Fun & Fancy Free (1947)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Directors:

Jack Kinney
Hamilton Luske

Writers:

Homer Brightman (story) &
Harry Reeves (story) ...

Release Date:

27 September 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Music

Tagline:

It's Got That DISNEY MAGIC! (original print media ad - many caps)

Plot:

Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: "Bongo," about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and "Mickey and the Beanstalk," a take on the famous fairy tale.

Plot Keywords:

Bear | Circus | Jiminy Cricket | Mickey Mouse | Mace

Cast

Edgar Bergen	...	Himself
Dinah Shore	...	(voice)
Charlie McCarthy	...	Himself
Mortimer Snerd	...	Himself
Luana Patten	...	Herself
Walt Disney	...	Mickey Mouse (voice) (as Mickey Mouse)
Anita Gordon	...	Singing Harp (voice)
Cliff Edwards	...	Jiminy Cricket (voice)
Billy Gilbert	...	Willie the Giant (voice)
Clarence Nash	...	Donald Duck (voice)
The King's Men	...	Themselves (as The Kings Men)
The Dinning Sisters	...	Themselves
The Starlighters	...	Themselves

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:G (re-rating) (1970) | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Denmark:A (2003) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #12068, General Audience)

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

This is the fifth of seven "package films" released by Disney in the 1940s due to wartime budgetary constraints. They were called "package films" because they were feature-length films containing two or more short films tied together by surrounding material. In this canon, Fun & Fancy Free (1947) was preceded by The Reluctant Dragon (1941) , Saludos Amigos (1942) , The Three Caballeros (1944) , and Make Mine Music (1946) and followed by Melody Time (1948) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) .

Quotes:

Mortimer Snerd: [referring to giant footprints] Oh, gosh! Who made them?
Charlie McCarthy: Well, it wasn't Cinderella.

Movie Connections:

Featured in DTV: Golden Oldies (1984) (V)

Soundtrack:

Fun and Fancy Free

Fancyful Fun

Another watchable Disney package film, consisting of only two segments this time.

While the Bongo episode is quite cuddly in its own right, its thin narrative feels rather overstretched and Dinah Shore's syrupy narration and singing add too much schmaltz to the mix.

So it's up to Mickey, Donald and Goofy to save the day in the beanstalk segment, which is narrated by Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist's puppets in a wonderfully ironic tone. The episode itself is effectively paced, with funny, somber and thrilling moments in perfect balance and some catchy tunes thrown in for good measure. It's one of the three cartoon stars' best teamings. (And the final joke is nice.)

7 out of 10 harp loving giants