Shuffling the Canon REDUX: A Shuffled Disney & Pixar TL Redone

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The Great Mouse Detective (1941)
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    MrCarioca

    The Great Mouse Detective (1941)​

    “Walt Disney Studios going under? Disney Studio might go bankrupt if strike continues” - Washington Post, June 25th 1941

    “Disney to release next film within this year, according to former Disney animator Art Babbit, the next film will be based of Sherlock Holmes” - The Hollywood Reporter, July 8th 1941

    ---

    Taken from an interview with Walt Disney, 1953

    Interviewer: …now there was the Animator’s Strike back in ‘41, how did you deal with it.

    Walt Disney: Well those commies were easy to deal with, it was only a matter of giving a payrise and more worker’s rights, nothing the HUAC back in ‘47 couldn’t solve. The problem was the studio itself. You know, our previous films other than Little Mermaid were all failures. We had a few projects in development back then, Br’er Rabbit, Wind in the Willows, Sleepy Hollow, what would become Dumbo and Sherlock Holmes. I think the one which saved the studio was Sherlock Holmes. We rushed production on Sherlock and changed everything, Sherlock Holmes was now a little mouse in the mouse world. A bit of a weird concept but it was a success, the only one since Little Mermaid.

    Interviewer: So that's why we have the Great Mouse Detective today?

    Walt Disney: Exactly. It's a bit underwhelming compared to the original epic version, but it's still a charming film.

    ---

    Taken from "The Production of the Great Mouse Detective: Disney's Saving Grace", produced in 1990

    Narrator: There were moments in the Disney Studio's history which, had the stars never aligned, the studio would not exist today. Robin Hood and Hunchback were both commercial failures at the time of their release, and the folks at the studio had to get creative or it could spell the end.

    Ollie Johnston: What saved the studio from collapsing was really Pearl Harbour and the Great Mouse Detective. Walt was around 4 million in debt at the time, maybe even more than that, and it was really the Great Mouse Detective's release that ultimately kept our heads above water.

    Frank Thomas: Originally the film was going to be an ambitious feature like Hunchback and the Little Mermaid. However production had to be rushed after Hunchback’s catastrophic failure and the animator’s strike. We went through many many ideas, tossing back and forth. Until we settled on having mice tell the story of Sherlock Holmes, which was actually somewhat reused from an idea we had while making Robin Hood.

    Narrator: For the voices of the Great Mouse Detective, Basil Rathbone would play the role of Sherlock Mouser. Rathbone was fresh out of his role as Sherlock Holmes in the 1939 films and was a natural fit for Sherlock’s rodent counterpart.

    Ward Kimball: Rathbone was an amazing actor to work with. When Walt approached him, he initially turned down the offer but was convinced after the story-men showed him a preliminary script. Rathbone was also the live-action model for Sherlock, used as a reference for us animators, in fact I was the one who did most of the animation of Sherlock.

    Ollie Johnston: The script itself had to be completely re-written after the film was moved ahead on production. We had to tone down a lot of things including death scenes and darker tones, saved that for Atlantis and other films to come.

    Frank Thomas: We were pretty much expecting our final paychecks and the notice for us to leave. Nobody expected how much the Great Mouse Detective would save our bacon however. I can't even imagine where I would be this moment if the original draft had been made instead.

    Leonard Maltin: While us animation historians have grown to appreciate the Great Mouse Detective a lot more than we did before, Walt himself was not pleased with the final product. Sure it saved his studio, but it was clear that Walt's interest and ambition was on films like the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Atlantis". The Great Mouse Detective is one of the most under appreciated Disney films, and its historical significance cannot be ignored. If the film had failed or had Disney gone with the original Sherlock Holmes film, the studio might not exist today.

    ---

    Taken from "On the Case: The Making of Disney's Great Mouse Detective" produced 2011 for the 70th Anniversary Blu-Ray

    Eric Goldberg: If you ask animation historians or even just casual fans, they’ll usually consider the Great Mouse Detective as their favourite animated film. The simplicity of the story, the gorgeous animation and the funny captivating mystery. Disney wasn’t trying to create art when he made this film, and in a way, that was what allowed him to create this piece of art.

    ---

    Doctor John W. Rodent returns from Afghanistan and rents a room with Sherlock Mouser the detective. Sherlock Mouser is visited by a client named Eric Jones, who explains that his house had been ransacked and the criminal had left a note. At the crime scene, Sherlock finds a note written in scarlet ink reading “Fear”. Sherlock deduces that the culprit was his sworn enemy Professor Rache Rat from his handwriting, and the clues lead them all to the Valley of Fear, where Rache Rat is waiting for Sherlock, having successfully misled him. Rache Rat sets up a trap to kill Sherlock but with some help from John Rodent, the trio escapes. Through clues and the use of Sherlock's chemistry set, Sherlock realises that Rache was heading towards Mousedom Palace and deduces that the kingdom is in grave danger. The rest of the movie revolves around the trio rushing to Mousedom Palace and a big fight against Rache Rat.

    "The Great Mouse Detective", with a budget of $950,000, would be a huge success, the only successful film in the Golden Age outside of "The Little Mermaid". The film would earn around $2 million at the box office and earn even more through its 1949 and 1960s re-releases. While the film was critically and financially successful, the studio was still going through a turbulent period, the studio struggled to stay afloat.

    Release Date: October 23rd 1941

    Cast:
    Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Mouser)
    Dink Trout (John Rodent)
    Jerry Colonna (Eric Jones)
    Henry Daniell (Rache Rat)
    Verna Felton (Mouse Queen)
    Jimmy MacDonald (Additional Voices)

    Notable Songs:
    Are You a Man or a Mouse (1)

    (1) A scrapped song from Dumbo IOTL

    Notes: As mentioned in the test thread, I initially struggled to come up with a plot for TTL's Great Mouse Detective, given that Basil of Baker Street hadn't been written yet. Ultimately, I decided to base the plot off two OTL Sherlock Holmes stories: "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Valley of Fear", as well as taking some cues from OTL's great Mouse Detective. The film has the same significance as its OTL counterpart but its reception ITTL is the equivalent of OTL's Dumbo, known for technically saving the Disney Studio in the 1940s but still being a weaker film among the other Golden Age films.
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Just to clarify, Pixar film and the TV Shows are shuffled separately so no WDAC films become Pixar films/TV Shows or vice versa.
     
    Atlantis: The Lost Empire (1942)
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    MrCarioca

    "US Declares War, Pacific Battle Widens, Manila Area Bombed, 1500 Dead in Hawaii" -New York Times, December 8th 1941

    "Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." -Franklin Roosevelt's declaration of war on Japan, December 8th 1941

    "The Walt Disney Studio confirmed to carry on production on Atlantis, other projects shelved or halted as US army occupies studio lot" -The Hollywood Reporter, December 22nd 1941

    ---

    Taken from "Diving Deep: Producing Disney's Atlantis the Lost Empire", produced and aired in 1995

    Leonard Maltin: Atlantis was one of the more complex films Disney did. Sure you had Robin Hood which was more light-hearted, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame which contained dark tones, but the story of Atlantis could really go anywhere.

    Ollie Johnston: Back in the late 30s and early 40s, sci-fi wasn't really popular, in fact the whole craze only kicked off in the 1970s. Therefore, Walt wanted to step out of his comfort zone and try his hand at something new for his 2nd feature film. We considered Peter Pan and even Bambi, sadly Bambi never made it past the drawing board and Peter Pan would not release until much later. Walt had to move Atlantis down to his third and ultimately his fifth, and by then World War 2 had came knocking on our door and the film was destined to fail.

    Ward Kimball: Walt wanted the animation to look as sophisticated and realistic as possible, as per fellow animator Eric Larson's words "not make them look like big flour sacks". That alone was the reason why I had little to no involvement, they thought I was more suited animating Robin Hood and the Great Mouse Detective instead of realistic human characters.

    Frank Thomas: One of the main issues was the story itself. There weren't much sci-fi films to take inspiration, if any at all. I remember those story meetings very well, Walt would sit there and get extremely agitated and frustrated, he simply couldn't think of a proper story, even with all of us at the helm. Fortunately, the genius of Larry Morey, a scriptwriter for our films back then, saved the film from being scrapped entirely.

    Fred Moore: I think one of the reasons the final product was so dark was because of some last minute edits. The military came in after Pearl Harbour happened and limited our outputs, most of our shorts were military training and propaganda shorts, intended to boost morale. Atlantis found itself affected, as some scenes outright depicted death and war, looking back I was never really too proud of those scenes, but it was a product of its time.

    Paula Sigman: I'd say Atlantis is up there with Hunchback as one of Disney's darkest films, and even Hunchback had comedic relief in the form of Jiminy Cricket, here every scene feels pulled straight out of a 1940s horror movie. The only lighter scenes were from the few songs itself, composed by Frank Churchill and Larrey Morey.

    Leonard Maltin: When the film premiered in 1942, America was at war with Japan and Nazi Germany. Nobody was in the mood to see Disney films, let alone darker ones. The film bombed and would've killed the studio if the military and the government hadn't been funding it. Then after the war, the 1960s and 70s came along, that's when Atlantis found its target audience. Atlantis earned double its budget through re-releases, and ended up being a commercial success, albeit years after its initial release. Sadly the budget had run dry, and the studio had to make package films

    ---

    Set in the early 1900s, an eccentric Greek scientist named Milo Thatch sets sail on a grand adventure to uncover the lost empire of Atlantis, accompanied by his French partner Donnelly d'Arche. Milo and Donnelly sail for weeks but eventually find an inhabited island, which they deduce to be the remanants of Atlantis after cracking ancient manuscripts found on the island. Through cracking ancient code, the space-time continuum changes and reveals that the downfall of Atlantis was caused by a megatsunami, in which the evil king Rourke escapes and leaves his kingdom to perish. Meanwhile, news of Atlantis's re-discovery reaches Europe, the wealthy but notorious businessman Kenneth Sinclair desires to purchase the island and exploit its glory. Milo and Donnelly must now use the space-time continuum to save Atlantis from its fate, but also beat back Sinclair and his evil ideals at the same time.

    "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" would become a box office disappointment, only grossing $500,000 on its initial release compared to a budget of $850,000. Fortunately, Atlantis would gain a significant following come the 1960s/1970s, when the sci-fi craze began. Because of this, Atlantis would become profitable through re-releases and is now seen as a classic in its own right. But in the meantime, Disney's budget had run completely dry, coupled with WW2 now having reached America, the studio could only release package features. The 6th entry in the WDAC would be the first film in the decent but also forgettable Wartime Era.

    Release Date: July 30th 1942 (premeire), Augsut 7th 1942 (general release)

    Cast:
    Hardie Albright (Milo Thatch)
    Sam Edwards (Donnelly d'Arche)
    Fred Shields (King Rourke)
    Edward Brophy (Kenneth Sinclair)

    Notable Songs:
    Little April Shower (sung by an unseen choir, heard during the rainfall scene when Milo and Donnelly fall asleep during the rain)
    Let's Sing a Gay Little Spring Song (sung by an unseen choir, heard during the finale when Atlantis is saved)

    Notes: Turns out adapting Atlantis into the Golden Era isn't as hard as I initially thought it would be. For the plot of TTL's Atlantis, I based it off on Frederick Tennyson's narrative, James Dryden's narrative and also OTL's Atlantis film. While its reception is akin to OTL's Bambi, the film is mostly seen as being ahead of its time, not really finding its fanbase until the 1970s. After this film, we'll be heading into the Wartime Era, one hint I'll give for the first package film is that plotwise it'll be vastly different from its OTL counterpart, and may or may not be somewhat controversial ITTL. Also, updates may or may not be more frequent during the Wartime Era so stay tuned.
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Hi all, I was originally going to post the 1943 film today, but I'm delaying it as I'm not feeling too well.

    To keep anticipation, I will drop hints for 1943 and 1944, I seldom drop hints however so this should be the only direct hints I have for a long while.

    1943: Based of a series of folktales
    1944: Both featurettes are based of literary works
     
    The Many Adventures of Brother Bear (1943)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Continued from the interview with Walt Disney, 1959

    Interviewer: ...Ah interesting, so what was the first package film?

    Walt Disney: Well it was a bit of a controversial one. We based the first package film "The Many Adventures of Brother Bear" of the Uncle Remus stories, we were gonna do a full feature but WW2 stopped us dead in our tracks.

    Interviewer: I always found that film interesting. Since the original Uncle Remus tale starred Br'er Rabbit, or Brother Rabbit as he is known in the film, why did you choose Brother Bear instead of the rabbit?

    Walt Disney: Well as I said, WW2 hampered our plans significantly, so we had to trim a lot of stuff down. In fact, we were discussing of making Br'er Rabbit a live action film, with Br'er Rabbit featurettes in between. Of course that never happened for two reasons: One because of WW2, and two because the public would be in an outrage if I ever depicted black men enjoying slavery. Ultimately we scrapped those plans and only focused on the animated scenes. As for Brother Bear, I recall most of our animators and test audiences (we had the first test screenings in 1942) liking Brother Bear a lot more than both the cunning Brother Fox and mischievous Brother Rabbit. So after a short meeting, Brother Bear became the star while the other two were relegated to second fiddle.

    Interviwer: I see. I'll be completely honest, I always found Brother Rabbit to be more enjoyable than Brother Bear, his tricks are always so engaging to watch. Maybe that's a reason why I like the follow-up more.

    Walt Disney: Well you could say that, we did use some scrapped ideas for the follow-up...

    ---

    "Brother Bear is an engaging and entertaining film, definately worth a watch." -The Hollywood Reporter, February 10th 1943

    "The film we needed as an escape from the ongoing war" -Washington Post, February 11th 1943

    ---

    The failures of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" had caused the budget at Disney to completely run dry, the 1941 Animator's Strike which cuased many talented animators such as Art Babbit to leave didn't help matters either. Many films in production at the time had to either be shelved or have production slow down. To add salt to the wound, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour not long after the strike, the military subsequently occupied the studio and halted production on any non-war related productions. The only feature films in production by early 1942 was "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" and "Br'er Rabbit".

    "Br'er Rabbit" started production as early as 1938, when Walt expressed interested in adapting the "Uncle Remus" stories. Walt successfully purchased film rights by 1939 and a proper adaptation was underway soon. By 1940, production had stalled and there wasn't really a clear direction as to how "Uncle Remus" would play out. While Walt could technically get away with producing only the animated "Br'er Rabbit" segments, the "Uncle Remus" story, on top of being extremely hard to produce animated, would be extremely controversial taking the story's origins into account. Some suggested turning "Uncle Remus" into a live-action film starring James Baskett, with "Br'er Rabbit" becoming aniamted segments shoved in-between scenes. This attempt didn't go far and Walt saved the live-action animation hybrid for a different film.

    A second and arguably more popular suggestion was to ditch live-action completely and instead shift the focus away from Br'er Rabbit, instead the film would be told through the perspective of Br'er Bear. Many storymen and the Nine Old Men agreed that the bear was more interesting to work on, plus having Br'er Bear be the focus would minimize the questionable origins of Br'er Rabbit. Production on the new "Brother Bear" feature wouldn't start at earnets until 1941, when the military occupied the studio. Alongside "Atlantis: The Lost Empire", the military allowed production on "Brother Bear" to continue on one condition: The budget had to be spliced. Because of this and the already shrinking budget, it was decided that "Brother Bear" would serve as the studio's first package feature, three animated segments spliced together into one feature length film.

    The film was divided into three segments, an unseen black narrator (James Baskett) would act as a framing device between the 3 Brother Bear tales. In the first segment "Brother Bear Goes Out on a Limb", we are introduced to Brother Bear and his morning hike to collect food for his bear family. In the second segment "Brother Bear and the Trickery of Brother Rabbit", we are introduced to Brother Bear's partner in-crime Brother Fox and their arch-nemesis Brother Rabbit. Brother Bear goes on another hike when he spots Brother Rabbit stuck in Brother's Fox trap, the rabbit tricks Brother Bear into believing that he is doing a job for Brother Fox and offers Brother Bear to take his place, of course this was a trick to allow Brother Rabbit's escape. This leads to the final segment "Brother Bear and the Laughing Place". Brother Bear seeks to take revenge on Brother Rabbit, with the help of Brother Fox, the duo successfully capture Brother Rabbit and prepare to cook him for dinner. Brother Rabbit asks for one final request: For Brother Bear to tak him to his "laughing place". The Laughing Place turns out to be a beehive which drives Brother Bear back home.

    The film did alright, not a big success but enough to keep the studio alive for the time being. The source material did gather some controversy but most were able to see past the more racial elements and focus on the comedic slapstick. "The Many Adventures of Brother Bear" would come right before one of the most engaging, dark and also funniest package films.

    Release date: February 6th 1943

    Cast:
    James Baskett (Narrator, Brother Fox)
    Nick Stewart (Brother Bear)
    Edward Brophy (Brother Rabbit)

    Notable Songs:
    Everybody's Got a Laughing Place (sung by Brother Rabbit in the titular segment)

    Notes: I wasn't exactly sure on how Brother Bear would work as a package film. But then I remebered OTL's Song of the South's animated segments existed, and that became the basis of TTL's Brother Bear. Plotwise, I took inspiration off "Changing the Reel"'s version of Brother Bear, as well as two of OTL's Br'er Rabbit segments.
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Also, I have amended the budget of TTL's Hunchback, being $2.5million in 1940 standards so that this TL makes a bit more sense now.
     
    The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1945)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1945)​

    "Wind in the Willows and Sleepy Hollow to be Disney's next two features, packaged into one film" -The Hollywood Reporter, December 15th 1943

    ---

    Taken from "Motor Mania: Disney's Ichabod and Mr Toad", produced in 1997

    Leonard Maltin: You see during World War 2, Disney didn't have the budget nor the manpower to produce epic narratives anymore, so the studio resorted to making package features, packaging multiple short stories into one "feature film". I think "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad" was the best of the package films, two stories that could not be more different but still tell compelling and humourous stories.

    Ollie Johnston: We had to trim a lot of our ideas for both featurettes. In the original drafts for "Wind in the Willows", Toad actually did steal the motorcar as in the original book, of course that never came to be. Then there was the scene where McBadger gets sent to a Nervous-Wreck Ward, it was funny and we liked animating the scene, but ultimately it had to be scrapped.

    Joe Grant: While "Wind in the Willows" had far more scenes that were cut, "Sleepy Hollow" surprisingly came out almost intact. The war certainly made the scenes a lot more darker, but the final product was mostly the same as the initial storyboards. You see, while "Wind in the Willows" was conceived as early as 1938, "Sleepy Hollow" didn't come about until late 1942, when Pearl Harbour happened and halted all our plans. Therefore, "Sleepy Hollow" was developed as a featurette in mind, "Wind in the Willows" required a lot more re-working.

    Leonard Maltin: The film was a instant hit upon release, a welcome film for war-weary audiences. It's just an etertaining film that's very well done.

    ---

    For the studio's second package feature, Walt considered pairing up "Mickey and the Beanstalk", "Gremlins" and "The Wind in the Willows", all of which were produced as independent feature films before World War 2 halted such plans. Out of these three, only "The Wind in the Willows" would be released as a package feature while the other two were eventually released in 1947 and 1948 respectively. Another consideration was a follow-up to the Latin American Goodwill Tour shorts which featured Donald Duck, Goofy and the new Brazilian character Jose Carioca. The shorts were popular enough for Walt to consider producing a package feature revolving around Donald's adventures in Latin America. However enough revenue was generated by the shorts alone that there simply wasn't a need for a full Latin American feature.

    Meanwhile Walt had seen the increased patriotism in the US during World War 2. Naturally it would be a good decision to produce a feature film or featurette based on popular Americans legends. Walt would go on the make a package film revolving around said concept, but one legend in particular caught his eye: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Production would start in late 1942 only because Walt convinced the Bank of America that an American legend could boost war morale and also bring some optimism.

    As for "The Wind in the Willows", it was conceived as early as 1938 as its own feature film. Walt purchased film rights shortly after "The Little Mermaid" but found the story too corny for his tastes. Story artist James Bodero successfully convinced Walt to put the film into production and the earliest story meetings would start in 1940. About half of the animation and songs were produced before Pearl Harbour happened, the only projects that went on were “Atlantis” which was near completion anyways and “Br’er Rabbit” which became “The Many Adventures of Brother Bear”. By 1943, there were discussions to continue limited production on films that were put on hold, which included “The Wind in the Willows”. Walt decided to convert “The Wind in the Willows” into a featurette and pair it with "the Legend of Sleepy Hollow", giving the feature its name: "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad".

    Jiminy Cricket from "the Hunchback of Notre Dame" serves as a framing device. The first featurette was "The Wind in the Willows", narrated by Edgar Bergen (1). J Thaddeus Toad gains a new motor mania after he witnesses a motorcar drive by Toad Hall. Toad's friends, the righteous Mr Rat, the loyal Mole, and the caretaker of Toad Hall Angus McBadger all try to contain Toad's mania but to no avail. Toad gets himself into hot water when he is framed for stealing a motorcar annd locked up in prison, in reality Toad sold Toad Hall to a gang of weasels led by the bartender Winky in excahge for the motorcar. The jailer's daughter helps Toad escape and the gang must take the deed back from Winky and the weasels, culminating in a perilous gun fight.

    The second featurette was "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", narrated and sung by Bing Crosby. The schoolmaster Ichabod Crane arrives at Sleepy Hollow and captures attention from the town, including that of Brom Bonnes, the self-proclaimed hero of Sleepy Hollow. Soon after, the daughter of the rich Mr Tassel, Katrina, arrives in Sleepy Hollow and attraacts Ichabod and Brom. Ultimately this culminates into a ballroom party at Katrina's house, where Brom Bonnes tells the story of the Headless Horseman to scare Ichabod and embarass him. Ichabod returns home, but meets the Headless Horseman himself, who chases Ichabod down the lane and throws a pumpkin, seemingly killing Ichabod. Brom Bonnes marries Katrina in the end and Ichabod fate is left ambiguous.

    All work was completed on December 21st 1944, a mere 6 weeks before its premiere date. The film did surprisingly well, earning $1.2 million on its intial release. The war ended soon after but Disney continued making package features for the time being, not ready to return to epic narratives just yet.

    Release Date: February 3rd 1945

    Cast:
    Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket)
    Edgar Bergen (Himself)
    Eric Blore (Mr Toad)
    Basil Rathbone (Mr Rat)
    Colin Campbell (Mole)
    Pinto Colvig (Angus MacBadger)
    Oliver Wallace (Mr Winky)
    Bing Crosby (Himself, Brom Bonnes)
    Claud Allister (Ichabod Crane)
    Dinah Shore (Katrina Van Tassel)

    Notable Songs:
    Ichabod and Mr Toad (sung by an unseen choir in the opening credits)
    The Merrily Song (sung bu Toad during the horse carriage scene, the song would become the main motif of "the Wind in the Willows")
    Ichabod Crane (sung by Bing Crosby to introduce Ichabod Crane)
    Katrina (sung by Bing Crosby to introduce Katrina)
    The Headless Horseman (sung by Bing Crosby/Brom Bonnes to scare Ichabod during Van Tassel's party)

    (1) Charlie and Mortimer do not appear here

    Notes: Since OTL's Ichabod and Mr Toad is also a package film, this one was naturally an easy one to knock out. The only changes were parts of the cast and the featurettes, with some scrapped ideas from OTL's Wind in the Willows featured here, and the overall film having more war-like scenes due to it releasing in WW2. Now the next film will be a hard one as I am still trying to think of suitable material that'll work as featurettes. Stay tuned for that.
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    The next update should be out by the weekend as I now have an idea of what the segments will be based off. The trouble starts at 1946b, when the first live-action/animation hybrid would be released.
     
    The Fox and the Hound (1946)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Taken from a staff meeting in the Walt Disney Animation Studio lot, December 22nd 1944

    Walt Disney: So, Wind in the Willows and Sleepy Hollow is finally complete. Thus lies the question folks: What should we do next?

    Ward Kimball: Well we haven’t resumed work on Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk yet, maybe we could package those two as well?

    Norman Ferguson: Actually, I think I have an idea. You fellas familiar with Lovecraft?

    Walt Disney: That strange fella? I’m not sure if his works are the best for a featurette…

    Ollie Johnston: Maybe we should make another Brother Bear and Brother Rabbit film, the first one did pretty well, a second feature could expand on Brother Rabbit or Brother Fox.

    Walt Disney: We’ll discuss it more later, I’ll have to think about Lovecraftian horror for a second…

    ---

    For the studio's next two featurettes, Walt could not have chosen a more clashing combination. Smashing a continuation of the Brother Rabbit tales from "Brother Bear" with H.P Lovecraft's "The Hound", "The Fox and the Hound" started production immediately after "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad" premiered. Initally having Jiminy Cricket as the framing device like in the previous film, the dark tone of "The Hound" scrapped said plan and an unseen narrator would serve as the framing device instead.

    The first segment was a follow-up to "The Tales of Brother Bear", this time focusing on the cunning Brother Fox and his various schemes to capture Brother Rabbit. Brother Fox and Brother Bear construct a "tar baby" as bait for Brother Rabbit. But when he is captured, Brother Rabbit convinces Brother Fox that throwing him into the Bramble Patch is the most painful death for him, which of course allows his escape. In another attempt, Brother Fox and the hungry Brother Vulture team up. Brother Vulture holds Brother Fox in its talons and allows Brother Fox to swoop down and capture Brother Rabbit, but the rabbit comes up with a plan: Convince Brother Vulture to drop him in the boiling river below, claiming that it'll boil him alive. Brother Fox is not amused but the vulture is convinced enough, of course Brother Rabbit escapes once more.

    The second segment was easily the darkest and most jarring featurette Disney ever made. Based off H.P Lovecraft's "The Hound", two robbers, Gatsby and Mortimer, decide to dig up an ancient grave to retrieve a ruby amulet. They spot an apparition of a hound and decide to make a run for it, but not before stealing the amulet. Over time, the two robbers are haunted by the howls of the hound, as well as spotting its shadow sparingly. The climax comes when Gatsby is murdered, prompting Mortimer to return the amulet. However, the grave is nowhere to be found and Mortimer is seemingly attacked by the hound, leaving his fate to the viewer’s interpretation.

    Needless to say, the film wasn't very popular and didn't do too well. The Brother Fox segment was fine and received praise, but "The Hound" was expectedly the most controversial part. The Brother Fox and Brother Bear segments would be re-issued on TV throughout the 1950s, while "The Hound" was never re-released until the film's 1999 VHS release.

    Release Date: April 20th 1946

    Cast:
    James Baskett (Narrator of "Brother Fox", Brother Fox)
    Nick Stewart (Brother Bear)
    Edward Brophy (Brother Rabbit)
    Nestor Paiva (Brother Vulture)
    Ronald Reagan (Narrator of "The Hound")
    Candy Candido (Gatsby)
    Hans Conried (Mortimer)
    Jimmy MacDonald (the Hound)

    Notes: TTL's "The Fox and the Hound" is easily one of the darkest Disney films. For "The Hound" segment, I initially wanted to do the scrapped Inspector Bones project or even "The Hounds of the Baskervilles", but then remembered "The Great Mouse Detective" had released 5 years prior.
     
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    Hopefully I can get 1946b out by tmr or sometime soon.

    As a side note, despite me mentioning "Mickey and the Beanstalk and "Bongo", both projects are not cancelled. "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is released as a featurette (think of it as "Brave Little Tailor" but longer) paired with a 1947 re-release of "Robin Hood". As for "Bongo", I have my plans...

    And 1946b will not be part of the Disney Canon like with "The Emperor's New Groove" and 1949a.
     
    Encanto: The Adventures of the Little Prince (1946)
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    • MrCarioca

    MrCarioca

    "Walt Disney and Orson Welles to release live-action film based off "The Little Prince", releasing later this year" -The New York Times, February 1st 1946

    ---

    An animated adaptation of "The Little Prince" had been in filmmaker Orson Welles's mind since its 1943 publication. Welles had already purchased film rights as early as 1943 and was ectastic to direct the film. Of course, the only suitable studio to do an animated film would be the one which dominated the industry: Walt Disney Animation Studios. Welles and Disney didn't really get along. Their ideas (and political beliefs while we're at it) often clashed and Disney almost ended collaboration with Welles after a brief arguement. Ultimately, the film was to be shot in live-action, with animated segments shoved in between. The film was christened with the title "Encanto" to emphasize on the Little Prince's main goal in the film.

    An aviator crashes his plane into a strange deserted planet, where he meets the titular Little Prince. The Little Prince recalls his adventures across multiple planets prior to meeting the aviator, trying to find the most enchanted and whimsical planet that he dubs "Encanto". Throughout his journey, the prince experiences run-ins with a drunkard tippler, a lamplighter, a king with no subjects, and a conceited man who only wants praise from others (all of which are animated). The Little Prince soons encounters the rose, who he believed to be unique and special. However when he visits Earth, roses are found everywhere and the Prince is heartbroken to find out about the truth. The Prince realises that "Encanto" was his home planet all along, and seeks to return to the rose.

    Many, including Walt himself, expected the film to flop. However the film did surprisingly well both financially and critically, earning praise for both its casting and its faithfulness to the source material. The film would go on to earn a modest $3.4 million under a $2 million budget on its intiial release, its all time revenue would amount to a total of $65million.

    Release Date: November 12th 1946

    Live-Action Casting:
    Bobby Driscoll (The Little Prince)
    Orson Welles (The Aviator)

    Animated Casting:
    Sterling Holloway (The Tippler)
    Edgar Bergen (The Lamplighter)
    Eric Blore (The King)
    Ed Wynn (The Conceited Man)
    Ruth Warrick (The Rose)

    Notable Songs:
    Zip a Dee Doo Dah (sung by the Little Prince and the Aviator)
    How Do You Do (The Little Prince's theme song)

    Notes: I wasn't sure on how to make Encanto work 75 years earlier, granted OTL's counterpart does take places in 1950s Colombia but still. I did some reseach and it turned out that a "Little Prince" collaboration between Orson Welles and Disney was actually proposed but scrapped. Since the title "Encanto" could fit the theme of "The Little Prince", I figured it might work after all.
     
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