Welcome to a special Classic Shorts Showcase as today, I'll be taking a look at a short that starred Walt Disney, himself. As I review, Mickey and The Beanstalk. This short would actually be the last time that Walt ever voiced Mickey. Let's begin.
The Plot
The plot of this short is rather simple as it borrows the tale of Jack and The Beanstalk and reworks it so that the comedic talents of Mickey, Donald and Goofy can be seen. So instead of it being Jack living with his mother, Mickey, Donald and Goofy live as three farmers in Happy Valley. Though for the most part they stay true to the tale.
Narration
Narrators - Edgar Bergen with the aid of Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd
The narration for this short was rather unique for two reasons as two different versions have been released of this short with different narrators. There is the original with Edgar Bergen, which I will be covering and the short was also re-released with narration by Ludwig Von Drake. However I wish to focus on the original therefore I will be covering Edgar Bergen's narration. Now this short is actually one part of the Disney film, Fun & Fancy Free. We open with a live action segment where we see Edgar Bergen performing a hand puppet trick for Disney starlet Luana Patten at her birthday. Edgar asks her if she wants anymore cake but she says no and instead Edgar Bergen decides to tell her a story and so starts our short. Now as I stated above, Edgar Bergen has some aid in his narration as this film decided to use his talent of ventriloquism and have his two puppets, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd tell the story alongside, Mr. Bergen. This was a great move because it highlighted Edgar Bergen's great comedic skills and in a way it was refreshing to hear someone make quips at the narrator such as what Charlie did and I honestly think Charlie McCarthy made the narration very funny. Don't get me wrong, Mortimer Snerd was great as well but I really think compared to Charlie McCarthy he was underplayed a little bit. Now Luana also got to do a little bit of narration as well but it was just more asking questions than anything else.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Walt Disney
Now again, it was great hearing the original voice actor preforming Donald Duck. Now this got me even more excited as this was back in the day when you actually to listen very carefully to try and figure out what Donald was saying. I actually think Donald had one of the funniest moments in this short, which is actually right at the start when Mickey is slicing up the food for all of them to eat, he starts to go crazy and takes an ax to their cow and wants to cut it up until Mickey and Goofy have to stop him but Donald has gone insane. It was just hysterical and one of the best things about this short.
Goofy voiced by Pinto Colvig
Once again, it was exciting to hear the earliest voice of Goofy in this short. Though quite honestly compared out of all the big three, I feel that Goofy was somewhat more underplayed. I don't know why that is. Oh, don't get me wrong there were some funny moments with Goofy but I think the comedy gold came from Donald Duck in this short. Now don't get me wrong there, Goofy does have a funny moment when he loses his hat and keeps on bouncing on the giant plate of jello.
Supporting Character
Harp voiced by Anita Gordon
The Harp is quite an important character as she is the one that kept Happy Valley, Happy and in a peaceful state with her beautiful singing. One day though, she was kidnapped by Willie The Giant for his own selfish reasons as he wanted her so that he could have some music to listen to when he went to sleep but The Harp was unhappy about being in Willie's possession. The Harp was a simple yet important character and just like the original tale, Mickey, Donald and Goofy actually came across The Harp by accident. She also has one moment that I was really great that shows her being really sly when she is singing to Willie while in reality, she is actually telling Mickey and the guys where the key to the box that Willie keeps her in is. That was a great little moment. She was a simple but valuable character to this story.
Music
My, What a Happy Day
The Prince and The Pauper
The Plot
The plot of this short is rather simple as it borrows the tale of Jack and The Beanstalk and reworks it so that the comedic talents of Mickey, Donald and Goofy can be seen. So instead of it being Jack living with his mother, Mickey, Donald and Goofy live as three farmers in Happy Valley. Though for the most part they stay true to the tale.
Narration
Narrators - Edgar Bergen with the aid of Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd
The narration for this short was rather unique for two reasons as two different versions have been released of this short with different narrators. There is the original with Edgar Bergen, which I will be covering and the short was also re-released with narration by Ludwig Von Drake. However I wish to focus on the original therefore I will be covering Edgar Bergen's narration. Now this short is actually one part of the Disney film, Fun & Fancy Free. We open with a live action segment where we see Edgar Bergen performing a hand puppet trick for Disney starlet Luana Patten at her birthday. Edgar asks her if she wants anymore cake but she says no and instead Edgar Bergen decides to tell her a story and so starts our short. Now as I stated above, Edgar Bergen has some aid in his narration as this film decided to use his talent of ventriloquism and have his two puppets, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd tell the story alongside, Mr. Bergen. This was a great move because it highlighted Edgar Bergen's great comedic skills and in a way it was refreshing to hear someone make quips at the narrator such as what Charlie did and I honestly think Charlie McCarthy made the narration very funny. Don't get me wrong, Mortimer Snerd was great as well but I really think compared to Charlie McCarthy he was underplayed a little bit. Now Luana also got to do a little bit of narration as well but it was just more asking questions than anything else.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Walt Disney
Now as I have stated before, this was Walt's last performance as Mickey. Now Walt delivered a great performance as usual. Mickey was a lot of fun and you could hear the emotion and passion that Walt put into playing Mickey and it was exciting to hear Walt's voice after watching so many modern cartoons with Mickey but the later voice actors, do a fantastic job but there is just something about hearing Walt doing Mickey's voice. It has often been said of Mickey that there was a little bit of Walt in the character and vise versa. I really think this is very true especially with this short.
Donald voiced by Clarence "Ducky" Nash
Goofy voiced by Pinto Colvig
Once again, it was exciting to hear the earliest voice of Goofy in this short. Though quite honestly compared out of all the big three, I feel that Goofy was somewhat more underplayed. I don't know why that is. Oh, don't get me wrong there were some funny moments with Goofy but I think the comedy gold came from Donald Duck in this short. Now don't get me wrong there, Goofy does have a funny moment when he loses his hat and keeps on bouncing on the giant plate of jello.
Supporting Character
Harp voiced by Anita Gordon
The Harp is quite an important character as she is the one that kept Happy Valley, Happy and in a peaceful state with her beautiful singing. One day though, she was kidnapped by Willie The Giant for his own selfish reasons as he wanted her so that he could have some music to listen to when he went to sleep but The Harp was unhappy about being in Willie's possession. The Harp was a simple yet important character and just like the original tale, Mickey, Donald and Goofy actually came across The Harp by accident. She also has one moment that I was really great that shows her being really sly when she is singing to Willie while in reality, she is actually telling Mickey and the guys where the key to the box that Willie keeps her in is. That was a great little moment. She was a simple but valuable character to this story.
Music
My, What a Happy Day
Now as stated above, The Harp's singing kept Happy Valley happy and this is the song that she would sing to put into everyone into a happy mood. It's a sweet and simple song and I like the inclusion of the other characters singing along with her. Now it is just me or does the bull look like Ferdinand The Bull? Probably, just coincidental. Either way, it is a fun song and very cheerful.
Fee Fi Fo Fum
Now this is fun little and silly song that introduces Willie, quite well and I like the idea that they took the famous words Fee Fi Fo Fum and actually used them as a plot device so to speak. Because of just being the booming sound that he makes when he appears, is that they are actually magic words and he can use them to turn him into anything he wants. Now this song actually makes it hard for me to call Willie a villain. Oh, don't get me wrong he is the bad guy here but it just doesn't seem to be a true villain.
My Favorite Dream
Once again, we get to hear The Harp's beautiful singing and her voice is truly the highlight of this song. It can easily put one to sleep as it has that lullaby type vibe to it and this is where The Harp is being sly and telling the guys where to find the key. I just love how smoothly that line was incorporated as it didn't throw the rest of the song off but rather it helped advance the story. I will say that out of all the shorts that I have reviewed, I think this one has the best music.
Bad Guy
Willie The Giant voiced by Billy Gilbert
Now as I said, I actually have a hard time calling Willie, a true villain. As stated above, part of it is the song and also, he is just too likable for me to truly consider him to be evil. The way I look at is yes he stole The Harp for selfish reasons but Mickey and the guys intruded his house and he was just trying to protect his territory. Okay, granted he does chase Mickey and the guys and there is actually some bit of evil in him but compared to other characters in the Disney Rouges Gallery, he isn't all that bad. I think another reason I found him to be likable was his voice as it was just very sweet and childlike. It was easy for me to grow attached to this character.
My Final Thoughts
In the end, Mickey and The Beanstalk is fun little short that a Mickey fan such as myself could truly enjoy for both the story and for the fact of getting to hear Walt preform Mickey in last role. As with all other Mickey, Donald, Goofy shorts, the chemistry between the gang is wonderful. I would even say that the live action are just as good as the short and if you choose to watch this short, I would suggest go with the Edgar Bergen narration as it is just so funny. Now of course, I have not watched it with the Ludwig Von Drake narration but I imagine he does a fine job. However, I'm partial to the Edgar Bergen narration as that is the one I'm more familiar with and I recommend this narration if you want to see this short as it originally was and for a great closing gag that involves Willie interacting with Edgar Bergen. Join me next week, when I review another Mickey short adaption. Now it is a bit newer but still old enough for me to consider it a classic. So join me when I take a look at...
No comments:
Post a Comment