Another entry in the "books come alive" subgenre, with possibly more books coming alive than any other. We begin with some musical numbers, notably the various pages of Green Pastures all joining in on a song, The Thin Man entering The White House Cookbook and exiting much fatter, and The House of Seven (Clark) Gables singing backup to Old King Cole. The Three Musketeers break loose, become Three Men on a Horse, grab the Seven Keys to Baldpate, and set the Prisoner of Zenda free. They are soon chased by horsemen from The Charge of the Light Brigade and Under Two Flags and beset by the cannons of All Quiet on the Western Front. All this disturbs the sleep of Rip Van Winkle, who opens Hurricane so that everyone is (all together now) Gone with the Wind.
Mel Blanc
Town Crier / Praying Baby / Rip Van Winkle / Emily Host / Alladin
Delos Jewkes
Old King Cole
Tedd Pierce
W. C. Fields
Georgia Stark
Whistler's Mother / Heidi
Director
Frank Tashlin
Characters
Charles Dickens
Characters
Dashiell Hammett
Characters
Wilhelm Grimm
Characters
H.G. Wells
Characters
Gaston Leroux
Characters
Alexandre Dumas
Characters
Washington Irving
Characters
Mary Shelley
Characters
Robert Louis Stevenson
Characters
Sax Rohmer
Characters
Jacob Grimm
Characters
Daniel Defoe
Characters
Johanna Spyri
Characters
Thorne Smith
Characters
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Story
Jack Miller
March 17, 2024
7
A rather annoying cuckoo clock summons us all to the town crier who rather monotonically introduces us to figures from fictional history. Amongst them are "Fu Manchu", "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Jekyll" - but they are not so menacing after all as they indulge in something akin to the dance of the "Sugar Plum Fairy". That's the start of our ensuing jolly and quite innovative trawl through a library of books that gives the animators an excuse to use the titles as some creative inspiration for the drawings and for the musicians to imaginatively score along to, too. I especially liked "Whistler's Mother", "Bulldog Drummin" and that has to be Charles Laughton on the front of "Mutiny on the Bounty"... Do we get to castles? Well not really - but that doesn't seem to matter as the snake charmers and even Henry VIII get in on the act. Who knew little boy actually blew!!?
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00