Daily Archives: February 21, 2014

Gulliver’s Travels
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Written by Edmond Seward, Dan Gordon et al base on the immortal tale by Jonathan Swift
1939/USA
Fleischer Studios
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] [repeated line] Gabby: There’s a giant on the beach![/box]

The creators of Popeye and Betty Boop are worthy competitors to Disney in the feature animated film department.

The story is very loosely based on the Lilliputian episode in Swift’s novel.  Gulliver washes up on a beach where he is discovered by town crier Gabby.  But Gabby can’t get a word in edgewise to report his discovery because the King of Lilliput and the King of Blefiscu are too busy arguing about what song should be sung at the wedding of their son and daughter.  The argument escalates to war and the King of Lilliput finally hears when he understands that having a giant as an ally might be a very good thing.  Gulliver is more inclined to be a peace maker though.

I enjoyed this.  The songs are catchy and the animation, particularly the roto-scoped animation in the Gulliver scenes, is striking.  It’s not quite up with Disney’s work of the same period but almost.  I got the Blu-Ray edition as a rental and the restoration looks beautiful.

Gulliver’s Travels was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Song (Faithful Forever) and Best Original Score (Victor Young).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRVLQfhwUz4

Trailer

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas MacKenzie based on the play by Maxwell Anderson
1939/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Queen Elizabeth I: To be a Queen is to be less than human, to put pride before desire, to search Men’s hearts for tenderness, and find only ambition. To cry out in the dark for one unselfish voice, to hear only the dry rustle of papers of state. To turn to one’s beloved with stars for eyes and have him see behind me only the shadow of the executioner’s block. A queen has no hour for love, time presses, and events crowd upon her, and her shell, an empty glittering husk, she must give up all the a woman holds most dear.[/box]

The quote, picture, and clip probably say more about the quality of this fictionalized costume drama than my feeble words can do.

Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) is many years older than her favorite Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn).  Theirs is a schizophrenic relationship.  They love each other dearly but he wants to wear the pants in the family, something a monarch cannot allow.  Essex also presents a threat due to his popularity with the mob.  After Essex, who commands an army, disobeys orders one time too many, Elizabeth must make a painful decision.  With Olivia de Havilland and Nanette Fabray (in her screen debut) as ladies-in-waiting, Vincent Price as Sir Walter Raleigh, Donald Crisp as Sir Francis Drake, and Alan Hale as an Irish rebel leader.

This currently ranks as my least favorite Bette Davis performance of all time.  She was at least 30 years younger than the royal character she was portraying and must have felt that hamming it up would make her more believable.  This also has many, many of the kind of “I love you – I hate you”  lines that make me cringe. I found the whole thing to verge on camp.  The film has a relatively high IMDb user rating so your mileage may vary.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Color Cinematography; Best Art Direction; Best Sound Recording; Best Special Effects; and Best Music, Scoring (Erich Wolfgang Korngold).

Clip