Stubs - Dumbo

Dumbo (1941) Starring the voices of Edward Brophy, Sterling Holloway, Herman Bing, Cliff Edwards, Verna Felton. Supervising Director: Ben Sharpsteen Sequences directed by Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney, Sam Armstrong. Screenplay by Joe Grant, Dick Huemer. Based on the novel Dumbo, the Flying Elephant by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl (New York, 1939). Produced by Walt Disney Runtime: 64 minutes. USA Animation, Musical, Children

It may be hard to imagine a time when the Walt Disney company was in financial troubles, but it was. After the phenomenal success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the studio had two major box office flops: Pinocchio (1940) and Fantasia (1940). That’s why the company needed to hit on its next film.

Based on a little-known children’s book Dumbo, the Flying Elephant by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, Disney saw the potential. However, when the film version went into production, supervising director Ben Sharpsteen was given orders to keep the film simple and inexpensive. Most of the animation was done between August 1940 and May 1941. Soon after most of the rough animation had been completed, most of the Disney staff went on strike on May 29, 1941, and were out for five weeks to get Walt to sign with the Screen Cartoonist's Guild.

The film was originally meant to be a short, but Disney decided the only way to do justice to the book was to make it a full-length feature. However, full-length is a relative term and the film only runs 64 minutes. RKO, who was handling Disney’s theatrical distribution at the time, wasn’t happy. They either wanted the film to be made longer, cut down to a short or allowed to be released as a “B” movie. Walt Disney balked at the choices and on October 31, 1941, the film was reluctantly released.

The Storks out making baby deliveries at the beginning of Dumbo.

Set in a traveling circus, one-night storks deliver babies to the animals, that except for Mrs. Jumbo, an elephant. She is disappointed but her delivery is only late. As the circus leaves its winter quarters in Florida, a stork (voiced by Sterling Holloway) manages to find her and delivers, with some fanfare, her baby.

Dumbo is delivered to his mother, Mrs. Jumbo, by the stork (voiced by Sterling Holloway).

The other elephants, Prissy (Sarah Selby), Giddy (Dorothy Scott), Catty (Noreen Gammill) and the Matriarch (Verna Felton), are originally as overjoyed as Mrs. Jumbo is over her little bundle, that is until his extra-large ears are revealed when he sneezes. Despite her calling him Jumbo, Jr., the other elephants derisively nickname him Dumbo.

Because of his large ears, Jumbo Jr. gets nicknamed "Dumbo" by the other elephants.

Despite what others might say about her baby, Mrs. Jumbo is devoted to him. When the circus stops in a new town, Mrs. Jumbo protects Dumbo from a taunting human boy (Harold Manley), who pulls on his ears. She spanks the youngster, then tries to fight the ringmaster (Herman Bing) and others as they take Dumbo away from her. Ultimately, Mrs. Jumbo is locked up in a wagon, and Dumbo is left to fend for himself.

A taunting human boy (Harold Manley) goes too far when he pulls on Dumbo's ears.

As the other elephants ridicule and snub Dumbo, Timothy Q. Mouse (Ed Brophy), a tiny rodent, overhears and is outraged by their behavior. Timothy deliberately scares what he calls the "overstuffed hay bags” the way that only mice do. Timothy introduces himself to Dumbo and calms the frightened youth by telling him that lots of famous people have big ears.

Timothy Q. Mouse (Ed Brophy) befriends Dumbo.

Timothy dreams up an act that would showcase Dumbo and hopefully help free his mother. He whispers in the sleeping ringmaster’s ear that he should make Dumbo the climax of an elephant pyramid act. Not long after, the ringmaster introduces the act to an excited audience, but Dumbo trips over his own ears while running to jump onto the top of the pyramid of elephants. But in what should be his crowning moment, Dumbo inadvertently knocks over the pyramid and thousands of pounds of elephants tumble down, creating chaos that ends up destroying the big top.

As punishment, Dumbo is forced to join the clown act, in which he has to jump from a high, burning facade into a tub of plaster. The act’s apparent success prompts the clowns to decide to build an even higher façade and to demand more money from the ringmaster.

Dumbo is forced into a dangerous act with clowns.

Timothy takes Dumbo to visit his mother and the two share a bittersweet meeting.

Dumbo spends some quality time with his mother.

Afterward, Dumbo and Timothy both drink from a water bucket which has been spiked by the clown’s celebratory champagne. The drunken pals are confounded by visions of pink elephants.

Dumbo accidentally gets drunk. 

The next morning, when Timothy is awakened by a group of jeering crows (voiced by James Baskett, Jim Carmichael, Cliff Edwards, Hall Johnson and Nick Stewart), he is astonished to discover that he and Dumbo have spent the night on a high tree branch.

Timothy and Dumbo wake up being watched by a murder of crows.

On their walk back to the circus, Timothy realizes that Dumbo must have flown up to the tree. Timothy tries to prompt Dumbo to fly, but the little elephant is too frightened to try. Timothy shames the crows’ leader into giving Dumbo a "magic" feather and while clutching it tightly in his trunk, Dumbo takes off from a cliff and begins to fly.

Dumbo thinks the feather is what helps him fly.

Timothy is thrilled by his friend's ability and begins to plot their revenge on the uncaring clowns. After the clowns have placed Dumbo on their new higher facade, and he and Timothy jump off the platform, Timothy encourages Dumbo to fly. Even though Dumbo loses his magic feather on the way down, Timothy convinces him that he can fly and Dumbo soars gracefully above his tormentors and shoots peanuts at them.

It doesn’t take long before Dumbo is declared a "miracle mammoth," and while publicity over the wonderous elephant builds, he is content to cuddle with his adoring now freed mother in his luxurious new train car.

Unlike its predecessors, Dumbo was a box-office success thanks in part to its small budget of between $850,000 to $950,000, making it one of the least expensive feature-length cartoons produced by the studio. Released on October 31, 1941, the film made $1.6 million in its first release. Like all of Disney’s classic animated films, Dumbo would receive multiple releases. It would become a featured attraction at Disneyland, spawning two rides, Dumbo the Flying Elephant and The Casey Jr. Circus Train.

There was also a live-action/puppet television series that aired on The Disney Channel called Dumbo’s Circus. Aimed at preschool audiences, the show originally ran from May 6, 1985 – May 25, 1986. Unlike in the film, Dumbo spoke on the show.

Like any successful film, there was talk of making a sequel, though six decades later. Dumbo II, which was officially canceled by John Lassiter when he became the Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, was set to pick up the story the next day after the end of the original film.

In the sequel, Dumbo and his circus friends would have to navigate a large city after being left behind by their traveling circus. Dumbo II also sought to explain what happened to Dumbo's father, Mr. Jumbo.

Now the failure of the sequel doesn’t mean the Dumbo cinematic story ends there. Like most Disney animated classics, Dumbo is getting the live-action treatment with Tim Burton directing.

When it was originally released, the reviews were for the most part very positive. Cited were the film's pathos, its endearment, the appealing new animal characters, the music and its humor. Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times, said that the film was "the most genial, the most endearing, the most completely precious cartoon feature film ever to emerge from the magical brushes of Walt Disney's wonder-working artists." So popular was Dumbo that Time magazine had plans to name him its Mammal of the Year in its end of the year issue. However, the outbreak of World War II forced them to cancel having an animated elephant on its cover.

The film also received two Academy Award nominations, one that it won for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture: Frank Churchill, Oliver Wallace; and the other for Best Music, Original Song: Frank Churchill (music), Ned Washington (lyrics), for the song "Baby Mine". In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

As with many films from the 1930s and 1940s, the film has been criticized in more modern times for its perceived racist views. In the case of Dumbo, it is the depiction of the crows, which were all voiced by Black actors, who were all members of the popular all-black Hall Johnson Choir. This seems to be the basis for the controversy. However, the crows not only form the majority of the cast in the film, but they are also depicted as intelligent and sympathetic to Dumbo’s plight. They are the ones who sing the song "When I See An Elephant Fly", which uses intricate wordplay in the lyrics. However, if you want, you can see racism wherever you want to find it.

The animation is not as complex as other Disney films, but the story really doesn’t call for it. This was meant to be an inexpensive production and it is clear that every dollar spent made it to the screen. For simple, it is still very good.

The music is enjoyable and is used often throughout the film. For a film that is only 64 minutes, there are 18 songs, which means they are a constant, though they don’t really intrude on the story but rather enhance the film.

Not everything seems to be geared towards children, though they now make up the majority of the audience for the film. Clearly, Pink Elephants seen after getting drunk would not or should not be something little children can relate to. It’s one of those films that, even as a child, you don’t have to understand everything to enjoy it.

The nice thing about Dumbo is that you don’t have to be a child to enjoy it. The film isn’t dumbed down in order to appeal to children nor is it pocked with fart jokes and inappropriate behavior that seem to be the hallmarks of children's films these days. The film teaches a lesson that we’re all special in our own way, without preaching about it. This is one of those films that they don’t make anymore. You hear that expression a lot, but this really is an example of that adage.

Fun for everyone, this is a film that should be seen at least once or twice. And it's okay if you’re not a parent to a small child. Enjoy.