Pinocchio

Pinocchio, Italian author Carlo Collodi's allegorical 19th century children's novel (actually a series of thinly connected anecdotes) was superbly "Disneyized" in Uncle Walt's second full-length animated feature. This tale of a little wooden puppet who aspires to become a real boy is a masterful blend of music, humor, high adventure and genuine, bloodcurdling horror. The film opens on narrator Jiminy Cricket, crooning the Oscar-winning "When You Wish Upon a Star". The effervescent Jiminy then introduces us to kindly woodcarver Gepetto, who is so lonely for companionship that he carves himself a little wooden boy, whom he names Pinocchio. As Gepetto sleeps, the Blue Fairy makes her entrance, bestowing upon Pinocchio the gift of life-advising him that he'll become a real human being only when he's proven himself worthy of the honor. The Blue Fairy then appoints Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchio's "official conscience". Once he has gotten over the surprise of a puppet that walks and talks by itself, Gepetto treats Pinocchio like a son, sending the boy off to school the very next morning. En route, Pinocchio is detained by a pair of seedy confidence tricksters, J. Worthington Foulfellow (a fox) and Gideon (a cat). Immediately determining that a living puppet would be worth a fortune, Foulfellow, belting forth the jaunty ditty "An Actor's Life for Me", entices Pinocchio to join the marionette troupe of the wicked entrepreneur Stromboli. Our knotheaded friend is a big hit with his song "I've Got No Strings", but once the audience has gone home, Stromboli treats Pinocchio like a slave, locking the kid up in a birdcage. He is rescued by the Blue Fairy-but not before trying to lie about how he got himself into this predicament, a lie that causes his nose to grow and grow. Upon being set free, Pinocchio is advised by both the Blue Fairy and Jiminy Cricket to choose his friends more wisely in the future. It isn't long, however, before Pinocchio has met up with Foulfellow and Gideon again. This time they inveigle Our Hero, and several other wayward youths, into a trip to Pleasure Island, a gaudy amusement pier where kids smoke, gamble and cut up to their heart's content. But Pinocchio soon discovers there's a price to pay for his truancy: as he looks on in horror, his pal Lampwick turns into a donkey before his very eyes! (This is undoubtedly the most frightening scene in the film, enhanced by Caligariesque shadows and discordant music). Once the Pleasure Island kids have metamorphosed into jackasses, they are herded up and used as beasts of burden. Though Pinocchio, with the aid of Jiminy Cricket, narrowly escapes this fate, he's stuck with donkey ears, tail and hooves. Soon afterward he learns that Geppeto, while searching for Pinocchio, has gotten himself swallowed by Monstro the whale. While rescuing his foster father from this finny adversary, Pinocchio apparently loses his own life-only to regain consciousness as a Real Boy, a conversion made possible by his previous acts of selflessness while fending off Monstro. A happy ending is had by all, while Jiminy Cricket, joined by the inevitable Disney Heavenly Choir, reprises "When You Wish Upon a Star." Without taking anything away from Disney and his talented corps of artists, directors and technicians, we must note that the characters' voices add as much to the film as its production polish. Those voices include Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, Dickie Jones as Pinocchio, Christian Rub as Geppeto, Walter Catlett as Foulfellow and Evelyn Venable as Blue Fairy (Mel Blanc had been hired to play Gideon, but his contribution was whittled down to one hiccup). At the risk of heresy, we also suggest that Pinocchio is the very best of Disney's pre-war cartoon features.