Pinocchio (1940)

Poster Description: Pinocchio holds a plaque that reads, “Walt Disney’s full-length feature production Pinocchio in multiplane TECHNICOLOUR.” He’s smiling and dancing as a translucent Blue Fairy taps the sign with her star-topped wand, which emits little golden beams. Figaro, the black and white kitten, prances with Jiminy Cricket, who wears a blue top hat and holds a red umbrella aloft. Pinocchio is crowded by white spectres of Honest John, Stromboli, Geppetto, Cleo the fish, and Kitty. The Blue Fairy leans on the evil Coachman’s head.

 

It was some time in the early noughties. I had yet to write my first film review, and Disney+ didn’t exist, but VHS tapes were still something you could watch without being asked what they were. I saw Pinocchio for the first time in this period, as part of a doomed teenage crusade to watch every animated Disney movie in existence. I purchased the video in a “bring ‘n’ buy” sale at my church, along with Fantasia, Bambi, and a copy of Pinocchio’s source material. Unfortunately, I happened to suffer a lot from anxiety at this age, so I was perhaps not in the right mindset to do this. In other words, a lot of the darker aspects of this film messed me up more than it would have on a good day and have stuck with me.

The Directors: Norman Ferguson and T. Hee

The Cast:

Cliff Edwards – Jiminy Cricket

Christian Rub – Geppetto

Clarence Nash – Figaro/Rough House Statue/Donkeys

Evelyn Venable – The Blue Fairy

Dickie Jones – Pinocchio/Alexander

Walter Catlett – “Honest” John Worthington Foulfellow

Charles Judels – Stromboli/The Coachman

Frankie Darro – Lampwick

Thurl Ravenscroft – Monstro the Whale

Certificate: U

Released in UK cinemas: 13^th May 1940

The Plot:

A fairy grants the wish of a lonely carpenter by bringing his wooden puppet to life. However, Pinocchio has a lot to learn before becoming a real boy, as he is guided by his friend and conscience, Jiminy Cricket.

The Review:

The song “When You Wish Upon a Star” has become a Disney hallmark, but Pinocchio is the reason it exists. Sung by Jiminy Cricket, he’s either charming or insufferable depending on your age, something that becomes a bit of a theme for the film. Pinocchio is based on the 1883 book, The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, and if you think the movie is weird, they reined in a lot of the more disturbing attributes of the novel. For example, Pinocchio throws a hammer at his little cricket friend, the fox and cat try to hang him, and Pinocchio rides a pigeon at one point.

Similar to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the film is gorgeously hand-painted. Geppetto’s many unique handmade clocks are fascinating to watch, despite many designs carrying a hint of dark humour about them. One clock features a man trying to kill a turkey, and another has a mother smacking her boy for spilling paint as his cries coincide with the clock chimes. The Disney animators had props of the clocks made to study and combine with their drawings to get them looking just right.

Image Description: As a blue and gold clock chimes 9pm, a wooden turkey stands in a small doorway in a red and green hut. He recoils his neck away from a brightly painted axeman who is bent down with his axe poised over a chopping block.

 

Image Description: A blue clock also chimes for 9pm. A shelf full of tins of paint and is splattered with small red handprints. A large wooden woman with black hair and a frown has a blonde-haired boy over her lap with a hand poised to smack his bare bottom. The boy’s eyes are shut, his mouth a wide square hole as he holds a can of spilled red paint in one hand. He has (literally) been caught red-handed.

For all his talents as a toymaker, I’ve always found Geppetto to be an incredibly dim-witted character, which makes rooting for him a challenge. Despite his clocks making their racket at 9pm, Geppetto still asks what the time is, checking his (rather lovely) pocket watch. Then, after the Blue Fairy brings Pinocchio to life, Geppetto talks to him before his mind can catch up with what has just happened:

Geppetto: [waking up to a loud crashing noise] Who's there?

Pinocchio: It's me.

Geppetto: [relieved] Oh, it's me.

[starts to lie back down, then suddenly sits up bolt upright]

Geppetto: Huh? Shhh! Figaro, there's somebody in here! Oh, Pinocchio! How did you get down here?

Pinocchio: I fell down.

Geppetto: Oh, you did... Oh! You are talking!

Pinocchio: Uh-huh.

Geppetto: No! No. no, no!

Pinocchio: Yes, and I can move too.

Geppetto: No, no, you can't! I'm dreaming in my sleep! Oh, wake me up! Wake me up!

He reacts similarly twice more in the movie, which becomes less and less funny unless you enjoy repetition in idiotic characters. After getting swallowed by Monstro the Whale, Geppetto is ready to accept his grim fate despite making a raft. It’s Pinocchio’s idea to escape by using smoke. It all makes one wonder what the Blue Fairy was thinking when she granted Geppetto’s wish, giving Jiminy Cricket the responsibility of Pinocchio’s conscience; they are both useless when it really matters.

As our protagonist, Pinocchio is endearingly naïve with his initial persistence with asking, “Why?” He meets a fox called “Honest” John and a Cat named Gideon, who doesn’t speak but helps with most of the film’s comic relief. In contrast, the Coachman (yup, that’s his name) and Stromboli are both magnificently voiced and designed if you enjoy absurd caricatures for villains. Stromboli is an Italian gypsy (why??) with a belly that’s as large as his temper is short. Pinocchio is sold to his circus, and our young hero’s performance starts with him falling down the stairs, much to Stromboli’s fury, until he notices the audience are in fits of laughter. Whenever Stromboli curses in rapid Italian, he sounds remarkably like Pingu, the penguin, even squealing in a very alarming way. As for the Coachman, he is this bizarre British stereotype until he makes this face, announcing his plan for truant boys.

 

Does anyone have any clean underwear? 

Image Description: The Coachman’s face is huge and red like the Devil’s, and his eyes are vast and green, framed by pointed eyebrows. His perfect smile stretches inhumanly wide, taking up most of his face. He looks hideously thrilled, like he might just take a bite right out of you.

The Coachman lures them – including Pinocchio and a lad named Lampwick – to Pleasure Island, where they can smoke, drink, and fight to their hearts’ content (you know, “boy” stuff). The price to pay for this is drawn out exquisitely, as Jiminy Cricket follows the Coachman’s carriage after Pinocchio abandons him. We discover the Coachman is trafficking donkeys, some wearing clothes and tearfully pleading to go home. Meanwhile, Pinocchio plays pool with Lampwick when their ears grow, making Pinocchio throw his cigar away in disgust. It sounds almost amusing in writing, but he is helpless when Lampwick’s bravado becomes bewilderment and blind panic as his hands become hooves. We finally see his shadow mutate into that of a bucking donkey, and that scene alone is more disturbing than most existing horror movies. We never learn what happens to Lampwick or the other ill-fated boys.    

With his fierce eyes and enormous mouth, Monstro, the Whale’s character design is phenomenal. Nevertheless, Monstro effectively kick-started my megalohydrothalassophobia as a child. 

Image Description: Monstro the whale is furious. His vast mouth is wide open, showing many teeth and a pink tongue. Water comes away from him in streams as he flies through the air towards us.

 

This was particularly troublesome during my first holiday to Disneyland Paris when I went on the ride ‘Les Voyages de Pinocchio.’ The whole way through, Jiminy Cricket’s high-pitched “Attention!” snapped my attention to whatever scene was playing out (which I found creepy enough). Finally, at the moment I was dreading, Monstro loomed out like a black balloon. I was terrified in 2005 but didn’t really see what all the fuss was about thirteen years later. The same cannot be said for the film.

Herein lies the teething problems of Disney’s initial films. Like Snow White, Pinocchio is charming enough, but it could be argued that its dark aspects are way darker than they need to be. The tribulations of Pleasure Island serve as a compelling lesson for misbehaving children, but at the cost of childhood trauma. I have spoken to people who have seen Lampwick become a donkey, and they always talk of it with reverence like they were lucky to get out of it alive. The secondary characters are unique and entertaining, but more prominent characters like Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket are either funny or the banes of the film that you’re expected to root for. It’s our titular hero that redeems it all with his naivety and willingness to learn. Pinocchio will never be my favourite Disney film, but it has my respect for that alone.  

The Verdict: 2.5 STARS OUT OF 5

Sources:

Pinocchio film poster - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_(1940_film)

Geppetto’s cuckoo clocks - https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2016/02/22/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-pinocchio/

Image: Turkey VS Axeman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4KKT6t2_wc

Image: A naughty boy gets punished - http://myjourneythroughdisney.blogspot.com/2015/06/pinocchio-1940.html 

Quotes from the film - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032910/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu

Image: The Coachman is evil – http://asylumfornerds.blogspot.com/2014/05/5-reasons-why-coachmen-from-pinocchio.html

Fear of large creatures or fear of water? - https://www.surfertoday.com/environment/what-is-thalassophobia

Image: Monstro the Whale - https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3436144/disneys-pinocchio-scarier-horror-movies/