Gulliver's Travels (1939 film) facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Gulliver's Travels
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dave Fleischer Animation directors Seymour Kneitel Willard Bowsky Tom Palmer Grim Natwick William Henning Roland Crandall Thomas Johnson Robert Leffingwell Frank Kelling Winfield Hoskins Orestes Calpini
Produced by	Max Fleischer
Written by	Dan Gordon Cal Howard Tedd Pierce Edmond Seward Isadore Sparber
Starring	Pinto Colvig Jack Mercer Sam Parker Jessica Dragonette Lanny Ross Tedd Pierce
Music by	Victor Young Leo Robin (songs) Ralph Rainger (songs) Al Neiburg (songs) Winston Sharples (songs) Sammy Timberg (songs)
Cinematography	Charles Schettler
Studio	Fleischer Studios
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 22, 1939 (1939-12-22)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$700,000
Money made	$3.27 million

Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 American cel-animated Technicolor musical feature film produced by Max Fleischer and directed by Dave Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. Released to cinemas in the United States on December 22, 1939 by Paramount Pictures, the story is a very loose adaptation of Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel of the same name, specifically the first part which tells the story of Lilliput and Blefuscu, and centers around an explorer who helps a small kingdom who declared war after an argument over a wedding song. The film was the Fleischer Studios' first feature-length animated film, as well as the second animated feature film produced by an American studio after Walt Disney Productions' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as Paramount had commissioned the feature in response to the success of that film. The sequences for the film were directed by Seymour Kneitel, Willard Bowsky, Tom Palmer, Grim Natwick, William Henning, Roland Crandall, Thomas Johnson, Robert Leffingwell, Frank Kelling, Winfield Hoskins, and Orestes Calpini.

Plot
Cast
Songs
- Covers
Vocal talent
Awards
Spin-off cartoons
See also

Plot

On November 5, 1699, Lemuel Gulliver washes onto the beach of Lilliput after a storm at sea and ultimate shipwreck. Following the calm of the storm, the town crier Gabby stumbles across Gulliver in terror ("All's Well") and rushes back to Lilliput to warn King Little of a "giant on the beach". As this is happening, King Little of Lilliput and King Bombo of Blefescu are signing a wedding contract between their children, Princess Glory and Prince David of Blefuscu, respectively. All is fine until an argument starts over which national anthem is to be played at the wedding; the anthem of Lilliput ("Faithful") or the anthem of Blefuscu ("Forever"). In fury, King Bombo cancels the wedding and declares war against Liliput. He quickly regrets this decision and decides that he should apologize and call off the war, until Gabby finally makes his way to warn King Little and one of the Lilliputian guards accidentally grabs King Bombo.

Gabby tells King Little of the "giant", and leads a mob to the beach to capture him. There, the Lilliputians tie Gulliver to a wagon on which they convey him to the town. The next morning, Gulliver awakens and breaks himself free. The Lilliputians are terrified until the Blefuscuian fleet arrives at Lilliput. Their attack is cut short when they first see Gulliver, sending Bombo and all of his forces in retreat. Realizing that they can use Gulliver as a weapon, the Lilliputians start to treat him with hospitality and even make him a new set of clothes. ("It's A Hap-Hap Happy Day")

Back in Blefuscu, King Bombo is embarrassed by the defeat, and orders his three spies in Lilliput, Sneak, Snoop and Snitch, to get rid of that Giant "or else." Meanwhile, in celebration of the defeat, the Lilliputians treat Gulliver to dinner and a show ("Bluebirds in the Moonlight"). When the Lilliputians fall asleep after the show, Gulliver walks to the shore, unaware that his pistol has been taken. When he arrives at the shore, Gulliver feels homesick of his life as a sailor while singing "I Hear A Dream (Come Home)". The next day, after some horseplay with Gabby, the hideout where the three Blefuscuian spies are positioned catches on fire, and Gulliver rushes to put it out. Later that night, Prince David sneaks back into Lilliput to visit Princess Glory. Gabby overhears the prince singing a reprise of "Forever" and, mistaking him for a spy, orders the guards to attack the prince. Noticing this, Gulliver picks up David and Glory in his hands and they tell him of the war's cause. Gulliver suggests that they combine "Faithful" and "Forever" into one song.

In Blefuscu, Bombo receives a message from his spies assuring him that Gulliver will soon be a "dead duck", and announces by carrier pigeon that he will attack at dawn. Gabby intercepts this message and warns the Lilliputians. Because of this, the spies aren't aware of the attack until they capture Gabby just as the Lilliputians are marching to the beach ("We're All Together Now") and they hastily prepare Gulliver's pistol. As the Blefuscuian fleet approaches Lilliput, Gulliver demands they lay down their arms and settle their matters peacefully. When they continue shooting, he ties the Blefuscuian ships together using their anchors and draws them disarmed to shore. The spies aim and fire at Gulliver from a cliff, but Prince David diverts the shot and, while doing so, falls to his apparent death. Using David's body to illustrate his point, Gulliver scolds both Lilliput and Blefuscu for their senseless fighting. While they solemnize a truce, Gulliver reveals that David is unharmed, whereupon David and Glory sing their combined song for everyone to hear. ("Faithful Forever"). Both sides thereafter build a new ship for Gulliver on which he departs, and he sails off into the sunset on the ocean.

Cast

Sam Parker as Gulliver
Pinto Colvig as Gabby
Jack Mercer as King Little, Twinkletoes, Sneak, Snoop, Snitch
Tedd Pierce as King Bombo
Jessica Dragonette as the singing voice of Princess Glory
- Livonia Warren as the speaking voice of Princess Glory
Lanny Ross as the singing voice of Prince David
- Cal Howard as the speaking voice of Prince David

Songs

"All's Well"
"Faithful/Forever"
"It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day"
"Bluebirds in the Moonlight (Silly Idea)"
"I Hear a Dream (Come Home Again)"
"We're All Together Now"

All of the songs were written by Leo Robin and composed by Ralph Rainger with the exception of "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day", which was written by Sammy Timberg, Al Neiburg and Winston Sharples.

The Gulliver's Travels score by Victor Young was nominated for a Best Original Score Academy Award while the song "Faithful/Forever" was nominated for Best Original Song, but both of them lost out to The Wizard of Oz with the film winning the latter category for the song "Over the Rainbow". "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day" and "All's Well" later became standard themes used for Fleischer and Famous Studios cartoon scores, while "I Hear a Dream" was quite popular as well.

Selections from the music score was released by Marco Polo Records in 1997 as part of "The Classic Film Music of Victor Young" album (alongside selected cues for the 1952 Oscar-winning film The Greatest Show on Earth, The Uninvited and Bright Leaf).

Covers

"Faithful Forever": Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, Judy Garland
"It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day": Bob Zurke & His Delta Rhythm Band, Arthur Askey, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Judy Garland
"Bluebirds in the Moonlight": Glenn Miller

Vocal talent

The voice cast consisted of a variety of performers. The voice of Gabby was provided by Pinto Colvig, who had previously worked at Disney's. Colvig had previously been the voice of Goofy, provided vocal effects for Pluto, was the stern Practical Pig in The Three Little Pigs, and voiced Grumpy and Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Jack Mercer, who portrayed King Little of Lilliput, was a story man for Fleischer's who lent his voice the gruff Popeye the Sailor. In addition to voicing King Little, Mercer was also the voice behind Bombo's spies, Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch. Mercer was a regular voice heard in Fleischer and Famous Studios cartoons, and worked for Paramount until Famous Studios was dissolved. Jessica Dragonette and Lanny Ross were both popular singers of the day, and were hired to sing for Princess Glory and Prince David, respectively. Sam Parker was a radio announcer in the 1930s who won the role of Gulliver in a radio contest. When the Fleischers met Parker, they felt that his appearance was suitable for him to also perform in the live action footage that would be rotoscoped to create Gulliver's movement. Tedd Pierce was a story man hired away from Leon Schlesinger Productions to join Fleischer in their trip to Miami. Pierce, who would occasionally do voices for some of the characters in the cartoons, played King Bombo.

Awards

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards:

Victor Young for Best Music, Original Score
Ralph Rainger (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) for Best Music, Original Song ("Faithful Forever")

Each lost both to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's The Wizard of Oz.

Spin-off cartoons

The film was spun off into two short-lived Fleischer cartoon short series: the Gabby series and the Animated Antics cartoons starring the three spies, Sneak, Snoop and Snitch and Twinkletoes (the carrier pigeon).