Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947)

A mysterious thief has stolen the prosperous Happy Valley's most prized possession: the musical Singing Harp. Can Mickey, Donald, and Goofy find the answer in the irritable Willie the Giant's magnificent castle up in the blue sky?

Directors:

Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts

Writers:

Joe Rinaldi, Bill Peet

Stars:

Walt Disney, Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig

Cast

Credited cast:
Walt Disney	...	Mickey Mouse (voice)
Clarence Nash	...	Donald Duck (voice)
Pinto Colvig	...	Goofy (voice)
Sterling Holloway	...	Narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Frees	...	Ludwig Von Drake / Herman (voice)

Storyline

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy live in a land where everything is dried up and dead. The only food they have is one loaf of bread, even Donald's plans of killing their cow fail. So Mickey decides to trade in the cow and gets some magic beans. Donald angrily throws the beans into a hole in the floor and during the night, a giant beanstalk sprouts, carrying the house upward. The next morning, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy find themselves in a land with a huge castle. They enter the castle and find enormous foods. What they don't know is that Willie the Giant owns the castle and he does not like what he finds. So he captures Donald and Goofy and locks them in a box with the golden harp he had stolen earlier, which makes Happy Valley, the three friends' home land, dry up. Mickey steals the keys, rescues his friends and the singing harp, and they all escape before Willie catches them.

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Plot Keywords:

bean | insanity | storytelling | farmer | dust | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Details

Official Sites:

official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Legend of Happy Valley

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

29 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Golden Harp slightly resembles Cinderella, at least sharing a hairstyle with Cinderella's hairdo for the ball.

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Connections

Version of Jack and the Beanstalk (1967)

User Reviews

Some Magic Beans For Mr. Mouse

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Three zany farmers - Mickey, Donald & Goofy - attempt to rescue the stolen Singing Harp from a temperamental giant.

While it technically does not match the quality of their classic cartoons from the 1930's, MICKEY AND THE BEANSTALK is a most enjoyable two-reeler and provides the trio with one of their liveliest adventures. The sequence of the growing beanstalk up lifting & breaking apart the farmhouse is pure magic. Comic veteran Billy Gilbert provides the voice for Willie the Giant; Clarence Nash does the honors for Donald.

Disney has produced at least three versions of this cartoon. Originally it was the concluding half of FUN AND FANCY FREE (1947) and was narrated by the marvelous Edgar Bergen with assistance from Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd. There is also a version narrated by Paul Frees in the character of Professor Ludwig von Drake. Finally, there is a version of the cartoon narrated by Sterling Holloway.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.