Peter Pan

Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, arrives in the London nursery of the Darling children: Wendy, Michael and John. He teaches the children to fly (with the help of Tinker Bell's pixie dust), then takes them all to Never Land so Wendy can be mother to Peter's tribe of Lost Boys. In Never Land, there are flirtatious mermaids, savage Indians, and wicked pirates-including Peter's great nemesis, Captain Hook. A series of dangerous and exciting cloak-and-dagger adventures with Captain Hook and Peter leads to the villain's ultimate defeat, and Peter takes the Darling children home in the captured pirate ship, which now soars through the sky, thanks to a little contribution from Tinker Bell.

Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy, John, Michael, George Darling, Mary Darling, Nana, Captain J. Hook, Mr. Smee, Pirates (Turk, Black Murphy, Mullins, Starkey, Skylights, Bill Jukes), The Lost Boys (Foxy, Rabbit, Raccoon, Twins, Chubby, Skunk), Tiger Lily, Indian Chief, Crocodile

J. M. Barrie's play was always on Walt Disney's short list of films to produce, with development beginning as early as the mid 1930's. But the rights and circumstances proved elusive, and it was not until 1947 that the studio was seriously able to start production in earnest.

The film featured Kathryn Beaumont- who had just starred as Alice in Disney's previous feature film- as Wendy. Disney regular Bobby Driscoll, who had previously appeared in Song Of The South and So Dear To My Heart was brought in as Peter's voice and close-up model; this would be Driscoll's last work at the studio. Sadly, he would die penniless and addicted to drugs in the back alleys of New York fifteen years later. He was buried as John Doe in Potter's Field, and it would be two years before he is identified by his fingerprints from the morgue.

One famous fallacy regarding this film is that Marilyn Monroe was the life model for Tinker Bell. As nice as it would be if that were true, it just isn't. Just look at Tink- she has a rather squat body- not Marilyn's hourglass. Actually it was Margaret Kerry who is the basis for Tinker Bell. She posed for reference film shots on a sound stage; the footage was later used by supervising Tinker Bell animator Marc Davis. Interestingly, Kerry also provided the voice of the redheaded mermaid in the film.

Another voice fact worth noting is that both George Darling and Captain Hook were voiced by the same man: Hans Conried.

When originally released, the film was a commercial success, earning $7 million against its budget of $4 million. It was the highest-grossing film of 1953.

This was the 14th film in the official Disney list of animated films.