'Keefe, Jack Gilfrord, Margaret Hamilton, and Hayley Mills

Directed by Jules Bass

Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass

Videocraft - what would later be known as Rankin-Bass - just had their first major success with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer two years before. It and their other TV projects proved to be so wildly popular, they had the confidence to put out feature-length films made for children's matinees. This one was their second; for many Americans, it was their first time seeing the sometimes charming, sometimes tragic stories of Hans Christian Andersen depicted on the big screen. How does this unique live action-animated hybrid look now? Let's start with young Chris (O'Keefe) as his shoemaker father (Gilford) admonishes him to pay more attention to his lessons and find out...

The Story: Chris is bored with his father's constantly telling him to study and not daydream so much. He doesn't understand why Papa Andersen won't sell his wife's ring and use the money to make life easier for them. After having heard the Sandman (Cyril Ritchard) talk about the Garden of Paradise and the Tree of Knowledge, he runs away to find them. On the way, he dreams of many different characters, mermaids and emperors and tiny girls no bigger than your thumb, who lead him on fantastic adventures, but he abandons all of them to find that Garden. Meanwhile, his father has figured out what he's doing and has gone to find him, too. 

The Animation: Chris daydreams  himself into some really nifty stop-motion animation for the time. It looks more like Rudolph, with longer eyes and slightly smaller heads than a decade later. The water effects on "The Little Mermaid" are a bit awkward, just the screen getting wavy, but there are some truly unique designs for the Sea Witch and her creatures. There's also that truly frightening frog in the "Thumbelina" sequence - no wonder the characters are terrified of it! The damn thing is huge and ugly to the point of being nightmare fuel. 

The Song and Dance: Nifty animation and a nice cast liven up these tales. My favorite segment is "Thumbelina." Patty Duke makes a more spirited title character than is often seen in versions of her story, and we get villain specialists Boris Karloff as the nasty Rat and Sessue Hayakawa as the supercilious mole. While "Mermaid" doesn't retain the dark ending, it's otherwise a fairly decent adaptation, with Mills making a lovely princess of the sea and Bankhead obviously enjoying her role as the ocean-bound enchantress. There's also what the Garden of Paradise turns out to be in the end, and how Chris ends up losing his place there...

Favorite Number: The lovely title ballad plays over the opening and closing credits, the former performed by Robert Goulet. The Little Mermaid sings a heartbreaking song of longing, knowing that "Wishes and Teardrops" won't bring Chris back to her. The vain Emperor (Ed Wynn) crows about how he's "Simply Wonderful," and his usual clothes simply aren't. Chris calls out to the townspeople, asking if they have any "Luck to Sell" when he's caught and accused of stealing animals. The mole asks Thumbelina "Isn't It Cozy?" when they're down in his hole, but with bats singing along and the muddy, damp walls around them, it's really anything but.

What I Don't Like: First of all, let's discuss the Mole. He's designed to be something of an Asian stereotype, with his prominent buck teeth and squinty eyes. Even voiced by an actual Japanese actor who ended up playing several similar roles late in his career, he may still offend some people today.

As cool as the stories themselves are, they're thrown together with no real rhyme or reason. O'Keefe comes off as alternately dull and a spoiled brat who treats everyone around him badly. No wonder he falls to temptation in the Garden of Paradise so easily. Gilford's search for him is supposed to be dramatic, but then they have gags like the sped-up sequence on the water that come off as pure slapstick. And "The Little Mermaid" in particular is changed from its original - she doesn't lose her voice or become foam on the waves or even lose her tail. The frog in "Thumbelina" originally wanted to marry her, not eat her. 

The Big Finale: Not a bad way to pass an hour and a half if you're a Rankin-Bass fan or are a fairy tale fan or have kids who would enjoy the stories and songs. 

Home Media: Rereleased on DVD and Blu-Ray last year from Kino Lorber.

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Cult Flops - Mad Monster Party?

Embassy Pictures, 1967
Voices of Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller, Allan Swift, and Gale Garnett
Directed by Jules Bass
Music and Lyrics by Maury Laws and Jules Bass

Rankin-Bass is well-known for beloved holiday specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Year Without a Santa Claus. They also made feature films between TV work, most of which aren't as familiar. Take this stop-motion monster musical from 1967, the first of two we're going to examine this weekend. It's the last of three stop-motion movies Rankin-Bass made in the 60's. The Universal horror movies had just started to turn up on late-night TV by this point and were wildly popular, as were horror-themed sitcoms like The Addams Family and The Munsters and camp-fests like Horror of Party Beach. Is this as much fun as those other projects, or should "It" toss it to the crocodiles? Let's take a barge over to the Isle of Evil and find out...

The Story: Baron Boris Von Frankenstein (Karloff) has just created a formula for destroying all matter. He sends invitations to all the most famous monsters of the land, announcing his new invention and his imminent retirement. He intends to leave all his creations to his nephew, nerdy pharmacist Felix Flanken (Swift, who voices the other male characters as well). Felix has no idea what his uncle does for a living and goes to the Isle of Evil expecting a seaside vacation and a convention party. The monsters are none-too-happy about him being there, especially Francesca (Garnett), the Baron's comely assistant. She initially bands together with Dracula to eliminate Felix, but ends up falling for him instead. Meanwhile, the monster's mate (Diller) wants the formula for herself and her husband and will do anything to keep Felix or Francesca from getting it.

The Animation: The detail here is several steps above their TV work, especially on the Isle of Evil. There's always something neat to look at in every frame. From Chef Machiavelli's kitchen with it's unusual dishes to Francesca and Felix's outing in the swamp, you can spend a viewing alone taking it all in. The monsters themselves have really neat designs, especially Quasimodo, Jeckyl and Hyde, and the werewolf. I love how the choreography is done; the dances look pretty real here.

The Song and Dance: Just as campy as Party Beach and Incredibly Strange Creatures, but with a better script and more of a budget than either of them. If you love monster puns, they have them by the bucketful here, along with enough sight gags to shake a mummy bone at. Some funny lines, too, especially from sassy Francesca, uber-nebbish Felix, and Yetch, the Baron's Peter Lorre-esque zombie assistant. This was one of Boris Karloff's last roles, and he's a lot of fun as the tired scientist who wants to pass on the family tradition.

Favorite Number: Francesca's "It's Our Time to Shine" with Dracula is my favorite here; their little dance routine is actually quite good. Diller gets to show off with "You're Different," as the monster's lady describes her very odd mate. Francesca has a nice ballad later on the island as well, "There Never Was a Love Like Mine." The opening credits song by Ethel Ennis sets up the campy-spooky atmosphere.

What I Don't Like: When Phyllis Diller is the least-strange thing on-screen, you know a movie is bizarre. Most of the story doesn't make a lot of sense, including the plot twist at the end with what Francesca really turns out to be. Other than Dracula, the Frakenstein monster, and the Werewolf, most of the other monsters don't have that much to do, especially when the plot switches to focus on Francesca and Felix in the second half. The entire scene with Chef Machiavelli was literally added to pad out the plot and adds nothing to the rest of the film.

The Big Finale: This flopped in 1967, eventually ending up on double-bills at children's matinees. Ironically, while kids would probably enjoy the puns and the monsters, I think it might actually work better with young teens on up. If you can sell them on an animated film and they're already big horror fans, they might pick up on the slightly more adult jokes and references to famous creature features.

Home Media: This is another one where the cult following has assured that it can easily be found on most formats, often for under ten dollars.

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Amazon Prime