Gulliver's Travels (1939 Film)

''Gulliver's Travels'' is a 1939 American cel-animated Technicolor musical film produced by Max Fleischer and directed by Dave Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. Released to cinemas in the United States on December 22, 1939, by Paramount Pictures, the story is a very loose adaptation of Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel of the same name, specifically only the first part of four, which tells the story of Lilliput and Blefuscu, and centers around an explorer who helps a small kingdom who declared war after an argument over a wedding song. The film was Fleischer Studios' first feature-length animated film, as well as the second animated feature film produced by an American studio after Walt Disney Productions' ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', as Paramount had commissioned the feature in response to the success of that film. The sequences for the film were directed by Seymour Kneitel, Willard Bowsky, Tom Palmer, Grim Natwick, William Henning, Roland Crandall, Thomas Johnson, Robert Leffingwell, Frank Kelling, Winfield Hoskins, and Orestes Calpini.

Plot

On November 5, 1699, Lemuel Gulliver washes onto the beach of Lilliput after his ship is wrecked in a storm. Town crier Gabby stumbles across an unconscious Gulliver during his rounds ("All's Well") and rushes back to Lilliput to warn everyone about the "giant on the beach". Meanwhile, King Little of Lilliput and King Bombo of Blefuscu are signing a wedding contract between their children, Princess Glory of Lilliput and Prince David of Blefuscu, respectively. An argument starts over which national anthem is to be played at the wedding; the anthem of Lilliput ("Faithful") or the anthem of Blefuscu ("Forever"). In fury, King Bombo cancels the wedding and declares war against Liliput. He seems to consider changing his mind, but then Gabby rushes in, and a guard pursuing Gabby accidentally grabs Bombo, who takes it as an insult and storms off.

Gabby tells King Little of the "giant", and leads a mob to the beach to capture him. There, the Lilliputians tie Gulliver to a wagon and convey him to the town. The next morning, Gulliver awakens and breaks himself free, terrifying the Lilliputians. The Blefuscuian fleet arrives at Lilliput and starts firing upon the castle. Seeing Gulliver laughing at him, Bombo panics and orders a hasty retreat. Realizing that they can use Gulliver as a weapon, the Lilliputians start to treat him with hospitality and even make him a new set of clothes ("It's A Hap-Hap Happy Day").

Back in Blefuscu, King Bombo is embarrassed by the defeat, and orders his three spies in Lilliput - Sneak, Snoop and Snitch - to "get rid of that giant or else." Meanwhile, in celebration of the defeat, the Lilliputians treat Gulliver to dinner and a show ("Bluebirds in the Moonlight"). When the Lilliputians fall asleep after the show, Gulliver walks to the shore, unaware that his pistol has been taken, and reminisces about sailing ("I Hear A Dream (Come Home)"). The next day, after some horseplay with Gabby, Gulliver notices a building on fire and uses a nearby stream to put it out, not realizing he just saved the spies who wish to kill him. Later that night, Prince David sneaks back into Lilliput to visit Princess Glory. Gabby overhears the Prince singing a reprise of "Forever" and, mistaking him for a spy, orders the guards to attack the prince. Noticing this, Gulliver picks up David and Glory in his hands, and they tell him of the war's cause. Gulliver suggests that they combine "Faithful" and "Forever" into one song.

In Blefuscu, Bombo receives a message from his spies assuring him that Gulliver will be a "dead duck" whenever he gives the word, and he announces by carrier pigeon that he will attack at dawn. Gabby intercepts this message and warns the Lilliputians. Because of this, the spies aren't aware of the order until they capture Gabby just as the Lilliputians are marching to the beach ("We're All Together Now"). They hastily prepare Gulliver's pistol. As the Blefuscuian fleet approaches Lilliput, Gulliver demands they lay down their arms and settle matters peaceably. When they continue shooting, he ties the Blefuscuian ships together using their anchors and draws them to shore, saving any men who fall overboard in the process to show he means no ill will. The spies aim and fire at Gulliver from a cliff, but Prince David diverts the shot and, while doing so, falls to his apparent death. Using David's body to illustrate his point, Gulliver scolds both Lilliput and Blefuscu for their senseless fighting. While they solemnize a truce, Gulliver reveals that David is unharmed, whereupon David and Glory sing their combined song for everyone to hear ("Faithful Forever"). Both sides thereafter build a new ship for Gulliver, and he sails off into the sunset ("Come Home Reprise").

Cast

* Sam Parker as Gulliver
* Pinto Colvig as Gabby, Snitch, Gulliver (water gurgling sounds)
* Jack Mercer as Prince David, King Little, Twinkletoes, Sneak, Snoop
** Lanny Ross as the singing voice of Prince David
* Tedd Pierce as King Bombo
* Lovey Warren as Princess Glory
** Jessica Dragonette as the singing voice of Princess Glory
* Joe Oriolo as Italian Barber

Music

All of the songs were written by Leo Robin and composed by Ralph Rainger with the exception of "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day", which was written by Sammy Timberg, Al Neiburg and Winston Sharples.

The ''Gulliver's Travels'' score by Victor Young was nominated for a Best Original Score Academy Award while the song "Faithful/Forever" was nominated for Best Original Song, but both of them lost out to '' The Wizard of Oz'' with the film winning the latter category for the song ''" Over the Rainbow"''. "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day" and "All's Well" later became standard themes used for Fleischer and Famous Studios cartoon scores, while "I Hear a Dream" was quite popular as well.

Selections from the music score was released by Marco Polo Records in 1997 as part of "The Classic Film Music of Victor Young" album (alongside selected cues for the 1952 Oscar-winning film '' The Greatest Show on Earth'', '' The Uninvited'' and '' Bright Leaf'').

Covers

*"Faithful Forever": Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, Judy Garland
*"Faithful Forever": Michael Poss
*"It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day": Bob Zurke & His Delta Rhythm Band, Arthur Askey, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Judy Garland
*"Bluebirds in the Moonlight": Glenn Miller

Production

Max Fleischer had envisioned a feature as early as 1934, but Paramount vetoed the idea based largely on their interests in maintaining financial solvency following their series of bankruptcy reorganizations. However, after the success of Walt Disney Productions' ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', Paramount wanted to duplicate the Disney success and ordered a feature for a 1939 Christmas release, which would be Paramount's very first animated feature. When the story was first written in New York, Popeye the Sailor, Tedd Pierce, and Edmond Seward came aboard (although Popeye would later be cast as a Gulliver-like character in an abridged version of the story called "Popeye's Travels", made for the 1960s ''Popeye the Sailor