DVD Review: Pete’s Dragon (High-Flying Edition): Jim Backus, Walter Barnes, Calvin Bartlett, Red Buttons, Charlie Callas, Al Checco, Jack Collins, Jim Dale, Robert Easton, Robert Foulk, Jane Kean, Sean Marshall, Gary Morgan, Roger Price, Joe E. Ross, Henry Slate, Charles Tyner, Shelley Winters, Ben Wrigley, Jeff Conaway, Frank Phillips, Joel Hirschhorn: Movies & TV
Charming & Heartwarming Film; excellent extras!,
By Dave “Davelandweb” (San Diego, CA) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
“Pete’s Dragon” (1977) has become a somewhat forgotten Disney movie that was originally inspired by the success of Mary Poppins (45th Anniversary Special Edition) as a live-action/animation musical. The story finally got the green-light in 1975; songs were by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, and an all-star cast was assembled: singer Helen Reddy in her first film role, Broadway’s Jim Dale, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Jim Backus, and Mickey Rooney. Sean Marshall, in his first acting job, portrayed the title character of Pete.
Pete is a young orphan who has escaped the abusive family that adopted him: a dirty bunch of hillbillies known as The Gogans (Jeff Conaway, Kenickie from Grease (Rockin’ Rydell Edition) [Blu-ray] plays one of The Gogans). They adopted Pete to use him as a slave. Elliott, a large green dragon who can become invisible at will, helps Pete escape, and acts as his friend and protector. Pete ends up in the small village of Passamaquoddy, where he is taken in by kindly Nora (Reddy) and her father Lampie (Rooney). The two own the lighthouse in town, where Nora waits for her boyfriend Paul to return, even though he was lost at sea years before. The Gogans find Pete and attempt to steal him back, with the aid of Doc Terminus (Dale), a medicine showman, and his shill, Hoagy (Buttons). Although fairly predictable, it is a heartwarming story with an excellent cast and music that is light and breezy. Definitely good fare for the young!
Nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (”Candle in the Water”), pleasantly sung by Reddy.
When watching today, the animation looks a little antiquated, as digital animation and the ability to combine live-action with cartoons has obviously improved since 1977. Still, with the limitations of the day, what the Disney team was able to create is still quite impressive. The entire town of Passamaquoddy was built on the Disney backlot, with a functioning lighthouse built above Morro Bay, California. The US Coast Guard had to give permission to Disney to actually light it so as not to confuse real ships in the water. Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch in Santa Clarita was also used for a number of outdoor shots.
SPECS:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound * Widescreen (1.66:1)–Enhanced for 16×9 TVs. This was the first Disney film recorded in the Dolby Stereo sound system. The clarity and color of the image of the DVD are excellent; sound is good too, but nothing that will really blow your speakers away. Running time of approximately 129 minutes, which is just about 5 minutes short of the original roadshow version.
BONUS FEATURES:
Sneak Peeks: Snow White on Blu-ray, The Prince & The Frog (theatrical), Disney Blu-ray, Hannah Montana the Movie, Up, D23, Earth, and Tinkerbell: The Lost Treasure.
Brazzle Dazzle Effects (25:23): Narrated by Sean Marshall (Pete) who is heard present day, but never seen! Sean takes us on a journey telling the history of live-action/animation in Disney films, beginning the Alice Comedies. Virginia Davis (Alice) recalls pantomiming to invisible animals. “Children love to pretend. I loved to pretend, too.” Disney thought that by putting a live girl in an animated setting he could get a leg-up on the competition. Ub Iwerks joined the Disney team early, left, and then returned in the 1940’s. Many of the special effect processes that have made Disney film magic possible were a result of his genius. “The Three Caballeros” was a milestone in 1945 in combining color live-action film with animation. Using rear-screen projection and special process-lab effects, Iwerks helped the film accomplish many things never seen before. The real jump came in 1959 with “Ten Who Dared,” a film that used the Sodium Vapor Process Screen. Using yellow lights/filters, filmmakers were able to block out backgrounds that made it easier to combine the animation. Without this process, “The Parent Trap” and “Mary Poppins” would never have been possible. Marshall recalls filming “Pete’s Dragon” in the summer of 1976. He loved the entire process: special effects, acting, dancing, makeup. “The only thing I didn’t like was the fame!” He recalls Red Buttons and Mickey Rooney attempting to upstage each other, and how choreographer Onna White’s instruction helped prepare him to be a college pole-vaulter. In this featurette, you will see the original live-action film and learn how it was combined with the animation. Very interesting to watch documentary.
Deleted Storyboard Sequence: “Terminus & Hoagy Hunt Elliott” (2:25)–Nothing really missed here!
Original Song Concept: “Boo Bop BopBop Bop (I Love You Too)” (2:35): Very pop-sounding; almost a little out of place. Not missed from the storyline, it featured both Pete & Elliott.
Original Demo Recordings (all from February 11, 1976):
Brazzle Dazzle Day: Alternate song, first attempt. The song was liked by re-written.
Every Little Piece: Alternate melody. Thought to be too somber, the lyrics were kept, but the melody was rewritten.
The Greatest Star of All: Deleted song for a deleted character. Artist Ken Anderson thought 2 villains were not needed, so both song and character were cut.
Promotional Record:
Pop versions of songs from the movie released on a 7″ Vista record are presented here: It’s Not Easy, Brazzle Dazzle Day, There’s Room For Everyone, Candle on the Water.
Art Galleries: Concept Art, Behind-the-scenes, and publicity galleries. Varying quality, but still very cool to see, especially the behind-the-scenes shots.
Trailers: International & Theatrical Trailers
“About Pete’s Dragon”: 5 screens with production notes about the movie.
“Disney Family Album” (excerpt, 2:20): About artist Ken Anderson. He describes how he based Elliott on Wallace Beery - large, bumbling, but loveable. He also is seen at the Disney ranch, which he describes as his Laughing Place.
“The Plausible Impossible” (excerpt, 3:36): From the Disneyland TV show, October 31, 1956. Shows the Disney Art of Animation book, with chapter 5 about the Plausible Impossible–using animation to make the unreal look real. Clips from Fantasia shown.
“Lighthouse Keeping” (1956, 6:45): Donald Duck cartoon
Includes a game for the very young, where you must find Elliott.
Overall, a really great DVD with enjoyable extras.
Song demos and groovy “pop versions” alone are worth the new edition,
By Gregory Ehrbar “mousetracksonline.com” (Orlando, FL) -
“I was the number one star of Hollywood back in 1940…and I worked alongside someone who would become a close friend and a great star. Her name was Frances Gumm. You know her as…Judy Garland.”
Surely during the production of PETE’S DRAGON, the great Mickey Rooney shared these facts with young Sean Marshall, who — as an offscreen adult — narrates a new documentary about the 1977 Disney musical fantasy on the new “High-Flying Edition.”
The new doc makes it easier to understand that sodium screen process so often used in Disney films of the period — a kind of yellow light behind the subject that somehow vanishes and allows two images to be combined. Maybe that yellow sheen is the reason that you could always spot a seam along the two separate images — a problem solved by today’s digital technology.
When PETE’S DRAGON premiered in 1977, I was extremely excited that a MARY POPPINS/BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS-type Disney movie was arriving. I listened to the various records over and over. I even was fortunate enough to see Wally Boag himself appearing at the Lakes Mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, in which the “Every Little Piece” sequence was recreated with an Elliott puppet that popped out of the box.
I loved the movie, though probably not as much as MP or B&B. It’s very much like the other frothy Disney comedies of the period, only an hour longer and with songs. I would have preferred something with just a tad more gravity, though not as dark as today’s movie fantasies.
That said, it’s still very entertaining and captures a period when the Disney studio had a backlot and you could smile at the sight of familiar faces like Jane Kean and Jim Backus. The score deserves better appreciation that it has received in recent years.
The idea of an animated Elliott cavorting with humans was not miraculous even in 1977, since Tony the Tiger and friends did it frequently on TV). It of course reached the next level with ROGER RABBIT. Thanks to outstanding animation, Elliott’s soars beyond a mere gimmick.
A couple of trivia gems: the screenwriter, Malcolm Marmorstein, was one of the writers for TV’s DARK SHADOWS and, if you’re a fan of the TV classic THE PRISONER, many of its episodes were directed by PETE’S DRAGON director Don Chaffey.
The new DVD, while not including an audio commentary, does improve on the previous edition in a major way — at least to a Disney music buff like me. There are a selection of demo recordings and a handful of Kids of the Kingdom-style “pop versions” of the songs I had not heard before. “Brazzle Dazzle Day” had a different melody with mostly different lyrics. “Every Little Piece” had the same lyrics with an “If I Were a Rich Man”-like melody. “It’s Not Easy” had alternate lyrics that transformed it into a romantic love song. And there’s even a deleted song called “The Greatest Star of All,” clearly intended for Jim Dale’s character, Terminus. These alone make the new DVD worth getting.
The extras from the previous edition are all still there except the 25-minute 1973 live-action/animated documentary MAN, MONSTERS & MYSTERIES, narrated by Sebastian Cabot with Sterling Holloway voicing the Loch Ness Monster (aka “Nessie”).
Before Barney, there was Elliot,
By Christian McCallister “dr dolphin” (The waters of the Great Lakes) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
Pete is an orphan living in the hills with a bunch of crude people who treat him poorly. He does have one ally, though: Elliot. Who is Elliot? Why, he is Pete’s dragon, of course.
This Disney production, from 1977, blends live action and animation. Actually, all of the movie is live action, except for Elliot. The movie begins with Pete, played by Sean Marshall, running from his adoptive family, the Gogans, with their matriarch played by Shelley Winters. Elliot helps him escape, and the duo moves along to the Maine fishing town of Passamaquoddy. As Elliot can be invisible whenever he so chooses, and as he usually reveals himself only to Pete, the two inadvertently cause a bit of a ruckus. One man, Lampey, does see Elliot once. Lampey, portrayed by Mickey Rooney, is the keeper of the lighthouse, and has been known to have a drink or four now and then. Thus, no one believes he saw a dragon.
As Pete begins to fit in with the town, with Lampey and his daughter Nora (Helen Reddy) taking him into their home, and Elliot living in a cave on the seashore, things keep happening to interfere. Some of the problems occur because of Lampey’s drinking, some because of Elliot’s habit of occasionally revealing himself to others, and some because of Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale), a traveling snake-oil salesman and charlatan, who wants to obtain Elliot, chop him up, and get rich off the resulting medicines he can concoct. Oh, and the Gogans show up, too, to claim Pete.
By the way, did I mention that this movie is a musical? I had not seen the movie before now, and I was not expecting that. Most of the songs are silly, cheerful, happy songs that children will enjoy. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Nora, whose love is missing at sea, climbs up the lighthouse and sings to the sea a beautiful, somewhat haunting song, (I’ll Be Your) Candle on the Water. This song was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost out to You Light Up My Life. Personally, I prefer Candle on the Water. It’s appearance in the movie startled me. I had heard it before, and always liked it, but never knew from whence it came. For me, when this song occurs in the movie, it has a moment of magic, akin to the song Hallelujah in Shrek.
Sean Marshall has to carry a lot of screen-time in this movie and, while I cannot say he was great, he certainly did okay. Mickey Rooney is hyper and silly and likeable as Lampey. Helen Reddy is fine as Nora. Shelley Winters is good, albeit almost unrecognizable as the grimy, grubby Lena Gogan. Jim Dale does Dr. Terminus perfectly, as the epitome of sleazy hucksterism. Red Button is his sidekick, who is prone to drink a bit.
There are several things about this movie that I saw as less than optimum. One has to do with Elliot’s voice, done by comedian Charlie Callas. Is he actually saying words? Most of the time, it just sounds like gibberish, but then I catch a word here and there. I guess I like things more cut-and-dry: have him speak comprehensibly or only make animal noises. The in-between annoyed me. It’s a minor point, but there it is.
When the movie starts, Pete tries very hard to keep Elliot a secret. Later, he matter-of-factly tells Lampey and Nora all about Elliot. He had not known them very long at that point. This is another minor issue that annoyed me.
I am more concerned about the fact that there is quite a bit of drinking in this movie, and it is portrayed humorously. I know this is partly a function of times changing, but it is being re-released. If this were not a movie clearly aimed at young children, I would not be worried, but it is a children’s movie.
The weakest part of this movie is the animation, which is a surprise coming from Disney. Elliot is a completely flat character, in appearance, with minimal shading. He is mostly green, with some purple. His movements are fluid but unsophisticated, and reminded me of a Saturday morning cartoon, although many of them have more elaborate animation. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the wondrous animation we see nowadays, in movies like Shrek (Full Screen Single Disc Edition), Ratatouille, and Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition).
In the end, this is a cheerful, upbeat movie, with many pleasant songs, that is aimed at children. And then, there is a moment of movie magic, when Helen Reddy does what she does so well, with Candle on the Water.
– Chris McCallister, author of Coming Full Circle
P.S.: I received the DVD from Disney in exchange for an objective review.
Search Pete’s Dragon (High-Flying Edition): Jim Backus, Walter Barnes, Calvin Bartlett, Red Buttons, Charlie Callas, Al Checco, Jack Collins, Jim Dale, Robert Easton, Robert Foulk, Jane Kean, Sean Marshall, Gary Morgan, Roger Price, Joe E. Ross, Henry Slate, Charles Tyner, Shelley Winters, Ben Wrigley, Jeff Conaway, Frank Phillips, Joel Hirschhorn: Movies & TV from AmAzon
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