Gulliver's Travels (1939)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Dave Fleischer
Willard Bowsky

Writers:

Dan Gordon (writer)
Cal Howard (writer)

Release Date:

22 December 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Adventure | Animation | Fantasy

Tagline:

The Amazing Characters in Jonathan Swift's Immortal Fantasy Come To Life !

Plot:

Gulliver washes ashore on Lilliput and attempts to prevent war between that tiny kingdom and its equally-miniscule rival...

Plot Keywords:

Gabby | 1700s | Prince | King | Princess

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Jessica Dragonette	...	Princess Glory (singing voice)
Lanny Ross	...	Prince David (singing voice)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording) | Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | Spain:T

Company:

Fleischer Studios

Trivia:

The world premiere of this film was on November 18, 1939 at the Sheridan Theater in Miami Beach, Florida, because the Max Fleischer Studio was in Miami, Florida. The New York City trade-showing premiere was two days later, and the national release date followed that by two days.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gabby: [singing] Oh, well, what a rainy day. / Never mind that cloud, behind that cloud you'll find in all that rain.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: Federated Resources (#2.2)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

We're All Together Now

Forget the put downs....I dig it !!

I've seen this many times over the years, and it's one of my absolute favorites. Some folks seem to think the Fleischers have to take a back seat to Disney.

NOT !!

They were, in many instances ( such as this one), far more inventive than Disney, and their work did not lose touch with common emotions,and had broad-based appeal to all ages, despite technical complexity.

Mickey Mouse will never go off the air. But neither will Betty Boop or Popeye.

In its own special way, "Gulliver's Travels" rivals the Disney features with its complexity, and its lack of laziness. If you really look at it, and keep in mind that this is animation done by hand...the old fashioned way, you will have a keener appreciation for the hard work that went into it. In those days, Disney and the Fleischers had to run the studios like a factory. It took teams of men in units and working shifts to concentrate on just the movements of the characters to make them appear lifelike (not like the computer animation of to-day, or even the TV animation of UPA or Hanna-Barbera in the 1950s).

"Roto-scoping", a process invented by the Fleischers, made the task that much more daunting. But the Fleischers had to be "perfectionists/masochists". The love of their craft shows in the movements, the backgrounds, the stories, and the music...not to mention the characters.

I am truly taken with the score. It is warm and dreamy and romantic....tearful to some. Some folks can't get with it, but it's a shame we don't don't hear much real music like that anymore in the mainstream.

Win Sharples and Victor Young did a very fine job...one of the best of All cartoon scores. Work on this film appears to have gotten Win Sharples the scoring job for the Fleischers, one he held down after the Fleischers were given the gate by Paramount, and which he continued to hold until Famous Studios was padlocked.

I can't recommend this feature highly enough. It's good clean fun, an accurate character study, terrific music, animation...the "whole nine".