Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)

Director:

Wolfgang Reitherman

Writers:

A.A. Milne (books)
Larry Clemmons (story) ...

Release Date:

4 February 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Family

Tagline:

DELIGHTFUL ENTERTAINMENT! At last, the "bear of very little brain" but lots of enchanted stuff(ing) brings his pooh-whimsy to the screen.

Plot:

Christopher Robin's bear attempts to raid a beehive in a tall tree.

Plot Keywords:

Honey | Rabbit | Bear | Bee | Gopher

Cast

Sterling Holloway	...	Winnie the Pooh (voice)
Junius Matthews	...	Rabbit (voice)
Hal Smith	...	Owl (voice)
Howard Morris	...	Gopher (voice)
Sebastian Cabot	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clint Howard	...	Roo (voice)
Barbara Luddy	...	Kanga (voice)
Bruce Reitherman	...	Christopher Robin (voice)
Ralph Wright	...	Eeyore (voice)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:G

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

This featurette was originally released in the USA on a double bill with the full-length film The Ugly Dachshund (1966).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Just after Pooh comes out from behind the gorse bush and starts thinking again, his mouth isn't moving when he says "Think, think, think".

Quotes:

Winnie the Pooh: Christopher Robin, I think the bees S-U-S-P-E-C-T something.
Christopher Robin: Perhaps they think you're after their honey.
Winnie the Pooh: Well, it may be that. You never can tell with bees.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Baxter (2005)

Soundtrack:

Up, Down, and Touch the Ground

The Transatlantic Bear

If memory serves, the original Steiff toy belonging to the late Christopher Robin Milne, "Winnie the Pooh", now resides in Manhattan, either at the New York Public Library or at publisher E.P. Dutton's headquarters. The symbolism is obvious: a British children's classic has made the transatlantic leap.

Disney scriptwriters have been heavily criticized for de-emphasizing the Britishness of Pooh, beginning with this first film in what became a series of theatrical short subjects. Most of the voices - Christopher is an exception - are American. Sterling Holloway became so identified with the title role that it is hard to imagine anyone else, British or American, taking it over.

The best thing about "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree" is that it is adapted directly from Alan Milne's printed work. As I did in 1966, a child today seeing this film for the first time could ask for the book version and receive something unusually congruent with the screenplay.

Christopher Robin Milne, bookshop owner and authors' rights heir, had notoriously mixed feelings about his father's creation. In particular, he had his doubts about the effect Disney's version might have on the original.

Not to worry: the Disney machine has generated far more positive attention for Pooh than a global army of publishers.