Dumbo (1941)
Dumbo
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2017.
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 đ”Baby mine, don't you cry.đ”
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Dumbo is a 1941 American animated musical film produced by Walt Disney and originally released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was released on October 23, 1941; made to recoup the financial losses of Fantasia, it was a deliberate pursuit of simplicity and economy for the Disney studio. At 64 minutes, it is one of Disney's shortest animated features. Sound was recorded conventionally using the RCA System. One voice was synthesized using the Sonovox system, but it, too, was recorded using the RCA System.
Summary
In 1941, a flock of storks delivers babies in Florida while circus animals are being transported by train from their "Winter Quarters". Mrs. Jumbo, one of the elephants, receives her baby, who is soon made fun of by the other elephants because of his large ears, and they nickname him "Dumbo". After locking the elephants, Mrs. Jumbo starts to cuddle Dumbo.
When a storm comes, the elephants have to help set up the circus tents. Afterwards, they have a parade through town. However, Dumbo ends up in a muddy puddle, so Mrs. Jumbo has to wash him. When a group of boys torment Dumbo, Mrs. Jumbo responds by attacking one of the boys and, losing her temper in the confusion. Mrs. Jumbo, after humiliating the Ringmaster throwing him into a vat full of water for whipping her too much, is deemed "mad elephant" and tossed into a cage and chained. Dumbo is shunned by the other elephants, and with no parent to care for him, he is now alone. Timothy Q. Mouse, who feels sympathy for Dumbo and becomes determined to help regain his spirits, appoints himself as Dumbo's mentor and protector.
After being secretly encouraged by Timothy, the circus director makes Dumbo the top of an elephant pyramid stunt. The performance goes awry as Dumbo trips over his ears and misses his target, causing the other elephants to suffer various injuries, and bring down the big top. Dumbo is made into a clown as a result and "punishment", officially having the other elephants deem him no longer one of them, and plays the main role in a humiliating and dangerous act that involves him falling (forcibly) into a vat of pie filling. Despite his newfound popularity and fame, Dumbo dislikes this job, and is now more miserable than ever.
To cheer Dumbo up, Timothy takes him to visit his mother; on the way back, Dumbo cries and then starts to hiccup, so Timothy takes him for a drink of water from a bucket which, unknown to them, has accidentally had a bottle of champagne knocked into it by the clowns. As a result, Dumbo and Timothy both become drunk, and see hallucinations of pink elephants.
The next morning, Dumbo and Timothy wake up in a tree, but soon fall into a lake; Timothy wonders how they got up in the tree, and concludes that Dumbo flew up there using his large ears as wings. With the help from a group of crows, Timothy is able to get Dumbo to fly again, using a psychological trick of a "magic feather" to boost his confidence.
Back at the circus, Dumbo performs the stunt, which involves him jumping this time from a much more high building. On the way down, Dumbo loses the feather; Timothy quickly tells him that the feather was never magical, and that he is still able to fly. Dumbo is able to pull out of the dive and flies around the circus, finally striking back at his tormentors as a stunned audience looks on in amazement. After this performance, Dumbo becomes a media sensation, Timothy becomes his manager, and Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo are given a private car on the sentient circus train Casey Jr., while the crows wave them goodbye and wish good luck in the distance.
Why You See an Elephant Fly
- It contrast to the dark tone of Pinocchio and Fantasia which both films had failed at the box office the previous year, this film had a much lighter, more uplifting and joyous tone, which is appropriate for the dark times that happened at the time this film was released, which is World War II, which is one of the main reasons why this film did so well at the box office.
- It has fantastically beautiful and iconic songs, such as âLookout for Mister Storkâ, âCasey Jrâ, "Pink Elephants on Parade", "Baby Mine", and "When I See An Elephant Fly".
- It has plenty of hilariously funny moments.
- It also has many emotional moments such as Dumbo's mom being locked away because she was "mad". The "Baby Mine" scene is one of the most emotional scenes in Disney's history.
- An emotionally beautiful message on how what makes you different, also makes you special.
- It also has dazzling vocal performances from the likes of Edward Brophy as Timothy Q. Mouse, Verna Felton as Elephant Matriarch and Mrs. Jumbo, Herman Bing as the Ringmaster, Sterling Holloway as Mr. Stork, and Cliff Edwards as Dandy Crow. The Hall Johnson Choir as the other crows and John McLeish as the narrator.
- Dumbo himself does not talk. He expresses all his emotions through his facial expressions and the animation on him is wonderful and cute.
- Timothy Q. Mouse is a great surrogate father for Dumbo.
- The crows are great and cool characters, even though they might be considered "racist".
- Mr. Stork and Casey Junior are very likable minor characters.
- The "Pink Elephants on Parade" scene, which is both a cool song and an amazing piece of animation.
- Unlike most Disney films that either took place in a historical or make believe setting, this is the very first Disney film that took place in the same time period it first came to theaters.
- The film has no legitimate villains. Most of them are either bullies or are somewhat understandable in their behavior like the Ringmaster, despite his greed, arrogance and treatment towards workers and animals.
Mixed Qualities
- The pacing can be bad at times.
- The "Pink Elephants on Parade" scene, while cool, can also be unnerving and scary to considerably younger audiences.
Bad Qualities
- Racial stereotypes, including the crows (or at least maybe, although great and cool characters and not as offensive as other films) and "Song of the Roustabouts" (the workers are all blacks exploited by the Ringmaster according to their song and there are some insensitive lyrics).
- Dumbo and Timothy accidentally get drunk at one point. Keep in mind that Dumbo, even though it is an animal, is supposed to be a baby, although is through this accident that Dumbo uses his hidden ability for the first time off-screen.
- The female elephants and the clowns are unlikable characters since they act like jerks in the film.
Trivia
- This is the final Disney film before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and thus the final Disney film made before America joined in the Second World War, the same year after the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service have attacked Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii wasn't a state in the US in the time, however. It wasn't until 1959, a decade later after the war ended.
- This is the first Disney film that took place in the time of its original release, not in a fairy tale or a historical setting.
- Troubled production: This was their first seriously problematic production. They had to make it on a lower than usual budget due to the studio's financial troubles, and then things really hit the fan when most of the studio's animation staff went on strike over atrocious working conditions, resulting in a lot of the film being completed by junior animators who weren't financially secure enough to go on strike, plus a few more experienced animators who crossed the picket lines knowing that the studio would more than likely be forced to close down if they didn't get Dumbo out on time, though even then only produced work that met the bare minimum standard that Disney would accept. The end product was the biggest critical and commercial success Disney had since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but Walt Disney himself looked back on it with disdain afterwards, and to really stick the boot in, reported all the animators who had gone on strike as potential communists â only the ringleaders were actually dragged before the House Un-American Activities Committee, but it still resulted in more than a few careers being put on hold, if not ended permanently.
External Links
Dumbo (1941) at the Internet Movie Database
Dumbo (1941) on Rotten Tomatoes
Dumbo (1941) on Metacritic
Dumbo (1941) on Letterboxd