Fun and Fancy Free (1947) on Netflix
Approved19471h 13mAdventureAnimationComedyFamilyFantasyMusical
A circus bear named Bongo longs to be free and leaves his train for the wild. Three hungry farmers, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, trade their cow for magic beans.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.3/1010,741 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes73%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jiminy Cricket explores a large house and finds a record titled Bongo, the tale of a circus bear who wants his freedom. Bongo slips away from the circus train into the North American wilderness, where he meets a female bear, Lulubelle, and a burly rogue bear, Lumpjaw, claims her. Across the street, a birthday party is under way, and a ventriloquist and his dummies entertain the guests. He tells the story of Happy Valley, a kingdom kept happy by a singing golden harp until the harp is stolen. Its three farmers, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, have almost nothing left to eat, and Donald nearly harms their pet cow. Mickey trades the cow for beans that turn out to be magic.
Cast
- Anita Gordonas Singing Harp (voice)
- Jean Dinningas Singer (voice)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In early 1940, animators Bill Cottrell and T. Hee pitched a feature film of Jack and the Beanstalk starring Mickey Mouse as Jack, with Donald Duck and Goofy in support. Walt Disney laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks, then said the film would never be made because they had "murdered his characters".
- Walt Disney had voiced Mickey Mouse since the character's 1928 debut, and Fun and Fancy Free was the last time he did so regularly, having recorded most of Mickey's dialogue back in 1941. Sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald took over the voice from 1948.
- On December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States military took control of the Disney studio. Pre-production work on Bongo and early versions of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan was shelved as the studio was set to make instructional and war propaganda films.
- Two scenes explaining how Mickey got the magic beans were cut from the film: one had Honest John and Gideon from Pinocchio con him out of his cow, another had a Queen played by Minnie Mouse hand him the beans as a gift.
- Jiminy Cricket's number "I'm a Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow" had been written for Pinocchio and cut from that film before its release.
- Bongo was suggested as a sequel to Dumbo, with some of that 1941 film's cast returning as supporting characters, an idea that never came together. Early drafts gave Bongo a chimpanzee partner first called "Beverly", then "Chimpy", dropped when the story was condensed.
