Dumbo (1941)

Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.

Directors:

Samuel Armstrong (as Sam Armstrong), Norman Ferguson

Writers:

Joe Grant (screen story by), Dick Huemer (screen story by)

Stars:

Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing

Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Herman Bing	...	The Ringmaster (voice) (uncredited)
Billy Bletcher	...	Clown (voice) (uncredited)
Edward Brophy	...	Timothy Q. Mouse (voice) (uncredited)
Hall Johnson Choir	...	Crows (voice) (uncredited)
Cliff Edwards	...	Dandy Crow (uncredited)
Verna Felton	...	The Elephant Matriarch / Mrs. Jumbo (voice) (uncredited)
Noreen Gammill	...	Catty the Elephant (voice) (uncredited)
Eddie Holden	...	Clown (voice) (uncredited)
Sterling Holloway	...	Mr. Stork (voice) (uncredited)
Malcolm Hutton	...	Skinny (voice) (uncredited)
James MacDonald	...	Roaring Lion (voice) (uncredited)
Harold Manley	...	Boy (voice) (uncredited)
John McLeish	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Jack Mercer	...	Clowns (voice) (uncredited)
Tony Neil	...	Boy (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

The stork delivers a baby elephant to Mrs. Jumbo, veteran of the circus, but the newborn is ridiculed because of his truly enormous ears and dubbed "Dumbo". After being separated from his mother, Dumbo is relegated to the circus' clown acts; it is up to his only friend, a mouse, to assist Dumbo to achieve his full potential.

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Plot Keywords:

circus | elephant | stork | mother son relationship | florida | 

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Taglines:

O... Is For ORIGINALITY --- As The One And Only Disney Brings It In Spades, Surprise And Laughter!

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Genres:

Animation | Drama | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 October 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Feature Animation - 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$950,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,731

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cels for this film are the rarest in the industry. The animators, after the scene was safely "in the can," would spread the used cels in the corridors and go sliding on them. In addition, the gray paint (used for so many of the elephant skins) would "pop" when the cel was flexed. Many cels were destroyed this way.

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Goofs

Right before Timothy rises as a ghost again while he tricks the ringmaster into using Dumbo as the circus climax, the sheets change color. (This was corrected in the Blu-ray version.)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Through the snow, and sleet, and hail / Through the blizzard, through the gale / Through the wind and through the rain / Over mountain, over plain / Through the blinding lightning flash / And the mighty thunder crash / Ever faithful, ever true / Nothing stops him, he'll get through.

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Crazy Credits

The RKO logo is in gold on a blue background within a stylish gold border; all of this is on a red background.

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Alternate Versions

The 2011 DVD and Blu-ray releases add the closing variant of the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo.

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Connections

Referenced in Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the Week: Colts Vs. Patriots 2014 (2015)

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Soundtracks

Song of the Roustabouts
(1941) (uncredited)
Music by Frank Churchill
Lyrics by Ned Washington
Sung by The King's Men

User Reviews

A perfect film

A perfect film. The design is beautiful and deceptive in its simplicity. While it may lack the overstuffed quality of `Pinocchio' or the abstract one of `Fantasia,' the style of `Dumbo' is elegant, vivid, and occasionally grotesque in ways that recall not only classic circus posters but also Paul Cadmus paintings and vintage `New Yorker' cover art. In fact, the entire production has a hint of nostalgia about it; for all its dark story elements, the film presents a rosy-hued portrait of old America (with Casey Junior cheerfully pulling his traveling circus through green open fields) that must have seemed very comforting as audiences prepared for the unforeseeable terrors of another World War. (A `Dumbombers for Defense' poster in the film's epilogue is the one joking reference to an increasingly unsteady world situation.) In the midst of this cozy landscape, we find a simple, tender story about acceptance and mother love, with the characters of both Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo finding a wonderful eloquence in their muteness. These performances are true triumphs of animation. The other characters, both good and bad, are painted with broad, memorable strokes. It's become fashionable to look rather harshly upon the Jim Crow sequence and all its uncomfortable associations, and it can be difficult for a modern audience to watch it without cringing slightly. But it should be pointed out that the crows are not only the film's cleverest characters (both in terms of thought and language), they are also the only ones except Timothy to show any sympathy whatsoever to the little elephant; after all, they are outsiders themselves. The sequence is a play on a stereotype, that can't be denied, but I would argue that it is an attempt to revise that stereotype into something positive and sympathetic. The songs and score are flawless, and the show-stopping, nightmarish pink elephant sequence keeps things from getting too artistically conservative--and, just like the rest of the film, it still thrills us no matter how many times we have seen it. 10 out of 10.