Jimmy Cricket enters a house and plays gramophone a record by Dinah Shore. This introduces two stories: Bongo the Wonder Bear and The Happy Valley, which features, as far as I'm aware, the only appearance together of Mickey Mouse, Donald and Goofy in a Disney feature.
The Bongo story is typical Disney whimsy in a mixture of styles from both Dumbo and Bambi. It concerns Bongo, an unhappy circus act who runs away to the country and his encounters with the raw elements and the creatures therein.
The Happy Valley is an effective re-telling of Jack and The Beanstalk with the lumbering gormless Willie the Giant stealing a singing harp. This harp had previously brought prosperity to the valley, and when it is removed, the crops fail and the people and the animals starve, but, via the devise of the old beanstalk tale, Mickey, Donald and Goofy are able to retrieve it and restore the valley to its former prosperity.
This 1947 release is beautifully animated, and although the Bongo story is a little weak I was greatly taken by the animation, particularly the superb background paintings of countryside and forest.
Bongo is reminiscent of several Disney films - many of the forest animals are similar to those in Snow White and Bambi, and there are early versions of Chip 'n Dale, who were just starting to appear around about this time. There is even a scaled down version of the storm in Bambi, but one of my favourite scenes is where Bongo is kept awake at night, not just by the creatures of the forest snoring, but by the exaggerated noises made by the countless feet and jaws of caterpillars and bugs foraging for food. This is good Disney stuff!
Essentially, Bongo is a love story, because he soon meets an attractive female (once again, similar in style to Bambi meeting Feline), and this might be where the romance starts but it's also the start of Bongo's real problems since he tangles with Lumpjaw, a ferocious great bear and Bongo's rival for the affections of the young female.
Bongo is a charming story just lacking that vial something that would make it a true classic. Nevertheless I did enjoy it immensely
The Happy Valley/Jack & the Beanstalk tale is much stronger on plot and characters and imaginative sequences. A cut-down of it was included in the 400ft Mickey Mouse 50` anniversary package. It is introduced by a live-action sequence in which Jiminy Cricket goes to the house of Luana Patten (a child actor of the day) where ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his 'dummy' Charlie McCarthy are entertaining her. Edgar tells the story of The Happy Valley in which Mickey goes to market to sell their cow in order to buy food, but returns instead with a bag of so called magic beans. In a raging fury Donald throws them away and they fall though a crack in the floor. When the beans sprout during the dead of night, our sleeping trio are carried up into the clouds as the beanstalk winds its tendrils around their beds and out through the roof - this is a superb sequence accompanied with snake-like music. An excellent release that slows down a bit during the short live action interludes. The Bongo story includes several quite attractive songs, one of which was originally written for, but cut from Pinocchio. This cheerful song introduces Jiminy Cricket. This opening sequence is very much like Pinocchio - complete with a Cleo like goldfish whom Jiminy sings to.
A truly excellent print with very good definition and outstanding colour. The sound on our review copy was recorded on Derann's new stripe and was really excellent, a notable improvement on some recent recordings. Not a Disney classic but nevertheless, recommended. I really enjoyed it some really imaginative sequences.
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Distributed by: Derann
Films. |
Reprinted from SUPER EIGHT FILM
REVIEW issue 39 from Spring 1998. |
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002