The Blue Bird (1940)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Walter Bullock (additional dialogue)
Maurice Maeterlinck (play)

Release Date:

19 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Fantasy

Plot:

Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl, a woodchopper's children, are led by the Fairy Berylune on a magical trip through the past...

Plot Keywords:

Bird | Fantasy World | Unborn Child | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Deceased Family Members Return

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Shirley Temple	...	Mytyl
Spring Byington	...	Mummy Tyl
Nigel Bruce	...	Mr. Luxury
Gale Sondergaard	...	Tylette (the cat)
Eddie Collins	...	Tylo (the dog)
Sybil Jason	...	Angela Berlingot
Jessie Ralph	...	Fairy Berylune
Helen Ericson	...	Light
Johnny Russell	...	Tyltyl
Laura Hope Crews	...	Mrs. Luxury
Russell Hicks	...	Daddy Tyl
Cecilia Loftus	...	Granny Tyl
Al Shean	...	Grandpa Tyl
Leona Roberts	...	Mrs. Berlingot
Gene Reynolds	...	Studious Boy

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (first reel) | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

A scene in which the crippled Angela miraculously walks after Mytyl gives her the blue bird was cut from the film. Director Walter Lang recalled, "The finished film didn't make sense at all. One moment Angela is crippled, and the the next minute, without explanation except for Mrs. Berlingot's amazement, Angela is outside her house standing up and talking to Mytyl."

Quotes:

Oak: Well, I guess there are enough of us here.
Maple Tree: Then speak up!
Tylette: The children of the woodcutter, your mortal enemy, are on their way here, looking for the blue bird.
Pine Tree: The blue bird?
Tylette: I've put as many obstacles in their way as I can, but now it's up to you.
Hickory Tree: What do you want us to do?
Tylette: Frighten them! Terrify them! Put the fear of the devil into them! They'll forget what they came for and go back where they belong. Oak, I rely upon you.
Elm Tree: Oh, this is going to be jolly fun!
Oak: Jolly fun? Are you all daft? Didn't you hear what she said? They're looking for the blue bird. What good would it do to frighten them? They'll only come back again and again. We must destroy them!

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Blue Bird (1976)

Soundtrack:

Lay Dee Oh

Unusual Fantasy Deserves Honorable Mention Among Temple's Films

Although 'The Blue Bird' was not a resounding financial success at time of release, and has always been cited as being a poor imitation of 'The Wizard of Oz', it is an unjustly neglected film. Individual scenes are striking, as for example those depicting the unborn waiting in a kind of heavenly limbo (with billowing clouds) before sailing off to their destination on earth. (You can spot Dickie Moore and Scotty Beckett among the unborn lads.) Shirley Temple and Johnny Russell are tremendously appealing as the young sister and brother searching for the elusive blue bird of happiness. A highlight is Shirley's excursion to the Land of the Past where she visits her dead grandparents and does a charming song-and-dance to a yodel song. The studio would have been wise to incorporate a few more such songs. With added numbers, this might have been a much more successful film. As it is, her role is not strong enough, as written, and yet we can appreciate her by the film's end. She is particularly affecting in the scenes with the unborn children, showing genuine charm and affection and looking radiant in technicolor. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards (Special Effects and Color Cinematography), nominations which were well deserved. The spectacular forest fire is very effective, as are the special effects in general. In the supporting roles, Gale Sondergaard (as Tylette, the cat)has fun with a typical Sondergaard role, mistress of evil. Nigel Bruce and Spring Byington lend excellent support. Summing up, while the whole is not as great as its parts, this is a lavishly photographed film definitely worth viewing. Not a masterpiece, by any means, but there is much to appreciate and it should not be neglected.