Disney VHS: Dumbo w/ Case Animated Classic! Digitally Mastered!

Description

Dumbo [VHS]
Sterling Holloway (Actor), Edward Brophy (Actor), Ben Sharpsteen (Director), Bill Roberts (Director) Rated: G (General Audience) Format: VHS Tape

Deceptively simple, beautiful, moving, and hilarious, DUMBO is often overlooked when considering Disney’s greatest films because perhaps of its lack of extravagance, its brief running time, and its simple story. Baby elephant Jumbo Jr. is delivered by the stork to his elephant mom with much fanfare but soon receives a cold shoulder from the snobby female pachyderms and the rest of the circus due to his oversize ears. When his mother goes on a rampage in order to protect him from some snickering rubes, she winds up locked away. Dumbo is left without a friend in the world until the street-smart Timothy Mouse decides to become his manager and a telephone line full of delightful jive-talking crows convince him he can fly. Highlights include Dumbo accidentally getting drunk and experiencing the surreal musical sequence “Pink Elephants on Parade” and a soundtrack packed with such priceless songs as the Oscar-winning “Baby Mine” and the crow’s soulful number, “When I see an Elephant Fly.” There’s nary an imperfect moment to be found in this raucous, tender, sublime film, which has been delighting audiences for generations.

A Disney “classic” that actually is a classic, Dumbo should be part of your video collection whether or not you have children. The storytelling was never as lean as in Dumbo, the songs rarely as haunting (or just plain weird), the characters rarely so well defined. The film pits the “cold, cruel, heartless” world that can’t accept abnormality against a plucky, and mute, hero. Jumbo Jr. (Dumbo is a mean-spirited nickname) is ostracized from the circus pack shortly after his delivery by the stork because of his big ears. His mother sticks up for him and is shackled. He’s jeered by children (an insightful scene has one boy poking fun at Dumbo’s ears, even though the youngster’s ears are also ungainly), used by the circus folk, and demoted to appearing with the clowns. Only the decent Timothy Q. Mouse looks out for the little guy. Concerns about the un-PC “Jim Crow” crows, who mock Dumbo with the wonderful “When I See an Elephant Fly,” should be moderated by remembering that the crows are the only social group in the film who act kindly to the little outcast. If you don’t mist up during the “Baby Mine” scene, you may be legally pronounced dead.

On the tape:
The Brave Little Toaster preview

Walt Disney’s fourth animated feature, “Dumbo,” is one of his best movies. It is the shortest Disney film ever. It has some of the best songs a Disney movie has ever had. One song in particular, “Baby Mine,” just brings tears to my eyes. Two sequences in this movie stand out: the pink elephants dancing and the scene where Dumbo goes to visit his mother in jail at night. My favorite character is Timothy Q. Mouse. He is the only friend that Dumbo has. This movie is another one of Uncle Walt’s great classics.

Dumbo won the 1941 Academy Award for Original Music Score, awarded to musical directors Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace. Churchill and lyricist Ned Washington were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for “Baby Mine” (the song that plays during Dumbo’s visit to his mother’s cell), but did not win for this category. The film also won Best Animation Design at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.

On July 8, 2014, it was announced that a live-action remake of Dumbo was in development. Ehren Kruger was confirmed as the screenwriter, and Justin Springer will serve as the producer along with Kruger. On March 10, 2015, Tim Burton was announced as the director.

1-55890-024-1

Case slightly squished. VHS itself is near mint. Tape is completely rewinded for your convenience.