Dumbo
- Studio
- Walt Disney Studios
- Distributor
- RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Synopsis
Circus elephant Mrs. Jumbo's little baby has huge ears, earning him the derision of the circus population and the nickname "Dumbo." After his mother is locked up for being overly protective of him, Dumbo is left alone to humiliating and exhausting circus jobs, finding solace only in the friendship of a mouse named Timothy and a quartet of rambunctious crows (the racial representation of the latter raised some debate about stereotyping). Befriended by Timothy the circus mouse, the dejected little elephant tries to find his niche with circus clowns- an attempt which ends in disaster. Finally, Dumbo soars to acceptance when he discovers that his ears are aerodynamic- Dumbo is a flying elephant! Memorable moments include the infamous ?Pink Elephants on Parade? music sequence, a dazzling hallucination of Dumbo?s after he accidentally drinks champagne, and ?Baby Mine,? when Dumbo sneaks a visit to his imprisoned mother and is tearfully cradled in her trunk.
Characters
Dumbo, Timothy Q. Mouse, Casey Jr., Stork, Mrs. Jumbo, Prissy, Matriarch, Giggles, Catty, Joe, Skinny, Fat Crow, Jim Dandy Crow, Glasses Crow, Preacher Crow, Straw Hat Crow, Jim Crow
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Ben Sharpsteen
- Directing Animators
- Bill Tytla (as Vladimir Tytla), Fred Moore, Ward Kimball, John Lounsbery, Art Babbitt, Wolfgang Reitherman
Producing
- Producer
- Walt Disney
Writing
- Writer
- Joe Grant, Dick Huemer
- Story Development
- Bill Peet, Aurie Battaglia, Joe Rinaldi, Webb Smith, George Stallings
- Story Direction
- Otto Englander
- Original Book, "Dumbo, the Flying Elephant"
- Helen Aberson, Harold Pearl
Animation
- Animator
- Hugh Fraser, Howard Swift, Harvey Toombs, Don Towsley, Milt Neil, Les Clark, Hicks Lokey, Claude Smith, Berny Wolf, Ray Patterson, Jack Campbell, Grant Simmons, Walt Kelly, Josh Meador, Don Patterson, Bill Shull, Cy Young, Art Palmer
- Supervising Animators
- Norm Ferguson (as Norman Ferguson), Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney, Sam Armstrong
Voices
- Voice
- Ed Brophy (Timothy), Herman Bing (Ringmaster), Margaret Wright (Casey, Jr.), Sterling Holloway (Stork), Verna Felton (Matriarch), Noreen Gamill (Elephant), Dorothy Scott (Elephant), Sarah Selby (Elephant), Cliff Edwards (Jim Crow), Jim Carmichael (Crows), Billy Bletcher (Clown), Billy Sheets (Joe, Clown), Malcolm Hutton (Skinny), Harold Manley (Boy), Tony Neil (Boy), Charles Stubbs (Boy), John McLeish (Narrator), Betty Noyes (Singer, "Baby Mine")
Music
- Music
- Oliver Wallace, Frank Churchill
- Lyrics
- Ned Washington
- Orchestration
- Edward H. Plumb
- Sound Effects
- Sonovox
Crew
- Art Direction
- Herb Ryman, Ken O'Connor, Terrell Stapp, Don Da Gradi, Al Zinnen, Ernest Nordli, Dick Kelsey, Charles Payzant, John Hubley (uncredited)
- Character Design
- John P. Miller, Martin Provensen, John Wallbridge, James Bodrero, Maurice Noble, Elmer Plummer
- Backgrounds
- Claude Coats, Al Dempster, John Hench, Gerald Nevius, Ray Lockrem, Joe Stahley
Companies and other credits
- Voice: Hall Johnson Choir (Crows)
Production notes
Sometimes the simplest stories resound the most in people's hearts. After the expensive box-office failures of "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia," Disney Studios made sure to keep Dumbo's production costs low (at $813,000, it's the least expensive Disney animated feature), and audiences demonstrated that a well-told story doesn't need a big budget: "Dumbo" grossed over $2.5 million in its original release (more than "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia" combined). Dumbo and Snow White were the only two pre-1943 Disney features to turn a profit for Disney.
"Dumbo" is beloved by many, but perhaps no endorsement is stronger than this: it was Walt Disney's own favorite among films made by his studio.
"Dumbo" was re-released theatrically in 1949, 1959, 1972 and 1976. Dumbo, along with Alice in Wonderland, was the first of Disney's canon of animated films to be released on home video. It was released to video in 1982, 1985, 1991, 1998 and 2000. Dumbo was one of the first of Disney's animated films to be broadcast, albeit severely edited, on television, as part of Disney's anthology series.
"Dumbo" is beloved by many, but perhaps no endorsement is stronger than this: it was Walt Disney's own favorite among films made by his studio.
"Dumbo" was re-released theatrically in 1949, 1959, 1972 and 1976. Dumbo, along with Alice in Wonderland, was the first of Disney's canon of animated films to be released on home video. It was released to video in 1982, 1985, 1991, 1998 and 2000. Dumbo was one of the first of Disney's animated films to be broadcast, albeit severely edited, on television, as part of Disney's anthology series.
Awards
Academy Award Winner, Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture), Frank Churchill, Oliver Wallace, 1941.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Music (Song), "Baby Mine" (Music: Frank Churchill.
Lyrics: Ned Washington), 1941
Academy Award Nominee, Best Music (Song), "Baby Mine" (Music: Frank Churchill.
Lyrics: Ned Washington), 1941
Pictures
Reviews
Still too long at 64 minutes
This is a good movie in a lot of ways, but the plot is too simplistic to sustain it for its full length. I got bored with Dumbo's drunken stupor and fast-forwarded through the last half. Lots of people claim that is a wonderful segment. It just felt like padding to me.
Dumbo
Today, many people may just assume that Dumbo is just a children’s movie. Well, it is…but isn’t at the same time. Dumbo was made near the end of the Depression, when people still needed help taking their minds off of economical troubles. The movie has an uplifting message that effects anybody who watches is. It is uplifting and moving.
Dumbo may be the first movie that made me love Walt Disney and other Disney studio movies. First, it was mostly because I love elephants. I liked the characters and the songs. But now, as I am now older, and an animation student, I can see how this movie has influenced me. Dumbo has two segments that may have influenced me the most as a student. The first is the ode to Salvador Dali: The Pink Elephants segment. This piece is so random, and so out there… you just have to love it. The colors, the song, the way they get from one part to the next, it is all just fantastic. But if I had to choose my favorite scene, it would be the Baby Mine scene. This is my most favorite scene I have ever seen in any animated feature. Everybody wants a hug, but when you watch Dumbo being cradled by his mother’s trunk, you have to have a heart of stone not to cry. I have been watching this movie for almost 24 years now… and I still cry at this scene. That is animation at its essence: to touch the heart of the viewer.
I love this movie because it doesn’t try to be something it isn’t. Some people may raise their noses at the simplicity of it all, but I don’t. I am in the other camp. The simplicity of everything about this film is wonderful. You identify more with simple things, because you can see yourself in that character. The character and background designs are simple. Even the story is simple. But it’s the simple story that everybody can identify with. How many times have you felt like a freak? How many times have you felt like you didn’t belong? That you just wanted to find a way to be accepted? That is Dumbo in a nutshell. Being a self-proclaimed weirdo, you can see why I love this film.
Dumbo
This one gives you everything from comedy (the clowns figures as the get out of costume in silhouette through the circus tent) to true, unforced, "REAL" pathos (anyone who doesn't tear up or at least sniffle a little at Mrs. Jumbo rocking her baby to sleep through the barred windows of her "Mad Elephant" cage, just may not have a heart in their chest). On top of that we get the wonderful, and in my opinion Fleischer inspired "Pink Elephants on Parade" peice and wonderful songs like "Baby Mine", "Casey Jr." and "When I See An Elephant Fly". Characters that are charming and likeable without it all being pre-planned and forced on you. One to watch over and over.
Dumbo
I WAS NOT BORN IN 1941 BUT I LIKE THE MOVIE DUMBO BECAUSE IT TEACHES ABOUT FREINDSHIP IN SMALL PLACES. I REMEMBER WATCHING THIS FILM WITH MY FATHER BEFORE HIS PASSING. IT MAKES ME CRY BECAUSE I NEEDED FREINDS AT ONE POINT OTHER THAN MEMORIES. I ALWAYS LIKED THIS MOVIES AND WILL ALWAYS LOVE THIS FILM. IT IS THE GREATEST OF ALL TIMES. DUMBO WILL ALWAYS BE ONE OF MY FAVORITES. ELIZABETH
BRONX,NEW YORK