Walt Disney Flys High with the Magical, Diverting Peter Pan

 

Representing one of Walt Disney Studio’s most ingratiating flights of fancy, 1953’s Peter Pan provides an exhilarating adventure with themes relatable to the young and the young-at-heart. Focusing on one exciting incident after another in recreating J.M. Barrie’s enduring 1904 tale of the title figure, a boy who won’t grow up as he whisks a trio of London children off to Neverland one fateful night, directors Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson hold audiences rapt with action-packed sequences and a rich comic flavor maintained thorough for the movie’s swift 77 minutes. One of the least pretentious of the Disney feature-length cartoons, Pan largely resists the temptation to lean on “cutesy” elements and personas, instead offering pure entertainment in a straightforward manner, wasting scant time in unfolding the fantastical storyline with creative vigor. With beautiful, artfully drawn animation, vibrant Technicolor and indelible portrayals of the famous Barrie characters by a cast of vocal talents truly engaged with their top assignments, Peter Pan allows viewers to be captured by a visionary world that could only be rendered via a group of top artists working at their imaginative best.

                As early as 1935 Disney initially expressed interest in adapting Pan for the screen, after starting the Walt Disney Studios in 1923 and first finding fame with the introduction of Mickey Mouse in 1928, then going on to win a passel of animated shorts Academy Awards in the 1930s. However, before Pan could reach the screen other passion projects, including 1937’s landmark Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length cartoon, and quality follow-ups such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi as well as the onslaught of WWII halted Pan’s progress. With indifferent reaction to several post-Bambi undertakings, including 1951’s offbeat Alice in Wonderland, with 1950’s Cinderella the main entry hitting the bullseye with audiences during this experimental period, Disney must have understood the importance at this critical juncture of focusing on the release of a beloved family-friendly work that could appeal to the masses with maximum impact.

From the carefully staged intro to the film, wherein the Darlings, the family at the center of the scenario, are introduced in a clear manner that quickly establishes personality traits for each member, including Nana, the Darling’s loyal nursemaid dog, it’s evident Disney’s pulse is on the production, fostering the ultimate objective of making a smart, fast-paced, entertainment for young and old alike. With the aid of “Disney’s Nine Old Men,” animators who had toiled at the studio since the 1920s and 30s, with Ollie Johnson and Ward Kimball chief among them, a gorgeous feast for the eyes was also guaranteed, with lush layouts and expertly drawn characters (including distinct behavioral attributes for each) enabling the whole otherworldly enterprise to come alive onscreen with style, humor and intensity. Following Pan, Disney would remain the go-to symbol for prime family fare until his death in late 1966, via continued animation gems such as Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, branching out into live-action films with 1954’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, followed by hits such as Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor and the biggest one, 1964’s Mary Poppins and starting in 1954, via the debut of the long-running Disneyland television series, a year prior to the opening of the renowned theme park in Anaheim.

                Established Disney star Bobby Driscoll comes through in admirable fashion as the enlivening, free-spirited Pan. Previously scoring in Disney outings such as Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart before winning a special Juvenile Oscar for ace work in a engrossing film noir, The Window, then returning to Disney for the live-action Treasure Island, Driscoll fully inhabits the role of Pan with substantial brio, clearly delineating the mischievous nature of the sprite by lending plenty of energetic dash to his line readings, while also utilizing a touching innocence to show the good-hearted and sensitive aspects of Pan’s demeanor. Although the role had normally been played by a female prior to and (on stage, at least) subsequent to Disney’s version, Driscoll places his Pan among the most satisfying and beguiling portrayals of the pint-sized hero. As Pan’s constant sidekick, with nary a word spoken, Pan introduced one of Disney’s most lasting (and marketable) figures via Tinkerbell, the beautifully formed pixie with moxie, possessing a wealth of personality and temperament to go along with her curvy appeal, as she jealously attempts to guard Peter from Wendy with near-Fatal Attraction fervor. Despite her impish, often indignant behavior, Tinkerbell is so fully rendered a viewer is irresistibly drawn to the impish nymph, which allows the most serious and moving moment in the film to ring true, and an audience to side with Tinkerbell and pull for her ultimate well-being. 

                As Wendy Darling, the practical-but-dreamy young girl eager to experience the wonders of Neverland while also nurturing the Lost Boys therein as a mother figure, Kathyn Beaumont using her engaging, ultra-proper diction and spritely delivery to embody the confident miss with gratifying finesse. After starting out as a small child in films via 1944’s It Happened One Sunday, the London-born Beaumont would appear briefly in a few MGM films, including On an Island with You, before securing the plum role of Alice in Disney’s opulent 1951 retelling of the Lewis Carroll 1965 fantasy. Handling the role of Alice with precision and the apt amount of energy and willfulness informed Disney he had the right performer to put over Wendy with charm and strength. Beaumont keeps the character likably relatable throughout, with her honest, centered work making Wendy the main audience identification point. After this success Beamont would largely retreat from acting to focus on studies, eventually turning to a long-term teaching career as an adult.

Hans Conried, after over a decade lending his imposing voice and florid comic style to films and radio, witnessed a banner 1953, with career defining work both as a vain, sinister and buffoonish Captain Hook for the ages and, in a similar vein, the controlling, equally flamboyant, Dr. Terwilliker in the eye-catching The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, formed from the wildly original mind of Dr. Seuss. As Hook, Conried is clearly having a ball illustrating the character’s egomaniacal demeanor, obsession with taking down arch-nemesis Pan and, most theatrically, Hook’s abject fear of the ever-lurking crocodile responsible for his hooklike state after an earlier encounter. One eagerly awaits each appearance of the amusing croc, so colorful he actually breaks the fourth wall at one point, in order to witness Conried’s unrestricted, emotionally drenched delivery of the petrified Hook’s wail-ridden tirades as he runs amok in a quest to avoid his toothsome fate. Doing double duty, Conried also starts out the film with a deft study of the dramatic, agitated Mr. Darling. Following this peak year, Conried would continue to appear in films and television as a par excellence actor carrying his own particular technique into each role, until is 1982 passing at age 64.

In other roles Bill Thompson scores strongly as Smee, Hook’s always put-upon right-hand man. Thompson plays up the cartoonish aspects of his voice to heighten Smee’s consistently befuddled state, allowing him to remain likable and upbeat regardless of the nefarious activity he sometimes is subjected to via Hook’s orders. Tom Conway, with his cultivated tones, provides smooth narration, while Heather Angel, an established British plater with credits such as The Informer and Lifeboat to her credit, offers a warm, knowing portrait of Mrs. Darling, compassionate with her brood and understanding of her husband’s volatile nature. As Wendy’s younger brothers, the bespeckled, levelheaded John and Michael, the amiable toddler of the group, Paul Collins and Tommy Luske vocally match up very well with their choice assignments. In cameos, voice legend of many classic cartoons, June Foray and Margaret Kerry, who served as the model for Tinkerbell, pop up as flirtatious mermaids Peter and Wendy meet in Neverland.

                Released through RKO in February of 1953, Peter Pan proved an instant box-office success with the Baby Boomer generation and gained positive critical reaction, including a Newsweek cover story that heralded Disney’s latest triumph. During its initial run the film earned $7,000,000 in U.S./Canadian rentals, thereby landing at #5 among the top hits of the year (according to Variety’s yearly list for 1953). Subsequent releases has raised the film’s profits considerably to where Pan now ranks among the top money-making films of the 1950s, while other high-profile references to the movie such as the “Peter Pan’s Flight” ride at various Disneylands and Tinkerbell’s enduring  place as a top Disney mascot, specifically her launching of each episode of the long-running Disneyland television show, and a constant presence on various physical media formats over the past decades have allow the movie to stay relevant while gaining an abundance of fans with each new Disney-loving generation. The ongoing devotion to Peter Pan is warranted, as rarely was Disney and company able to intermesh all of the studio’s creative forces so perfectly, resulting in a timeless whimsical cinematic gem that brings out the adventure-seeking child in all viewers.