PETER MAN: 70th Anniversary Blu-ray (Walt Disney Pictures, 1953) Disney Club Exclusive
Virtually all Walt Disney classic animated features have rightfully assumed their place among the
echelons of truly outstanding motion picture entertainment – and not merely to
amuse the toddler set. No, to witness any of the studio’s product in its prime,
and, under Walt’s expert tutelage, is to be magically teleported into the
enchanted recesses of a living fairytale, to live out the most heartily robust
fantasies – delectably light-hearted, yet always with a deceptive undercurrent
of foreboding and danger. In short, to be a child again…if only for an hour or
two. Yet, we tend to forget that upon their initial theatrical release, a
goodly number of these cherished Disney memories were met with indifference by
critics and less than profitable results at the box office. In hindsight Walt’s
passion to bring J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan to the screen seems a given: two
visionaries separated by time (Barrie died in 1937), but virtually aligned in
their child-like artistic sensibilities. Both men shared an affinity to
preserve, treasure and nurture the young alongside the young at heart. Each
found their level of success in this quest, and neither was to be forgotten for
their devotion to rekindling our lost innocence.
Directed by
Clyde Geronimi, Walt’s Peter Pan (1953) ranks among the most eloquently
conceptualized Disney animated features, firmly grounded in two of Walt’s most
enduring principles. First – the inevitably awkward and bittersweet transition
from child into adult – and second, the reminder that to grow up is not akin to
growing old – innocence lost, always lingering to be found again, if fragile and
dulled with the hardships of life and passage of time. Peter Pan is a
story very dear to Walt’s heart and he pursued it with great ambitions to make
an even more monumental and ever-lasting testament of its stagecraft as early
as 1939. Regrettably, Walt’s timing was off. Severe financial cutbacks and the
virtual annexation of the studio by the United States military to make training
shorts prevented Walt from realizing Peter Pan until the mid-50s.
Hampered by a strike for union wages in 1941, to deeply wound Walt’s opinion
that the studio was his own private kingdom over which he benevolently had reigned,
Walt lasted out the 1940’s with the intermittent animated feature, concocted of
vignetted shorts, more cheaply made and lacking the truest artistic finesse of
a Fantasia or Pinocchio (both made in 1940, and both box office
disappointments).
At the end of the war, Walt resurrected
his interests in Peter Pan. A delay would follow as brother, Roy
encouraged Walt to reconsider what another costly flop could do to their
already cash-strapped company. While Roy concurred that another full-fledged
animated feature was in order, he believed returning the company to its
time-honored fairytale roots would bode better with audiences and ensure box
office gold. And thus, Walt put Peter Pan on the back burner to
concentrate instead on his studio’s return to form with Cinderella
(1950). Like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella
presented certain tried and true bedrocks on which the company’s ‘when you wish
upon a star’ edicts had been built. Walt’s logic was sound. In the public’s
estimation, Cinderella marked a handsome return to form and was a
stunning critical and financial success, one unfortunately to be undone by the
perplexing failure of Alice in Wonderland one year later.
The similarities between Alice
and Peter Pan are worth noting. Each is an iconic touchstone in British
literature. And both had thus far defied any successful translation into other
forms of mass entertainment – particularly Alice. Peter Pan
had been successfully recreated on the stage during Barrie’s time, and would
again find its place in our collective consciousness as a beloved, if
stage-bound TV special starring Mary Martin in the 1950s. But when the Disney
Studio undertook to bring Barrie’s boyhood hero to life, the chief concern for
Walt remained how to transition Barrie’s literary craftsmanship into cinema art
without denying the purists their imagination, yet maintaining a level of
personalized style that would truly set the film apart from both Barrie’s
original children’s book and stagecraft to make it a certifiable Disney
classic. Arguably, Walt’s unerring devotion to Barrie’s masterwork created
something of an artistic schism for Walt.
No less than three directors came to the project: Clyde Geronimi,
Haliton Luske and Wilfred Jackson. Walt assigned eight of the studio’s top
writers to condense and revamp Barrie’s sprawling narrative into a manageable
90-min. feature. Regrettably, Peter Pan was to similarly suffer as Alice
before it, becoming rather episodic in this slimmed-down process. There is
little to deny that, as re-envisioned by Disney’s animators, Peter Pan
is filled with spectacularly handsome vignettes, Walt spending lavishly to
recreate Edwardian England and the fanciful escapism of Skull Rock and the isle
of the Lost Boys. But for sheer time constraints, cuts to Barrie’s work proved
detrimental to the overall dramatic arc of the piece. Hence, the Lost Boys,
mermaids and Indians so provocatively and memorably featured in Barrie’s book
and play were distilled to mere cameos in the final film.
For years, rumors have abounded
Marilyn Monroe was the inspiration for Walt’s incarnation of Tinkerbell – the
effervescent non-verbal pixie who serves as Peter’s conscience, confident, and
quite possibly, his love interest. But this rumor is rather baseless –
particularly when one considers Monroe, though already making movies in
Hollywood, was hardly the iconic blonde bombshell she would eventually become
in 1954. To embrace this rumor, one must
therefore set aside that Disney’s preliminary work on Peter Pan began as
early as 1940 – long before Monroe was even a blip on the radar. True enough,
Walt did provide his animators with a live-action model for inspiration, but
her name was Margaret Kerry. It thus remains something of a perplexing mystery
that, in reviewing Peter Pan today, one is immediately reminded of the
behavioral similarities between Tinkerbell and Marilyn Monroe. So, who is
copying who? Walt was to be heavily – and most unfairly - scrutinized for
reinventing Tinkerbell. On stage the illusion of a fairy was created with
nothing more prominent than a pin-prick of light darting about the proscenium.
Yet film, with its ability to zoom in for a close-up, undeniably demanded something
more. What Walt gave his audience has since gone on to be easily identified by
the children of the world as the definitive Tinkerbell. So, was Walt mistaken
to offer up a tangible winged creature, clad in a skimpy green bodice? Film
critics and devotees of J.M. Barrie thought so. Thankfully, audiences ever
since have had a decidedly different opinion on the matter.
As scripted by Ted Sears, Erdman
Penner, Bill Peet, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, Ralph Wright and
William Cottrell, Disney’s version of Peter Pan begins in the nursery of
the Darling home. Mr. Darling (voiced by Hans Conried) has decided his eldest
child, Wendy (Kathryn Beaumont) is old enough to be placed in a room of her own
– hence, she is at the cusp of becoming a young lady. The imminent danger here,
is to ascend into womanhood, Wendy must leave her daydreams and innocence
behind, particularly her imaginative romps with the wily Peter Pan. After Mr.
and Mrs. Darling leave for a night out, Peter Pan (Bobby Driscoll) arrives to
suggest an escape for Wendy and her two brothers to Neverland – a wondrous
place where no one ever grows up. As Wendy in not quite certain how she feels
about becoming an adult, she awakens her brothers, John (Paul Collins) and
Michael (Tommy Luske) and together – with a light sprinkle of pixie dust
reluctantly provided by Tinkerbell – they set off to explore Peter’s world,
taking flight to the second star to the right.
The one note of dissention comes
from Tinkerbell who acutely senses a growing romantic infatuation between Wendy
and Peter. The complexities of this inferred ‘lover’s triangle’ is, of course,
never fully fleshed out in Disney’s fable. But Tinkerbell’s jealousy will be
instrumental in a tragic decision that nearly costs Tink’ her life and forces a
penultimate confrontation between Peter and his arch nemesis, Captain Hook
(also voiced by Hans Conried). In the play, the same actor plays both Mr.
Darling and the Captain – a subtle jab by Barrie about Britain’s own staunchly
upheld paternal world of rigid order. Capt.
Hook’s pirate ship is anchored just off Neverland’s Skull Rock, his merry band
of marauders plotting a conspiracy to capture Peter as revenge for Hook having
lost his hand to a crocodile during a previous confrontation. Acquiring a taste
for the Capt.’s flesh, the croc’ that ate his appendage stalks the seas in
search of more tasty delights. Meanwhile, a jealous ploy by Tinkerbell to have
Wendy killed is foiled. The Darling children are introduced to the Lost Boys –
six, pint-sized warriors clad in animal skins who take Michael and John on a
gallant exploration into the jungle. Learning of Tinkerbell’s involvement in
Wendy’s peril, Peter bitterly banishes her ‘forever.’ John, Michael and the
Lost Boys are taken prisoner by the Indians who believe Peter – not Hook – is
holding one of their own, Tiger Lily captive. The Indian chief declares if
Tiger Lily is not back by sunset he will burn everyone at the stake. In the
meantime, Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids. Once again, feminine jealousy
intervenes and the mermaids attempt to drown Wendy. They are frightened away by
Hook’s pirate ship.
Peter and Wendy, having discovered
Tiger Lily in Hook’s clutches, rescue and return her to the Indians who free
Michael, John and the Lost Boys. Hook decides to take advantage of the dejected
Tinkerbell, exploiting her to lead him and his crew to Peter’s secret hideout.
But Tink’ makes Hook promise he will not harm Peter in exchange for her
divulging this information. Hook, of course, is lying – then traps Tinkerbell
in a lantern while he goes off to pursue Peter. The pirates capture the
Darlings and the Lost Boys and plant a bomb to kill Peter. Instead, Tinkerbell
makes a valiant attempt to save Peter’s life. This nearly claims her own. Hook
is about to make Wendy walk the plank to her death. But Peter and Tinkerbell
arrive to save the day. In the resulting battle, Hook and his crew are forced
to flee the pirate ship, relentlessly pursued by the crocodile. Tinkerbell
sprinkles the ship with pixie dust allowing it to take flight and return the
Darling children home to London. Wendy encourages Peter and the Lost Boys to
stay with them. But Peter refuses and sails away to Neverland once more. Mr.
and Mrs. Darling find Wendy asleep at the open window sill. Her sudden
awakening to regale them with these vibrant tales convince Mr. Darling that
perhaps his daughter might remain in the nursery for a little while longer. As
the family stares through the open window, a cloud in the shape of Hook’s
pirate ship suddenly appears nearest the moon. With fondness, Mr. Darling recollects
he has seen that ship before.
On the whole Walt’s reincarnation
of Peter Pan runs much smoother through its fantasy elements than Alice
in Wonderland – its narrative weight delicately balanced on the centrally
flawed young lover’s triangle between Peter, Wendy and Tinkerbell, and, on
Peter’s infinitely more satisfying conflict and resolution with the maniacal
Capt. Hook. To be certain, Hook is a marvelous villain, derived from the best
evil doers in the Disney canon. He is part fop/part holy terror and quite
terrifying in his comedic uncertainty and fits of psychotic rage. What is
remarkable about the film – particularly when one removes J.M. Barrie’s
original text from the equation – is just how efficiently it manages to run
through these hyper-real scenarios – passing over some, while indulging in
others, always to keep the pace of its storytelling tautly executed. True
enough, Walt’s version of Barrie’s classic is not as Barrie intended. But in
the final analysis it works just as well. Disney’s Peter Pan is a worthy
and very memorable part of the studio’s illustrious canon of time-honored
animation.
After having endlessly resurrected
Peter Pan on home video, multiple times in hi-def Blu-ray, the Disney Club,
presumably in their last gasps to remain an unsustainable and ridiculously skinflint
apparatus of the home video division, has decided to release a 70th
Anniversary. Let’s just get address the elephant in the room. The 1080p
transfer is identical to the Walt Disney Signature Blu-ray from 2016, as are the limited
extras. The difference here boils down to bling and one notable featurette; ‘In
Walt’s Words’ – running 23-mins. and housed on a separate disc inside this double
pack which also includes a DVD and Digital copy. There’s also a slip cover with
original art work, and a numbered lithograph tucked inside. For the rest, what’s
here has been around the block – and around, and around, and around and…well,
you get it, for decades. Is this a bad
thing? Well, no – actually, because Peter Pan looks stunning on Blu-ray.
It always has.
The sumptuousness of original cell
animation has been lovingly preserved, albeit – sans grain. Colors pop and the
‘wow’ factor is in evidence from first to last frame. Despite the studio’s
rather liberal use of DNR to eradicate film grain, fine detail is solid. We can
now see brushstrokes in the original artist’s rendering of backgrounds. We get
the same lush 7.1 DTS sound mix. We also get the 2.0 original theatrical mono.
The five featurettes housed on the movie disc – plus audio commentary and the
‘music and more’ options have all been ported over from the original DVD
release from the late 1990’s. There are also some HD extras that were produced
long ago for the first Blu-ray debut, to include an introduction from Walt’s
daughter, Diane Disney-Miller, deleted songs, a kiddie featurette on pirate
training, and most impressive of all – a 41-min. doc on the studio’s original
animators: Walt’s so-called ‘nine old men’, by far the most comprehensive
reflection in this set. Bottom line: I’m tired of the Walt Disney Company’s
constant regurgitation of a select group of their classic animated features
while virtually all of Walt’s live-action treasures continue to languish in
Disney Club purgatory, stripped of their ‘Vault Disney’ extra features and
given no discernable video upgrades since their masters were struck in the
mid-1990’s and early 2000’s. If Disney Inc. really wants to impress its fan-base,
it would start marketing these, as cherished movie memories to mainstream home
video. There is an audience for them, and a colossal abundance of studio
short-sightedness to recognize them as such. As for Peter Pan again…if
you already own any of the other editions in hi-def, you’re not really getting
all that much here to warrant a repurchase. Disney Club ‘exclusive’, my foot!
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
5
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