Dumbo (film)

• Release Date: 1941
• Director(s): Ben Sharpsteen
• Writer(s): Joe Grant; Dick Huemer

Dumbo was an animated family film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Released in 1941, Dumbo tells the story of a young elephant in the circus who is ridiculed because he has large ears. The film was based on a children’s story written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl. Aberson and Pearl wrote the story as part of a trial product for a storytelling toy called "Roll-a-Book." This original version had only minimal illustration and a few lines of story. Disney’s head of merchandising brought the early Dumbo story to Walt Disney in 1939. Disney was immediately interested and purchased the rights.

Dumbo began development as a short film; however, Disney felt they would be doing the story a disservice if they did not make it into a feature. At the time of production, Disney Studios was experiencing financial peril. This was partially attributed to the ongoing World War II, which contributed to the box office failure of previous films, Pinocchio and Fantasia. Dumbo was to be a low-budget production with the aim of drawing people to the theatre and bringing in revenue for the studio.

Upon completion of the film in 1941, Disney experienced some difficulties with its distributor, RKO Radio Pictures. The distributor took issue with the length of the film, which was only sixty-four minutes in length, making it one of Disney’s shortest animated feature films. RKO told Disney to either make the film longer or cut it down to a short. Disney refused to make any adjustments, and RKO eventually backed down and released it anyway. Dumbo went on to become the most financially successful Disney film of the 1940s. Made with a budget of $950,000, the film managed to turn a profit, grossing $1.6 million in its first release.

Plot

The film begins with several storks arriving to deliver babies to the traveling circus animals. One elephant named Mrs. Jumbo receives her baby boy, Jumbo Jr. Jumbo Jr. has particularly large ears, even for an elephant, and he is immediately made fun of by the other elephants. The other elephants give him the nickname Dumbo.

After relentless taunting of her son by other circus elephants, Mrs. Jumbo gets upset at a group of boys who will not stop teasing Dumbo. Due to the flare in her temper, Mrs. Jumbo is locked away for being angry and potentially dangerous. This leaves Dumbo alone, rejected by the other elephants of the circus. Without a mother to care for him, Dumbo lacks guidance and protection. A mouse named Timothy Q. Mouse notices Dumbo and feels bad for him. Timothy takes it upon himself to defend Dumbo and give him advice and support.

Dumbo is soon assigned the role of a clown in the circus, after embarrassingly tripping over his large ears and ruining an elephant pyramid act. The clown acts make Dumbo well known and popular with circus-goers, but he is unhappier than ever before. In an attempt to make Dumbo happy, Timothy brings Dumbo to visit his mother. On the way back to the circus, however, Dumbo begins to cry and develops the hiccups. Both Timothy and Dumbo drink from a bucket of water that was accidentally contaminated by a bottle of champagne. Unaware of this fact, the pair drink and become drunk. The next morning, Timothy and Dumbo find themselves mysteriously up in a tree. Timothy believes that Dumbo flew them up the tree, his over-sized ears serving as wings. With the help of a group of crows, Timothy convinces Dumbo to fly again, tricking him with a phony magical feather.

Back at the circus, Dumbo has to perform a stunt from a very high platform. As he falls, Dumbo loses his magical feather and becomes scared. Timothy tells him that the feather never had any magic and that he still has the ability to fly. Dumbo is able to safely come out of his dive and fly around the circus, finally proving to all of his bullies that he is special. He eventually becomes famous, securing the release of his mother.

Significance

Due to its low-budget demands, Dumbo was required to remain simple to keep costs down. This is evident in the animation style of the film, which is much less detailed than the animated features that came before it. Everything—from the design of the characters to the background features—was less ornate. The animation of Dumbo also differs from many other Disney feature animations because of its use of watercolor paint. Watercolors were used to render the background animations, instead of the more commonly used oil paint or gouache. Only two Disney feature animations employed this technique—Dumbo and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

The animation of Dumbo was simple, but this did not mean the quality of the film suffered. In fact, keeping things simple gave the animators time to focus on the acting component of character animation, instead of becoming bogged down with meticulous background details. The character animation of Dumbo, done by Bill Tytla, is still considered one of the greatest triumphs in American animation. Animals were even brought into the animation studios so the animators could closely study their movements.

The film was received well by audiences and critics alike. The musical directors of Dumbo (Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace) took home the 1941 Academy Award for original music score. The song "Baby Mine," which plays during Dumbo’s visit to his mother, was also nominated for the award for best song, but did not win. The film’s animation achievements were also recognized at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival in France, where it won the award for Best Animation Design. The success of the film spurred its re-release into movie theaters in 1949, 1959, 1972, and 1976. In addition, Dumbo was one of the first of the Disney films to be released on home video. TIME magazine also recognized Dumbo as one of the "25 All-Time Best Animated Films."

Awards and nominations

Won

• Academy Award (1941) Best Score

Nominated

• Academy Award (1941) Best Original Song

Bibliography

American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1941–1950. Berkeley: U of California, 1999. Print.

Corliss, Richard. "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films." TIME. Time Inc, 21 June 2011. Web. 10 June 2015. <http://entertainment.time.com/2011/06/23/the-25-all-time-best-animated-films/slide/dumbo-1941-2/>.

"Dumbo." American Film Institute (AFI). American Film Institute, 2015. Web. 10 Jun. 2015 <http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=26684>.

Michael, Barrier. Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.

Pitts, Michael R. RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Films, 1929–1956. Jefferson: McFarland, 2015. Print.

"The Timely ‘Dumbo’: Almost a Cover Boy." WaltDisney.org. Walt Disney Family Museum, 16 May 2011. Web. 10 June 2015. <http://www.waltdisney.org/blog/timely-dumbo-almost-cover-boy>.