King of the Hill is a newer topic than what typically write about on this blog, but I love this show so much and this episode so much, that I have to write about it. “Dances with Dogs,” which originally aired on December 1, 2002 is hysterical. It has such a ridiculous plot: Bobby Hill wants to enter the “Musical Canine Freestyle,” a dog-dancing contest which is a sensation in Canada.
At the start of the episode, Bobby watches as his parents, Hank and Peggy Hill, leave to get ice cream. He’s been waiting for his parents to leave, so he can practice dog dancing for an upcoming contest with Hank’s beloved 13-year old Bloodhound, Lady Bird (named after the first lady, Lady Bird Johnson). Bobby puts on The Beatles’ rendition of “Twist and Shout” and starts practicing. However, then Hank and Peggy come home unexpectedly after Hank is incensed that the employee put his fingers in his ice cream and killed his mood for ice cream. Hank, who seems perpetually embarrassed by free-spirit Bobby’s actions, is horrified to see his son dancing with the old Lady Bird. “She’s got arthritis!” Hank says.
Bobby, needing a new dog to dance with, goes next door to neighbor Kahn Souphanousiphone’s home and asks if he can dance with their West Highland Terrier, Doggie, in the upcoming contest. Kahn agrees, but Bobby has to clean up Doggie’s poop in their yard. Bobby agrees. Meanwhile, Hank realizes that Lady Bird seems to be benefiting physically from dancing. He decides that he’s going to enter the dog dancing contest. Hank chooses Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight” as his and Lady Bird’s song.
Hank and Lady Bird
Hank then walks in on Bobby practicing with Doggie and is upset that he’s dancing with neighbor Kahn’s dog. This scene brings the funniest exchange in the entire episode:
HANK: You’re dancing with the neighbor’s dog against me and Lady Bird?! BOBBY: Well what was I supposed to do? Not dance with a dog?! Anyway, you said Lady Bird was too old to dance. If you pumped her full of pain pills, I’ll make sure you’re both disqualified. HANK: Well, what do you care? Looks like you’ll dance with any dog that will have you!
Bill and Rex
Hank and Bobby continue bickering and trash talking each other about dog dancing, with Hank being offended that Bobby would deign to dance with Kahn’s dog. Eventually Peggy, my queen, has had enough:
PEGGY (to HANK): You both want to dance with dogs. You each have a dog you can dance with. You take your dog to the garage. You dance with her there. Bobby gets to dance with his dog in his bedroom. Everybody gets to dance with a dog. Everybody wins.
Meanwhile, Hank’s friend, eternal sad sack Bill Dauterive, decides that he’ll also get a dog to dance with. He ends up buying Rex, an ill-tempered Rottweiler, from an animal shelter. He selects Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” as their song. However, every time Bill tries to dance with Rex, he ends up being mauled. At the contest, Bill tries to dance with a muzzled Rex and is forced to remove the muzzle.
Bobby and Doggie
On the day of the dog dancing contest, Hank is humbled by Bobby. Hank, thinking that dog dancing is easy, more or less does a very simple slow dance with Lady Bird. Bobby on the other hand, took the dog dancing much more seriously and has choreographed a very impressive routine to Technotronic’s “Move This” with Doggie. Bobby is an excellent dog trainer and has obviously put a lot of work into the contest. The commentators, one being Scott Hamilton as “Sketch Randall,” (the 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist in Men’s Figure Skating), and the other “Dud Jeperson,” are hilarious as they speak in awe about Bobby’s performance.
SKETCH: We are witnessing a dream. I hope I never wake up. DUD: Are they even touching the floor? Amazing!… I don’t even know how to describe that move. SKETCH: I wish everyone who denies the pure athleticism of dog dancing could see what I’m seeing now.
Eventually, the dog dancing contest comes to an end and the winners for the “Beginners Off-Leash Musical Freestyle” contest are announced. Rhonda Clark and her Border Collie, Rusty take third place. Bobby and Doggie take second. Hank, way too optimistic about his lukewarm performance, assumes that he and Lady Bird will win first. However, Helen Bradley and her toy poodle, Buddy (same first name as my bird!) take first. “It’s a young dog’s sport,” Hank says to console Lady Bird.
Satsuke and sister Mei take shelter from the rain at a bus stop with Totoro keeping watch in My Neighbor Totoro (1988).
As a native of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon specifically, I have seen my share of rain. In fact, NW Oregon (where I’ve lived my entire life) is in the middle of yet another “atmospheric river” event. Basically, we’re getting rain and a lot of it–at least 3″ between yesterday through tomorrow. Personally, I like the rain. It’s relaxing and makes the outside smell nice. Plus, it makes for excellent movie watching weather. As long as the rain stays out of my basement, I am good.
During the last major rain event, just a couple weeks ago, I watched a bunch of excellent rainy film noir and Clue because I love it and it has rain. That rain marathon and this week’s downpour inspired me to write a post about rain in the movies as well as allows me to highlight some of my favorite movies. Right now, I haven’t returned to watching any rainy films, because I’ve been obsessed with playing Pokopia on Switch 2.
Movies have been using rain since almost the beginning to put forth a certain emotion, add suspense, express a metaphor, or even just to add some atmosphere. A rainstorm is often used as a reason for characters to be forced to stay confined in one space, such as in Key Largo (1948). Rain can be used as a setting for romance, such as the famous kiss in the rain between Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). To add atmosphere, rain will often be included such as in Clue (1985), where the characters are summoned to Mr. Boddy’s mansion during a dark, rainy night, and end up caught up in a murder mystery. In this blog entry, I want to focus on some of my favorite rain scenes in films.
Rain is often used to lend suspense to a scene, and where else would you want a lot of suspense and drama? A scene in which someone is driving. Driving in the rain can already be fairly treacherous. Add in a driver who is nervous, angry, distraught, or any other distracting emotion and it’s almost always a recipe for danger, or at least great melodrama.
BEST DRIVING IN RAIN SCENES
Lana Turner has a meltdown in “The Bad and the Beautiful.”
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). Lana Turner’s Georgia is distraught after discovering that her boyfriend and producer, Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) has been cheating on her with a starlet. She expresses her indignation over his betrayal and he more or less tells her that he can do whatever he wants. He doesn’t owe her any loyalty, because he gave her stardom. Distraught, Georgia gets into her car and takes off on a high-speed race home, through a pouring rainstorm. Anyone who thinks Lana couldn’t act should watch her performance in this scene. She enters the car sobbing, but soon collapses into pure hysteria as the reality of Jonathan’s betrayal and callousness sets in. Juxtaposed against the frenzy of rain and flashes of lights, Georgia’s emotional collapse reaches its apex when she screams and slams on the brakes.
Dead Reckoning (1947). Humphrey Bogart’s character, Rip Murdock, is investigating the death of his friend, Johnny. During his investigation, he falls in love with Coral Chandler (Lizabeth Scott). Unfortunately, he learns that Coral isn’t all she seems and was involved in his friend’s death. Coral and Rip end up in a car together after she accidentally shoots her accomplice instead of him. While Rip drives through heavy rain, he and Coral argue over her intending to kill him. She then pulls out a gun and he hits the gas pedal to floor it. Anyone who has watched a lot of old movies knows that whenever it’s raining and someone is driving recklessly, something bad is going to happen. In this film, Rip ends up crashing head-on into a tree, mortally injuring Coral.
Psycho (1960). This is a classic and for good reason. In this film, Janet Leigh’s Marion Crane leaves Phoenix and heads to California with $40,000 in stolen money in hand. She wants to marry her boyfriend, Sam (John Gavin), but he refuses to do so due to lack of funds. When Marion’s employer asks her to deliver a $40,000 deposit to the bank, the temptation is too strong to resist. This money would solve all of her and Sam’s financial woes. While she originally plans to drive through the night, a rainstorm forces her to seek refuge at the Bates Motel, operated by the young and nervous Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Unfortunately for Marion, this is the end of the line.
Rain can also be used to add romance to the scene, because what is more romantic than a classic kiss in the rain type scene. Rain also seems to bring people together–often because they’re forced to seek shelter and each other for warmth.
FAVORITE ROMANTIC RAIN SCENES
Lucy and Desi kiss and make-up in “The Long Long Trailer.”
The Long, Long Trailer (1954). My favorite film of all time features a romantic, albeit cliched (now) romantic kiss in the rain. Tacy (Lucille Ball) and Nicky (Desi Arnaz) spend the entirety of the film more or less on the honeymoon road trip from hell, with one catastrophe after another. The tension and frustration reaches its end when Nicky discovers that Tacy has not only lied to him, but has also put their lives at risk. The couple needs to drive over a high elevation (8000 feet) peak in Colorado. Because of the steep incline and possibility that extra weight could pull the trailer down (and possibly off) the mountain, Nicky tells Tacy that she needs to get rid of all the extra weight she’s added to the trailer in the form of rocks and preserves. Tacy’s idea was that they could collect large rocks from different places they visit and use them to decorate their patio when they reach their new home in Colorado. As a cost-saving measure (to justify the purchase of the trailer), Tacy stars canning fruits and vegetables.
Instead of removing the material from the trailer, she instead distributes it evenly around the trailer, thinking it would solve the weight issue. It does not. Everything comes out. Nicky discovers it. The couple fight and separate. In the pouring down rain, Nicky finally tracks down Tacy (and the trailer) at a trailer park where she’s in the middle of planning to sell the trailer. He opens the trailer door, finds Tacy, but can’t bring himself to apologize. Nicky drives away and suddenly Tacy realizes that she doesn’t want him to leave. She runs out into the rain, in front of Nicky’s car. He stops and gets out. Nicky and Tacy embrace, having made up and reconciled. They run up the steps into their home (the trailer) and kiss.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). While a lot can be said about this film, ::cough:: Mickey Rooney ::cough:: there are some fun parts as well. The ending of ‘Tiffany’s’ is much like the end of The Long, Long Trailer, with Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly and George Peppard’s Paul (or “Fred Baby” as I like to call him) reconciling and kissing in the rain drenched streets of New York City. However, this scene has extra poignancy beyond the classic kiss in the rain. In a previous scene, Holly very cruelly abandons “Cat” her pet, out in the rain, saying that nobody belongs to anyone–even animals. Her whole mantra throughout the film is that she’s a free spirit, she doesn’t belong to (or with anyone). Paul is the only person her circle to actually care about her and want to help her. Everyone else in her orbit is someone she makes money off of (via trips to the powder room), or someone who takes advantage of her naivete (e.g., Sally Tomato providing her with the “weather report” to pass on to one of his associates).
However, Holly is no better in that she only associates herself with people she believes can do something for her. She’s a phony, her agent says. Paul bitterly tells Holly off by stating that in her efforts to prevent herself from being put into a “cage” she’s put herself into one, because she’s unwilling to share herself or part of her life with anyone. He then gets out of the car, throws the ring (that they’d had engraved at Tiffany’s during their fun day in New York City together) at her. The ring is a symbol of a time where Holly was probably being closer to her true self and not putting on airs. Holly grabs the ring, places it over the ever important (and symbolic) left ring finger and realizes that she (and Cat) belong with Paul. Their kiss in the rain (plus keeping Cat warm) symbolizes their new life together. Holly found where she belongs.
Top Hat (1935) Another one of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers films that features Astaire as a character who initially annoys Rogers’ character until a dance brings them together. In this film, Astaire’s Jerry Travers, a tap dance star, arrives in London to appear in a show for producer Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton). Late at night, he decides to practice his number (on hard floors!) and wakes up and annoys Dale Tremont (Rogers). She comes up to his room to complain and he is smitten. She is less so. Then there’s a case of mistaken identity, with Dale thinking that Jerry is Horace, the husband of her friend Madge (Helen Broderick).
Jerry pursues Dale throughout the film and she continues to be repulsed by him because she thinks her friend’s husband is coming onto her. A rainstorm at the park forces Jerry and Dale to seek refuge under a gazebo, where they dance to “It’s a Lovely Day (to be Caught in the Rain).” As with many of their films, Rogers’ annoyed attitude towards Astaire lessens, as they start to fall in love through song and dance.
Finally, rain can also be utilized to add a certain atmosphere to a film, or to evoke a specific feeling.
FAVORITE ATMOSPHERIC RAIN SCENES
Gene Kelly in what is probably the most famous rain scene of all time in Singin’ in the Rain.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952). This film contains the most iconic rain scene of all and I would be remiss to not mention it. Gene Kelly’s classic dance in the rain to the title song, is perhaps the greatest dance number ever captured and the most joyous. I dare anyone to watch this scene and not feel better at the end. What is happier than a dance in the rain, splashing in puddles, without a single care in the world? The “Singin’ in the Rain” number happens after Kelly’s character, silent screen star Don Lockwood, returns from a disastrous screening of his first “talkie,” The Dueling Cavalier. It co-stars his on-screen partner, the incredibly untalented Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who is oblivious to the movie’s awfulness and delivers one of my favorite lines, “I liked it!” Don figures that his career is over until friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) and new love, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) convince him to re-tool the film to be the musical, The Dancing Cavalier, with Kathy providing behind the scenes support to cover up Lina’s inadequacies. Overcome with joy and his new lease on life, Don happily sings, dances and splashes his way down the Hollywood streets, until he’s stopped by a befuddled cop. What a buzzkill.
Clue (1985). This film opens with the six main characters arriving at the mansion of Mr. Boddy, in their color-coded vehicles. The house is tall and ominous, as is the torrential downpour. Inside the mansion, both Mr. Boddy and the chef are killed, leaving the six guests, plus butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry) and maid Yvette (Colleen Camp), to wonder who was responsible. The rain forces other unsuspecting visitors to enter the mansion, like a motorist breaking down in the rain and wanting to use the phone, and a cop investigating the motorist’s abandoned car. It rains the entire time throughout the film, lending a sort of spookiness to the classic mystery of “Who Killed Mr. Boddy?”
Thunder on the Hill (1951). This film takes place almost entirely at a convent. Sister Mary Bonaventure (Claudette Colbert) is in charge of the hospital ward of the convent. A horrific rainstorm closes nearby roads, keeping everyone inside and others out. A woman, Valerie Carns (Ann Blyth), is brought to the convent to wait out the storm due to the closed roads. She is supposed to be delivered to the prison to await her execution for the murder of her brother. However, the washed out road delays the inevitable and she is forced to stay at the convent. As one can imagine, Valerie is not particularly amiable or even polite. Sister Mary does her best to be gracious and empathetic to Valerie, eventually softening her up a little. Through talking to Valerie, Sister Mary realizes that she may be innocent and decides to investigate Valerie’s brother’s death before the rain lets up and the roads re-open.
In this film, the rain adds a harshness and uneasiness to the events in the film. As soon as the rain lets up and the road is passable, Ann Blyth’s character is headed to Death Row for a crime that she may not have committed. Other refugees are unhappy with her presence. The head doctor’s wife, Isabel, is a patient at the hospital and is unhappy with Sister Mary. Lending to the tension is that this same doctor also testified against Valerie in the case against her brother–more or less sealing her conviction. The Mother Superior (Gladys Cooper) is upset that Sister Mary refuses to follow her orders that she not intervene between Valerie and the police. Sister Mary is also holding onto her own baggage–the recent suicide of her sister. The relentless rain, the only thing keeping these people cooped up at the convent, increases the tension and drama.
HONORABLE RAIN SCENE MENTIONS:
Dorothy Malone watches, longingly, as Bogart departs her bookstore in “The Big Sleep.”
The Big Sleep (1946). It rains constantly in this film and only lends to the overall darkness and spookiness of the proceedings. The plot is also a mess, the weather might as well be too.
My Neighbor Totoro (1988). In this film, sisters Satsuke and Mei discover Totoro, a forest spirit, living near their new home. The sisters are living near a local hospital where their mother is convalescing. Totoro and his fellow spirits watch over the girls and intervene when Mei goes missing.
Casablanca (1942). Humphrey Bogart’s Rick stands in the rain, eagerly awaiting Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa’s arrival, only to be handed a “Dear John” letter. As Rick’s heart breaks, the rain washes Ilsa’s words off the page. His life is over as he knows it.
Red Dust (1932). Getting caught in a monsoon forces Mary Astor’s stuffy Barbara into the home of the rugged Dennis Carson (Clark Gable). Also staying with Dennis? Vantine (Jean Harlow), a prostitute who is none too happy or impressed with Barbara’s presence. Vantine has her eye on Dennis too and does not want to share. However, upon spotting a rain soaked Barbara, Dennis is overwhelmed and seduces her. The rain in this film lends an intensity, further making an already stifling film feel even more stuffy than it did before. This isn’t a cold rain. This is a hot, humid, rain.
The Old Dark House (1932). A common trope in horror or mystery films, this is another movie that uses rain to force people inside. Horror often has people seeking shelter from strangers, and they’re always unusual strangers. In this movie, Phillip and Margaret Waverton (Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart) are driving in a heavy storm with their friend, Penderel (Melvyn Douglas). They end up seeking refuge from the Femm siblings, Horace and Rebecca. The Femms are very weird. They warn their visitors about their butler Morgan (Boris Karloff), who is mute, alcoholic, and extremely dangerous. Eventually, two more people arrive at the Femms seeking shelter, Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton) and Gladys DuCane (Lillian Bond). As the group stays at the home longer, they start to discover more and more unusual people and continue to be terrorized by Morgan. This is not only suspenseful, it is also very funny. “Please pass the po-tay-toes,” is my favorite line in the film.
This month, Bugs Bunny is TCM’s Star of the Month. No, TCM hasn’t lost their minds. Looney Tunes is joining TCM’s library and this was their way of welcoming Bugs and the gang into the fold. I personally am excited. I love Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny. In fact, I hadn’t watched Looney Tunes for a long time, despite my owning 7 volumes of Looney Tunes shorts and a collection of Bugs Bunny cartoons. TCM’s salute to Bugs, combined with this fairy tales blogathon, allowed me to binge a lot of Looney Tunes shorts and documentaries.
Looney Tunes released over a thousand animated shorts over a span of forty years (1929-1969). These shorts were released under both the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners. Both series’ names were take-offs of Disney’s popular Silly Symphonies series. Looney Tunes began in 1930 and Merrie Melodies started in 1931. Originally, the idea was that Looney Tunes would be black and white and feature reoccurring characters. Merrie Melodies would be color and would feature one-off characters. These films would also include Warner Brothers’ music, so they could also serve as advertising for their films. Eventually Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies more or less were the same. Remember, the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons used to air in the theater prior to the main feature film. I wish they’d show cartoons before the movies. It’d be way better than seeing actual commercials in the theater.
Many of the shorts released were either film parodies or spoofs of popular stories, like fairy tales and fables. Over the course of forty years, many directors and animators were at the helm. This led to different versions of the same source material, but involved a different Looney Tunes character as the star or a different spin on the material. The gang at Termite Terrace (the nickname given to the Warner Brothers’ animators less than stellar accommodations) would never deign to do a straight telling of a familiar tale. I’m not even going to attempt to talk about all of them, but I will touch on a few of my favorites.
“The Three Little Bops” (1957). This short is my absolute favorite Looney Tunes take on a fairy tale. It is perfection. As one can infer from the title, this is a take on “The Three Little Pigs.” Everyone is familiar with the story of The Three Little Pigs. The Big Bad Wolf is after the Three Little Pigs. The first little pig builds a house out of straw. The wolf easily destroys the house and eats the pig. The second pig had built a house out of sticks. He too, has his house destroyed and is eaten by the wolf. The third little pig builds a house out of brick. The wolf is unable to destroy the house using the same means he used on the straw and stick house. Frustrated and unwilling to accept defeat, the wolf goes down the chimney. However, the little pig anticipated the wolf’s next move and places a hot boiling kettle of water inside the fireplace. The wolf enters the home and the hot water and is boiled alive. The pig eats him.
Thankfully, “The Three Little Bops” does not stay completely true to the original fable. None of the Three Little Pigs are eaten. Instead, they are part of a hot jazz trio. The wolf is desperate to get into their club and be part of their band, however, he’s a square and too stiff. His trumpet playing just isn’t hot. The Three Little Pigs kick him out of the House of Straw for being lame. Insulted, the wolf uses his trumpet to blow the club down.
The Three Little Pigs move onto the Dew Drop Inn, the House of Sticks. Again, they play in their hot trio and again the wolf tries to get in on the action. He’s again thrown out for being lame. The wolf is insulted again, and again, uses his trumpet to blow the club down. The Three Little Pigs move to the House of Bricks.
The wolf keeps trying to get into the House of Bricks, but to no avail. He tries a battering ram, He tries to masquerade as a band member wearing a fur coat and playing the Charleston on a ukulele, he tries to dress as a plant. Nothing works. Angry and desperate, the wolf decides he’ll use the ever popular TNT to blow up the club. However, he ends up blowing himself up and is killed. The wolf’s spirit does not ascend to Heaven. Instead, he is in Hell. But the bright side is, now he’s hot and a great jazz trumpet player. His spirit rises up through the floor and the wolf is finally part of The Three Little Bops. I’m glad that the Three Little Bops don’t eat him.
I love this short. The jazz music is fantastic. The art work is excellent. The story is a lot of fun. Stan Freberg also does excellent voice work as the hip narrator.
“Little Red Riding Rabbit” (1944). This short is the familar tale of that fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood.” In the original story, Little Red Riding Hood is a young girl, donning a hooded red cape, is walking with a basket of goodies for her grandmother who is sick. Riding Hood must walk through woods to get to her grandmother’s home. She is spotted by a wolf who decides that he is interested in both the basket of goodies (cake or wine) and Riding Hood herself. He approaches Riding Hood and suggests that she pick some flowers to bring to her grandmother. While she is off looking for flowers, the wolf goes to the grandmother’s home. He pretends to be Riding Hood to gain entry to the house. He eats the grandmother and then disguises himself as the grandmother and climbs into her bed. Riding Hood arrives. She questions her “grandmother’s” appearance, which eventually culminates with the wolf eating her too.
In “Little Red Riding Rabbit,” we meet “Riding Hood” a loud, shrill bobbysoxer teen who is singing popular song, “Five O’Clock Whistle.” In her basket, instead of the cake or wine from the original tale, Riding Hood has a rabbit to bring to her grandmother. Of course, the rabbit is none other than Bugs Bunny, so we expect some hijinks. Riding Hood’s trip is delayed when she’s tricked into taking an unusually long shortcut by the wolf. In the Looney Tales tale, Riding Hood’s grandmother isn’t sick, she’s working the swing shift at Lockheed. It’s World War II after all. There’s a funny bit where the wolf dresses up in grandmother’s nightgown to hide in her bed and there are already four other wolves there. He kicks them all out, and then finds a little tiny wolf hidden under the pillow! LOL. Eventually Riding Hood arrives. HEY GRANDMA! I BROUGHT A LITTLE BUNNY RABBIT FOR YOU TO HAVE! She yells. The wolf’s interest is piqued. Forget about Riding Hood, he wants Bugs.
In a hilarious change of events, the wolf is no longer interested in following the Red Riding Hood script. He couldn’t care less about Riding Hood. He only wants that Rabbit. Bugs tries to out run and out trick the wolf. Riding Hood, however, keeps interrupting the wolf and Bugs, with her “oh grandma what big eyes you have” type script–a desperate (or perhaps oblivious) attempt to get the story back on track. At first, her interruptions help Bugs, but eventually even he is irritated and joins forces with the wolf! I also love in Looney Tunes how the wolf from Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, and any other stories with a “big bad wolf” is always the same wolf and he seems to have recollection of his actions in those other stories.
HONORABLE MENTION: “Red Hot Riding Hood” (1943). This cartoon isn’t technically Looney Tunes. It’s actually MGM. However, I am listing it here, because it was directed by Tex Avery who directed Looney Tunes cartoons prior to working at MGM. This cartoon is pretty funny. This is a more risqué interpretation of the “Little Red Riding Hood” tale that I described above. The cartoon starts with the standard Little Red Riding Hood story. Riding Hood is carrying a basket of goodies to her sick grandmother. There’s a wolf. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Suddenly, Riding Hood, the grandmother, and the wolf stop performing and start complaining that the story is boring and it’s already been done. The narrator agrees and the cartoon starts over with a new title, “Red Hot Riding Hood.” The locale has changed from a forest to a city hot spot. Riding Hood, now called “Red,” is now an adult and appears to be working at a burlesque house, or at the very least, is a sexy nightclub performer. The wolf is a swinger who moves from club to club looking to hook up with the ladies. Grandma is the hip proprietor of a club. She is also hot to trot and wants to get with the wolf almost immediately. The wolf hits on Red and she’s not interested. She manages to get away from him and heads to Grandma’s. This cartoon has an insane ending where the wolf kills himself after swearing off women and spotting Red again.
Tortoise and the Hare Trilogy: “Tortoise Beats Hare” (1941), “Tortoise Wins by a Hare” (1943), and “Rabbit Transit” (1947). This trilogy is the classic tortoise and the hare fable. In Aesop’s original fable, a hare constantly harasses the slow-moving tortoise. Fed up, the tortoise challenges the hare to a race. When the race starts, the over-confident hare takes off, leaving the tortoise in the dust. He’s so confident in fact, he takes a nap. The hare awakes just in time to see the tortoise crossing the finish line.
In the Looney Tunes’ shorts, the hare-esque Bugs Bunny plays the cocky and arrogant opponent to Cecil the turtle. The first installment of the short plays just as Aesop’s Fable, except that Bugs and Cecil also make a monetary bet and we see Cecil arrange a prank with his turtle buddies to play a trick on Bugs. As Bugs rounds each checkpoint of the course, he is shocked to see Cecil there. Eventually, he gets to the finish line, only to see that Cecil has won. While Bugs does pay up, he is skeptical and wonders if Cecil cheated. We then see Cecil and his turtle friends all holding dollar bills. This ending does somewhat go against the lesson learned in the fable, but it’s funny.
In the second installment, Bugs Bunny is still trying to figure out how Cecil beat him. Bugs deduces that it was Cecil’s shell which gave him the advantage over rabbits. He challenges Cecil to a rematch. Bugs even goes as far as to build his own shell to use in the race. Somehow, the rabbit mob gets wind of the rematch and bets a large sum of money on Bugs winning and Cecil losing. The race starts and Bugs Bunny gets a sizeable lead. He then puts on his Cecil costume to continue the race. Except the mob spot him, think he’s a turtle and start beating him up. Meanwhile, Cecil puts on a Bugs Bunny costume and ends up helped to the finish line by the rabbit mob. Bugs Bunny is disgusted, removes his Cecil costume to reveal that the mob just helped Cecil win.
In the final installment, Bugs and Cecil’s story is retconned and the previous two altercations between Bugs and Cecil never happened. Bugs is reading Aesop’s “The Tortoise and the Hare” and is incensed at the ending, insisting that a hare would never lose to a tortoise. Cecil scoffs, saying that the ending is believable. Bugs challenges Cecil to a race. They also mutually agree not to cheat. We then discover that Cecil has a motor installed in his shell. Eventually Bugs wins the race, but is tricked by Cecil into admitting that he was easily going over 100 mph. Cecil has Bugs arrested. Because of course.
“Bewitched Bunny” (1954). This is the Looney Tunes send up of the classic German Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel are siblings who live alone in a forest. They attract the attention of a witch, who lives in a house made of bread, sugar, and cake. The witch has built the home to attract the attention of the children, because she wants to eat them. Taking advantage of the children’s loneliness, cold, and hunger, the witch lures them with food and the promise of a warm home and cozy beds. She then spends the next few weeks fattening them up until they are good enough to eat. Eventually Gretel wises up and shoves the witch into the oven when she was about to do the same to her.
Bugs Bunny seems to be at the forefront of all of these fairy tale spoofs. This cartoon also features Witch Hazel. Witch Hazel is a very proud witch who prides herself on her ugliness and needs constant reassurance from her magic mirror that nobody else is uglier than her. However, one day, her confidence is shattered when her mirror announces that an even uglier witch has arrived. This ugly witch is actually Bugs Bunny in a Halloween costume. While trick or treating, Bugs spots Witch Hazel coaxing young Hansel and Gretel into her home. Hansel and Gretel speak with German accents in case there was any doubt about their story’s heritage. There is a funny, albeit somewhat morbid scene where Witch Hazel is reading a cookbook about cooking children that includes recipes like “Moppet Muffins,” “Waif Waffles,” and my personal favorite, “Smorgas Boy.”
To save the children, Bugs Bunny poses as a truant officer and comes to Witch Hazel’s door. There’s a running gag with Bugs and other characters being confused about Hansel’s name. I’m not sure what that was about. Unfortunately for Bugs Bunny, Witch Hazel becomes more interesting in eating him when she realizes that he’s not in fact a truant officer, but rather a rabbit. At one point, Bugs Bunny is asleep and he is awoken by Prince Charming’s kiss. Bugs tells him that he’s in the wrong story and Snow White (another Brothers Grimm tale) isn’t there. He then tells the Prince that he’s in Hansel and Gretel. The Prince is also confused about Hansel’s name. Witch Hazel busts in, she’s found Bugs Bunny. Bugs grabs some sort of potion from behind the “In case of emergency, break glass” and throws it at Witch Hazel. The potion transforms her into a gorgeous woman–her worst nightmare! Bugs then has a wild ending line about Witch Hazel’s transformation “Aren’t they (women) all witches inside?” Yikes, Bugs Bunny!
“Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears” (1944). This is a re-telling of the classic British fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In the original story, a young woman with golden locks of hair more or less burglarizes the home of the three bears: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. She tries each bear’s porridge, one is too hot, one is too cold, and one is just right and she eats it. She then sits in their chairs, one is too hard, one is too soft, one is just right and she breaks it. Finally, Goldilocks is exhausted and decides to sleep. Again, one bed is too hard, one bed is too soft, and one bed is just right. The three bears come home to find Goldilocks asleep in baby bear’s bed. She awakens and runs out of the home. Never to be seen again.
In the Bugs Bunny version, the Three Bears having already gone through the aforementioned Goldilocks situation, want to entice her to come back to their home because they’re starving. They decide to use carrot soup as bait. The Three Bears then pretend to leave, thinking that Goldilocks will return if she thinks the house is empty. Instead, the aroma of the carrot soup attracts the attention of Bugs Bunny and he ends up the Goldilocks of the story.
The Three Bears are unable to capture Bugs Bunny as planned. As a means to escape, Bugs compliments Mama Bear. However, this woman is obviously starved for affection from her husband, because she takes to Bugs very quickly and showers him with kisses and affection. Mama won’t keep her hands off of him. There’s a very funny scene where Bugs opens each and every door trying to escape. Behind each door is Mama in a seductive costume, one of which appears to be a Veronica Lake-type look. Mama continues her lust for Bugs all the way through the ending credits.
The Three Bears were used in multiple shorts by the Looney Tunes. In another short, the family is completely dysfunctional and out of control. They’re like a bizarro version of The Berenstain Bears, if there was no Sister Bear.
Maleficent, upset that she was not invited to the party, and places a horrible curse on Aurora–on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on a spindle before sunset and die. Merryweather, not wanting the Princess to die at such a young age and in such an oddly specific way, uses her spell to somewhat mitigate Maleficent’s. Instead of dying after pricking her finger, Aurora will simply fall into a deep sleep, hence the title, Sleeping Beauty, and can only be awakened by love’s true kiss–obviously setting up the famous scene of Prince Phillip kissing and waking up Aurora.
Despite the fact that they could have avoided this whole situation by simply inviting Maleficent to the party, the King and Queen order that all spindles in the kingdom be destroyed to protect Aurora from Maleficent’s curse. Thinking that it would be safer to raise Aurora away from the kingdom, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather come up with a plan to sequester her at their cottage in the forest until her sixteenth birthday. To further hide her identity, Aurora is renamed “Briar Rose.” To keep Aurora even safer from Maleficent finding her, Flora forces Fauna and Merryweather to put away their magic wands and live as mere mortals.
For sixteen years, Briar Rose and the fairies live happily. As can be expected, the Princess grows up into a beautiful young woman. On the day of her sixteenth birthday, the fairies send Briar Rose out of the house to gather berries as a ruse so that they can throw her a surprise party. While in the forest, singing with the animals, Briar Rose attracts the attention of the now very handsome Prince Phillip (who is, in my opinion, the hottest Disney prince) who is also in the woods. They sing “Once Upon a Dream” together and promptly fall in love.
Unfortunately for Briar Rose, while she’s out in the forest falling in love with Prince Phillip, the fairies fail miserably at baking a birthday cake and sewing a beautiful new dress. Wanting Briar Rose’s birthday to be special, Flora agrees to let the fairies use their magic to make a proper dress and cake. Flora and Merryweather attract the attention of Maleficent’s minion, a crow named Diablo by fighting over the color of Briar Rose’s dress, using their wands to switch the dress from pink to blue. Then Briar Rose returns home and tells the fairies about Phillip. They reveal her true identity as Princess Aurora and warn her to not see Phillip again. Diablo hears this and returns to Maleficent to give her the news. Later that evening, the fairies return Aurora home to her parents.
The fairies end up overhearing a conversation between Aurora and Phillip’s fathers, and learn that Phillip is the man whom Aurora met in the forest. While this is going on, Maleficent’s curse unfortunately comes to fruition. Aurora is lured to a spindle in the dungeon of her castle by a mysterious light. This whole scene is very spooky with the dark scenery, ominous green light, and eerie sounding music seemingly hypnotizing poor Aurora. She pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep. To keep the everyone in the kingdom from finding out, the fairies place a spell on the consituents–placing them into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, Maleficent abducts and imprisons Phillip in an effort to prevent him from saving Aurora–can this woman carry a grudge or what? It’s been sixteen years, get over it already! However, the fairies find him and rescue him. This sets up the exciting action sequence in the film where Phillip fights Maleficent who has transformed herself into a ferocious dragon. Of course Phillip defeats her with his sword and this sets up the iconic scene of Phillip awakening Aurora and them marrying. Then of course, Merryweather and Flora’s fight over the color of Aurora’s dress (pink or blue) continues into eternity while the newlyweds dance the night away.
Better late than never, right? I probably shouldn’t agree to participate in events so close to Christmastime. Anyway, I wanted to at least finish this post. So here goes.
I love Looney Tunes, I remember watching them on TV back in the day. I used to watch The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show every Saturday morning. Then, I remember also watching Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network and probably other channels. Then there was Tiny Toon Adventures which featured the “grown” Looney Tunes characters teaching the tricks of the trade to their younger counterparts. That show was a lot of fun. More recently, Cartoon Network featured The Looney Tunes Show, a sitcom-style cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The premise of the show is that Bugs has retired and is living large after inventing a revolutionary carrot peeler. He no longer lives underground and instead lives in a nice home in a suburban neighborhood. Daffy Duck is Bugs’ roommate who moves in after falling on hard times and in need of support in every sense of the word. Daffy is a mooch who leeches off of Bugs’ money. For whatever reason, Bugs won’t kick him out. Despite my skepticism, The Looney Tunes show is actually very funny and clever.
I own all of the Looney Tunes Platinum volumes, as well as the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, and am so excited that Warner Brothers is releasing more volumes of Looney Tunes shorts. During this past April at the TCM Film Festival, my husband and I attended a panel celebrating Looney Tunes, specifically their Oscar-winning shorts. While we’d seen most of the shorts before, it was still a lot of fun and I love that Looney Tunes are still beloved today as they were decades prior. I think my love of classic film has definitely added to my enjoyment of the Looney Tunes. Since these shorts were originally created to air alongside the feature film, they were produced for adults as well as they lampooned the stars of the day. Where else but Looney Tunes would a classic film fan be able to identify a caricature of Ann Sheridan or Cesar Romero? Looney Tunes used spoofs of classic Hollywood stars for their basic character archetypes. A character resembling Edward G. Robinson was often a gangster, whereas someone resembling Humphrey Bogart might be a detective. Peter Lorre’s image was often spoofed whenever a strange character is needed, such as a mad scientist.
Michigan J. Frog hilariously won’t perform in front of strangers–only for his owner.
These are my Top 5 Favorite Looney Tunes shorts:
“One Froggy Evening” (1955). A one-time appearance for what would eventually become Warner Brothers’ mascot, most memorably on the WB Network for a decade starting in 1995, before the channel changed branding and renamed itself the CW. “One Froggy Evening” starts with a man finding a box beneath the rubble at a construction site. After opening the box, the man finds a document dated 1892 and a live frog inside. Seeing daylight, the frog grabs his top hat and cane and starts singing and dancing to “Hello, Ma Baby!” Seeing his chance to make millions, the man starts marketing the singing and dancing frog. The only issue? The frog will only sing and dance when he and the man are alone. When other people are present, the frog acts like a regular frog. Throughout the short, the man’s life is slowly ruined as attempt after attempt to extort the frog fails. He reaches rock bottom when he’s arrested for disturbing the peace. The man is now homeless, living on a park bench, with the frog singing opera. When he tries to blame the noise on the frog, the policeman has the man committed. The funniest part of this entire thing comes at the end, when the frog is in the window of the sanitarium, caressing the bars and singing “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone.”
“What’s Opera Doc?” (1957) Elmer Fudd is trying to hunt down Bugs Bunny once again, but this time, he’s dressed as the heroic figure, Siegfried, from the Germanic legend. He sings “Kill the Wabbit” to the tune of “Ride of the Valkyries.” This then evolves into a full opera, with Bugs Bunny dressed in drag as Valkyrie Brunnhilde. ”Siegfried” and “Brunnhilde” dance in the opera as the hunt pursues and the story of the opera unfolds. This entire thing is hysterical as well as very well done. I recognized the music but had to look up the names of the characters. I am not up on my German operas. This short was eventually inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Film Registry.
“Hollywood Steps Out” (1941). This is a short film featuring a cavalcade of Hollywood stars spending the evening at the hot nightclub, Ciro’s. This film is a “who’s who” of classic Hollywood (in 1941) and an absolute treat for any fan of classic Hollywood. Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche are seen at a table, then Adolph Menjou and Norma Shearer. Cary Grant is sitting alone and name drops three of his films. Greta Garbo is working as a cigarette girl, lighting matches with her enormous feet. “Oomph Girl” Ann Sheridan is heard saying “oomph” over and over again. Johnny Weissmuller is seen checking his coat and is decked out in a formal version of his Tarzan costume. Famous bubble dancer, Sally Rand, performs. Famous film gangsters, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft are playing some sort of game with pennies. We observe Clark Gable and his enormous ears chasing a mysterious woman around the club. Other stars, including Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Tyrone Power, James Stewart, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, and dozens more are seen. The big reveal is when Gable finally catches up to the “mysterious woman.”
“Hair-Raising Hare” (1946). This short features Bugs Bunny being hunted by an evil scientist (who looks a lot like Peter Lorre). The scientist wants to serve Bugs to his monster, Gossamer. Gossamer is orange, large, and wears sneakers. Using a female rabbit robot, the scientist lures Bugs to his castle. Eventually Bugs is locked inside the castle after learning that the female rabbit was in fact, a robot. This starts a cat and mouse game between Bugs and Gossamer, which features the hilarious scene of Bugs pretending to be a gossipy manicurist. He says to Gossamer, “I bet you monsters lead interesting lives…and I’ll bet you meet a lot of interesting people, too. I am always interested in meeting interesting people.” This whole cartoon is hysterical. In The Looney Tunes Show, Gossamer is one of Bugs Bunny’s neighbors and he’s the same size, but he’s a child. Daffy Duck helps him run for class president using the slogan “Gossamer is Awesomer.”
“Three Little Bops” (1957). This is a short that tells the story of the Three Little Pigs, except this time they’re jazz musicians. The Big Bad Wolf desperately wants to be part of the band, but he’s too square. Each time the wolf makes his appearance, the Bops are playing a different gig–House of Straw, House of Sticks, and House of Bricks. Each time the Bops throw the Wolf out of the band for being lame, he retaliates by blowing the club down, using his trumpet. The Big Bad Wolf finally makes the cut when he dies, goes to Hell, thus is “hot,” his trumpet playing improves and now can play “cool.” His ghost joins the band. This is such a fun short. I love the music and the creative re-telling of the fairy tale.
I love Disneyland. My husband and I have been numerous times. It is so much fun. We live too far away to have annual passes and have to save up to go; but believe me, if we lived in Southern California, I would have an annual pass! Anyway, like many people, I grew up with Disney movies. One of the first movies I remember seeing in the theater was The Little Mermaid in 1989 when I was 5. I was at the prime age to go to the theater and see the first-run releases of Disney films during the Disney Renaissance. I will admit that I have not seen the last three films during the Renaissance– Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan.
However, in addition to the “new” Disney films, I also loved all the classic Disney films that were released during Walt Disney’s lifetime, specifically the films that were hand drawn by animators before Disney started using Xerox for their animation, beginning with 101 Dalmatians. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were my favorite films released during this era.
Lady Tremaine, her daughters, and presumably Lucifer. Why did Cinderella’s dad marry her anyway? Maybe she came with a lot of money or land or something.
Cinderella is based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale of the same name. Disney stayed relatively true to Perrault’s original story, with only a few changes. At the beginning of Disney’s version of Cinderella, a narrator explains how Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods) ended up living with her stepmother, Lady Tremaine (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and her daughters, Anastasia (voiced by Lucille Bliss) and Drizella (voiced by Rhoda Williams). It is explained that Cinderella’s mother died, and her father remarried to the Widow Lady Tremaine who had two young daughters. Cinderella’s father dies, leaving her alone with her stepmother and stepsisters.
Lady Tremaine is jealous of Cinderella’s beauty and sees her as competition for her, to put it charitably, less attractive, less talented, less couth, daughters. As a result, she keeps Cinderella sheltered and basically forces her to become a servant in her own home. Nowadays the term “Cinderella” is often used when someone feels like they’re being taken advantage of and forced to be a maid in their own home. “I’m not Cinderella” is a common refrain. Lady Tremaine also allows her daughters and even her cat, Lucifer (voiced by June Foray), to treat Cinderella like garbage as well and the three seem to delight in making Cinderella’s life miserable.
The mice draw “straws”
The only happiness Cinderella has is through dreaming, such as at the beginning when she is heard crooning “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” Because of her good heart and kindness, all the animals flock to Cinderella and serve as her companions. Cinderella even sews little clothes for the animals. The birds and mice wear adorable little hats, scarves, dresses, shoes, and shirts. The original Charles Perrault version does not include any delightful animals, which frankly is a shame. Every story needs a girl mouse who says “leave the sewin’ to the women, you go get some trimmin’ ” to the male mice (“The Work Song”). The animals help Cinderella get ready for the day, and a new mouse, Gus (voiced by James MacDonald), joins the gang.
After an especially miserable day, including Lucifer tracking dirt all over Cinderella’s freshly scrubbed floors, the women receive a notice from the palace. It seems that the King (voiced by Luis van Rooten) is desperate for his son, Prince Charming (voiced by William Edward Phipps, singing voice Mike Douglas), to marry and have children before he dies. His right hand man, the Grand Duke (also voiced by van Rooten), tries to calm him down, but is unsuccessful. The King puts on a ball and orders that every eligible maiden in the kingdom is invited. Thus, Lady Tremaine’s household receives an invite.
(Reading the notice sent by the kingdom)
LADY TREMAINE: And, by royal command, every eligible maiden is to attend.
DRIZELLA: Why, that’s us!
ANASTASIA: And I’m so eligible!
Eleanor Audley voicing “Lady Tremaine,” Rhoda Williams voicing “Drizella,” and Lucille Bliss voicing “Anastasia.”
The women are ecstatic and go to work getting ready. Cinderella, hearing that the invitation was for *all* eligible maidens asks permission to attend. Lady Tremaine, the vindicative cruel woman she is, tells Cinderella she can *if* she gets her chores done and finds something suitable to wear. Cinderella is overjoyed and finds an old dress in a trunk and plans to spruce it up to make it fancier. However, Lady Tremaine sees to it that Cinderella is busy to the last minute so that she can’t possibly be ready in time. The animals, wanting to help their friend, go to work finding beads and ribbons and fix up “Cinderelly’s” dress.
Anastasia, Drizella, Lady Tremaine and their bustles leave for the ball.
Much to Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella’s dismay, Cinderella finishes her chores and makes it downstairs in her new gown in time to leave for the ball. Lady Tremaine, because she sucks, makes sure to point out to Drizella that Cinderella’s beads look nicer on her than they did on Drizella. The sash on Cinderella’s dress is pointed out to Anastasia. Lady Tremaine knows that her daughters will flip out that Cinderella is using their property, even though they’d dramatically discarded it previously. After Anastasia and Drizella are done, Cinderella’s dress is in tatters. The women leave for the ball, and Cinderella runs, sobbing, to the garden.
Perhaps one of the most gorgeous pieces of animation in any Disney film.
Suddenly, the Fairy Godmother (voiced by Verna Felton), materializes and consoles Cinderella. Through the delightful “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” the Fairy Godmother transforms a pumpkin into a carriage. She corrals the farm animals and mice and turns them into a team of horses, coachman and footman. Finally it’s Cinderella’s turn. With a twirl of her magic wand, the Fairy Godmother turns Cinderella’s tattered pink dress into a gorgeous silver and white ballgown. Cinderella is gifted a pair of glass slippers as that final touch to complete the look. The Fairy Godmother sends her on her way, but with one stipulation, she must leave by midnight. The spell will end at midnight and all will revert back to as they were previously.
At the ball, Prince Charming is bored to tears, until he spots Cinderella. The two dance a romantic dance, “So This is Love,” and it seems like Cinderella will soon be saved from her horrible home. Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella are fascinated by Cinderella, feeling like they know her from somewhere. Eventually, the clock strikes twelve and Cinderella races out of the castle, leaving a glass slipper on the stairs.
Lady Tremaine’s face when Cinderella reveals the glass slipper.
Enamored, the Prince announces that he met the woman he wants to marry, the only problem is he doesn’t know who she is or where she lives. Apparently, it didn’t occur to him to ask Cinderella her name while they were dancing. The King orders the Grand Duke to take the slipper and try it on every eligible maiden in hopes of finding its owner. My question is how can Cinderella be the only woman in town that wears her specific size? But I’ve decided that the shoes are enchanted and maybe they’ll ONLY fit Cinderella. My other question is why Prince Charming doesn’t go with the Grand Duke, because he could just look at the women without dealing with the shoe. But maybe that task is unbecoming of him.
(After the glass slipper shatters on the floor)
GRAND DUKE: Oh, no! Oh, no, no. Oh, no. Oh this is terrible! The King! What will he say?
(clutches throat)
GRAND DUKE: What will he do?
CINDERELLA: But perhaps, if it would help…
GRAND DUKE (crying): No, no, nothing can help now. Nothing!
CINDERELLA (revealing the other glass slipper) But, you see, I have the other slipper!
Luis van Rooten voicing the “Grand Duke” and Ilene Woods voicing “Cinderella.”
We all know how Cinderella ends, Anastasia and Drizella’s giant clown feet don’t fit in the slipper, no matter how much they try. The first slipper is shattered after Lady Tremaine trips the Grand Duke. Cinderella produces the second slipper, it fits, and she and the Prince are married. Cinderella gets to leave her hellish home, never to return and she and the Prince live happily ever after.
Cinderella is one of my favorite Disney movies. The music in this film is gorgeous. I love the animation, especially in the “Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale” number and the animation of Cinderella’s ball gown. The ball gown animation might be one of the best pieces of animation ever done. It is absolutely gorgeous. The voice acting is excellent and I love the relationship between Cinderella and the animals.
Lucifer’s “button nose” lol
There are also many funny moments, such as the terrible music lesson with Anastasia poorly playing the flute (or perhaps the fife?) and getting her finger stuck inside one of the holes, while Drizella attempts to sing “Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale.” This moment is juxtaposed nicely with Cinderella’s beautiful rendition of the same song. I also like when Lucifer’s nose is hit with a button, leaving an imprint of the button holes. The King’s obsession with his son marrying and producing grandchildren is funny because it’s so manic, to the point where he’s attacking his Grand Duke with a sword and destroying his bedroom in the process. I also love the Fairy Godmother’s reaction to Cinderella’s tattered rag of a dress when Cinderella points out that she needs something suitable to wear to the ball.
(After creating the carriage, coachmen, footmen, and horses to take Cinderella to the ball)
FAIRY GODMOTHER: Well, hop in my dear. We can’t waste time.
CINDERELLA: Oh I wasn’t… I mean, I do, but-but, don’t you think my dress…
(Cinderella points to her tattered rag of a dress)
FAIRY GODMOTHER: Yes, it’s lovely, dear, lov…
(Sees the dress)
FAIRY GODMOTHER: Good heavens child! You can’t go like that!
Verna Felton voicing “Fairy Godmother” and Ilene Woods voicing “Cinderella”
Disney balances the romance and drama beautifully with the comedic moments interspersed throughout. The “Nine Old Men” out did themselves on the animation. As did artist Mary Blair, whose concept art for Cinderella lent to the film’s gorgeous and unique aesthetic. Blair is best known for designing the characters used in Disney’s theme park side, “It’s a Small World” which debuted at Disneyland in 1966 after originally appearing at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. She also completed concept art for other Disney films including Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.
