''Peter and the Wolf'' is a 1946 animated short based on the 1936 musical composition/fairy tale by

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

, produced by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

and narrated by

Sterling Holloway Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in ''Dumbo'', Ad ...

. It was originally released theatrically as a segment in ''

Make Mine Music ''Make Mine Music'' is a 1946 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the eighth Disney feature animated film, released on April 20, 1946. During World War II, much of Walt Disn ...

''. It was re-issued the following year accompanying a re-issue of ''

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

'' (as a short subject before the film), then released separately on home video in the 1990s.

Background

Prokofiev, while touring the West in 1938, visited

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and met

. Prokofiev performed the piano version of ''

Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и Bолк, r="Pétya i volk", p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk, links=no) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's s ...

'' for "''le papa de''

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

", as Prokofiev described him in a letter to his sons. Disney was impressed, and considered adding an animated version of ''Peter and the Wolf'' to ''Fantasia'', which was to be released in 1940. Due to the war, these plans fell through, and it was not until 1946 that Disney released his version of ''Peter and the Wolf''. It is not known if Prokofiev, by that point behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

, was aware of this.

Plot

In Disney's animated adaptation of Prokofiev's masterpiece, in which every character is represented musically by a different instrument. The apparent setting is Russia. A young Peter decides to go hunting for the wolf that has been prowling around the village. Along the way, he is joined by his friends Sasha the songbird, Sonia the duck, and Ivan the cat. All the fun comes to end, however, when the hungry wolf makes an appearance.

Differences from the original

This version makes several changes to the original story, for example: * During the character introduction, the animals are given names: "Sasha" the songbird, "Sonia" the duck, and "Ivan" the cat. * As the cartoon begins, Peter and his friends already know there is a wolf nearby and are preparing to catch him. * The hunters also get names at a later point in the story: "Misha", "Yasha", and "Vladimir". * Peter day-dreams of hunting and catching the wolf and exits the garden carrying a wooden "pop-gun" rifle with the purpose of hunting the wolf down. * At the end, in a complete reversal of the original (and to make the story more child-friendly), it turns out that the duck, Sonia, has not been eaten by the wolf. (The wolf is shown chasing Sonia, who eventually dives into an old tree's hollow trunk. The wolf sticks his snout in after her and begins to thrash about as feathers stream out from other holes in the tree. He returns in view with some of Sonia's feathers in his mouth, licking his jaws in visible satisfaction. Peter, Ivan, and Sasha tearfully assume that Sonia has been eaten. After the wolf has been caught, Sasha is shown mourning Sonia at the base of the tree. She comes out of the tree trunk at that point and they are happily reunited as they both race to Peter's village).

In other media

An audio recording of this version with expanded narration by Sterling Holloway was released on

Disneyland Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its ...

(DQ-1242). ''Peter and the Wolf'' is featured on DVD in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection release of ''Make Mine Music'' and in '' Walt Disney's It's a Small World of Fun! Vol. 2''. It is also featured on VHS in ''

Belle's Tales of Friendship ''Belle's Tales of Friendship'' is a 1999 American live action/animated fantasy film. It was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation as a prequel to '' Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas''. It was also released to help promote th ...

'', the Disney version of ''Peter and the Wolf'' is featured and narrated by Belle instead of Sterling Holloway. This version was featured in ''

House of Mouse ''Disney's House of Mouse'' (or simply ''House of Mouse'') is an American Animation, animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that originally aired for three seasons on ABC and Toon Disney from January 13, 2001, to ...

''. In the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television series ''

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in the ...

'', the character of

Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothe ...

has a boyfriend named Peter, a reference to the character in the 1946 Disney short. In the first season of the series, Peter is killed by the wolf (actually Red Riding Hood, who is revealed to be a werewolf).

References

External links

* {{Disney's Short films 1946 films 1946 animated films 1946 short films 1940s Disney animated short films Films directed by Clyde Geronimi Films produced by Walt Disney Films about children Films about ducks Films about hunters Animated films about birds Animated films about cats Animated films about wolves Animated films based on children's books Films based on music Films set in Russia Peter and the Wolf 1940s English-language films