The tale of Pinocchio could first be found as a serial in an Italian children’s journal called Il Giornale per i Bambini in 1881. The stories, written by Carlo Collodi, were then compiled into a novel in 1883. The idea of turning these stories into an animated film was suggested to Walt Disney by animator Norman Ferguson during the making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film Bambi was originally going to be the second animated feature film produced by the Walt Disney Studios, but due to difficulties in development it was delayed and Pinocchio was made in its place.
Premiered: February 7, 1940 at Center Theatre in New York City
Directed by: Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske (supervising); Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, and Bill Roberts (sequences)
Produced by: Walt Disney
Based on: The Adventures of Pinocchio written by Carlo Collodi
Sequels: None
Cast:
Dickie Jones – Pinocchio
Cliff Edwards – Jiminy Cricket
Christian Rub – Geppetto
Walter Catlett – Honest John Worthington Foulfellow
Charles Judels – Stromboli and the Coachman
Evelyn Venable – The Blue Fairy
Frankie Darro – Lampwick
Animation Directors:
Fred Moore
Milt Kahl
Ward Kimball
Eric Larson
Frank Thomas
Vladimir Tytla
Arthur Babbitt
Woolie Reitherman
Music by:
Paul Smith,
Leigh Harline
Ned Washington
Songs:
“When You Wish Upon A Star”
“Give A Little Whistle”
“Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee”
“I’ve Got No Strings”
Academy Awards:
Best Original Score
Best Original Song – “When You Wish Upon A Star”
The Story:
The movie begins with opening credits with the song “When You Wish Upon A Star” being sung in the background by Jiminy Cricket. After the credits, Jiminy is seen singing by a book titled Pinocchio and he breaks the fourth wall to talk to the audience about wishes coming true. Jiminy opens up the book and starts to tell his story of his travels. He enters a small alpine village, looking for warmth, and sees that only one light is still on in the entire village at Geppetto’s woodcarver shop. Jiminy sneaks in under the front door and goes to warm up by the fire. He makes himself at home and notices all the works of art carved out of wood in the forms of clocks, music boxes, toys, and a little wooden puppet. Geppetto and Figaro the cat come downstairs and Geppetto puts the finishing touches on the puppet and names him Pinocchio, despite both Figaro and Cleo the fish not liking the name. Geppetto is so thrilled with his completed project that he plays all the music boxes in a celebration.
At 9:00 all of the cuckoo clocks go off and everyone heads to bed (I guess the rest of the village goes to bed super early if all their lights are off well before 9:00!). Figaro gets into his little bed but Geppetto makes him open up the window. Geppetto sees a wishing star and recites
“Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.”
Geppetto tells Figaro that he wished Pinocchio might become a real boy. During the night a light from the wishing star descends through the open window and turns into the Blue Fairy. She says “Little puppet made of pine, wake.” Pinocchio comes alive but learns he is not completely a real boy yet; he first must prove himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish.
Jiminy jumps into the conversation when Pinocchio asks what a conscience is and tries to explain it. The Blue Fairy then makes Jiminy Pinocchio’s conscience by being “Lord high keeper of the right and wrong. Counsellor in moments of temptation. Guide along the straight and narrow path.” Jiminy then sings “Give a Little Whistle” to Pinocchio to give him some advice and they end up causing enough noise to wake Geppetto up. Geppetto thinks that he is dreaming when Pinocchio starts talking but is ecstatic when he figures out that Pinocchio is actually alive. They once again have a music box celebration.
The next morning, Pinocchio is sent to school with an apple and a book titled “ABC”.
Honest John Worthington Foulfellow and Gideon then enter the scene and talk about how the puppeteer Stromboli is back in town. They see Pinocchio skip past them and comment on how there is a little wooden boy who is a puppet without strings. They think up a plan to sell Pinocchio to Stromboli for lots of money. Gideon wants to knock out Pinocchio with a large mallet but Honest John decides to just sweet talk him into becoming an actor with the song “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee.”
The scene then cuts to Jiminy who is running late for his first day as a conscience. He hears Honest John, Gideon, and Pinocchio coming and thinks that they are a parade. When he realizes what is going on, he races to catch up and tries to convince Pinocchio of his mistake to no success.
The next scene shows Stromboli introducing his new show starring the only marionette without strings and the show begins with the song “I’ve Got No Strings.” Jiminy watches the show and concludes that Pinocchio does not need him anymore since actors do not need consciences.
Back at his home, Geppetto is worried about where Pinocchio might be and decides to go out to look for him. He tells Figaro and Cleo that they are not allowed to eat until Pinocchio has safely returned home.
In Stromboli’s wagon, Pinocchio watches Stromboli count his money and tells Stromboli that he is going to head back home to his father. Stromboli gets angry, locks him in a bird cage, and threatens to chop Pinocchio into firewood. Pinocchio is very frightened and tries whistling for Jiminy. Jiminy is outside in the rain and decides to say one more goodbye to Pinocchio and enters the wagon. Jiminy tries to spring open the lock on the birdcage but it is too rusty so he wishes for a miracle. From the outside of the wagon, Geppetto searches for Pinocchio in the rain and he crosses paths with the wagon, though he has no idea that Pinocchio is inside.
Inside the wagon, the Blue Fairy descends as a light and questions Pinocchio as to why he did not go to school that day. Pinocchio starts to tell a story about being kidnapped by monsters and his nose grows with each lie he tells. The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio that “a lie keeps growing and growing until it’s plain as the nose on your face,” but gives him one more chance by opening the lock and shrinking his nose.
At a pub called the Red Lobster Inn, Honest John and Gideon are telling the Coachman about tricking Pinocchio and the Coachman tells them of a bigger prospect of bringing little boys to Pleasure Island and becoming rich. It is a very dark and frightening scene.
Pinocchio races back home and is determined to stay on the straight and narrow path. However, he is once again stopped by Honest John and Gideon who tell him that he is a nervous wreck and is allergic. The only cure for being “allergic” is to go to Pleasure Island.
On the stagecoach on the way to Pleasure Island, we meet Lampwick, a wisecracking boy who befriends Pinocchio and shows him the ways of being bad. They take a ferry over to Pleasure Island where they eat lots of junk food, smoke tobacco, destroy model homes, and fight in the roughhouse.
Jiminy then arrives at an eerily dark and quiet Pleasure Island and looks for Pinocchio. He finds Pinocchio and Lampwick playing pool. Jiminy is so angry with how far Pinocchio has strayed that he gives up on him and leaves the pool hall. Jiminy soon figures out that the missing boys have been turned into donkeys for the salt mines. He races back to the pool hall to warn Pinocchio.
Unfortunately the change has already begun. Lampwick completely turns into a donkey while Pinocchio only develops tall ears and a tail. Jiminy finds Pinocchio and they both dive into the ocean and swim away to the mainland. Once at Geppetto’s home, Pinocchio and Jiminy discover that Geppetto is gone. A dove floats down from the Blue Fairy’s star with a message that says Geppetto has been swallowed by Monstro the whale, but he is still alive. Pinocchio races back to the ocean and ties his tail around a rock in order to stay at the bottom of the water. Jiminy and Pinocchio then explore underwater in order to find Monstro and discover that all the fish are terrified of even the mention of Monstro’s name.
The underwater animation is absolutely beautiful! The ocean life is so colourful and the underwater shadows complete the scene. Even every little bubble looks like a work of art.
We then see Monstro sleeping and inside of him is Geppetto’s boat. He, Figaro, and Cleo are all inside and are cold and starving. Monstro then wakes up and swallows a school of tuna fish and in the process swallows Pinocchio. Geppetto goes fishing for the tuna and ends up catching his son. Pinocchio gets the brilliant idea to build a fire inside of Monstro to make him sneeze their raft out in order to save them all. Here we see that although Geppetto has given up, Pinocchio is still very optimistic. The plan works and they go shooting out of Monstro and a big chase scene follows. The raft crashes into the rocks by the shore and Pinocchio appears dead.
Pinocchio is brought back to Geppetto’s home where everyone is crying over his death. The Blue Fairy appears and decides that Pinocchio’s act of saving his father is enough to make him a real boy. Once again, there is a celebration with the music boxes playing as Pinocchio becomes a real boy.
The film ends with Jiminy thanking the Blue Fairy’s star, getting an official golden conscience badge (made of 18 karats!), and singing “When You Wish Upon A Star.”
Trivia:
- The sound effect used to represent magic, usually a chiming toll, was first ever used for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio. That sound has since been the standard to represent fairies and magic.
- Walt loved the character of Figaro so much that he reused the cat as a pet of Minnie’s in later cartoons.
- Ward Kimball was the lead animator for Jiminy Cricket. He originally drew Jiminy to more resemble an actual cricket but Walt was not impressed. Ward ended up just drawing a little gentleman with a large head.
- Monstro is a sperm whale, the largest of all the toothed whales.
- The Ace of Spades, the ticket for Pleasure Island that Honest John gives Pinocchio, is the card of death.
- At the beginning of the film when Jiminy is opening up the Pinocchio book, two other book titles can be seen in the background, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. These are both a reference to future films Walt Disney had in the works.
- Evelyn Venable, voice of the Blue Fairy, was the model for the Columbia Pictures logo.
- In the original story, there is only a cricket known as the Talking Cricket. Pinocchio smashes him with a mallet after the cricket tries to give the boy some advice.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey is a dark ride that can be found in Fantasyland at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris (though here it is known as Les Voyages de Pinocchio). On Storybook Land Canal Boats in Disneyland, guests travel through Monstro the whale. Monstro’s tail has fallen off because of his sneeze! Gepetto’s cottage can also be found in the Alpine Village near the end of the ride. On it’s a small world, Pinocchio is in the Italy scene.
Many Fantasylands have a Pinocchio themed quick service restaurant. There is the Village Haus Restaurant in Disneyland which is currently being overlaid as the Red Rose Taverne to celebrate the live action Beauty and the Beast. There is Pinocchio Village Haus in Magic Kingdom, Au Chalet de la Marionnette in Disneyland Paris, and Pinocchio Village Kitchen in Shanghai Disneyland. In Tokyo Disneyland there is a beverage stand called Cleo’s. There is also a shop in Disneyland Paris called La Bottega di Geppetto and a shop called Pleasure Island Candies in Tokyo Disneyland.
Scenes from Pinocchio have been part of Fantasmic! and Pinocchio and his friends are often in different parades such as the Main Street Electrical Parade. In 1980 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film, there was an entire Pinocchio Parade in Magic Kingdom.
Pinocchio can be a rare character to meet outside of Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Jiminy Cricket can often be found in Disney’s Animal Kingdom around Earth Day, but other than that he doesn’t usually make an appearance in the parks.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Golden Age:
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