1940 - PINOCCHIO, on the big screen

Three years in production this is the followup to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Pinocchio shows the very talented team of Walt Disney's artists and technicians really on top of their creative game.  A very good digital print of Pinocchio screened at our local revival theater and it is quite an impressive artistic achievement.

If you spend a little time on the internet, you can find a decent synopsis of Carlo Collodi 's original story which was serialized for 30 chapters in a weekly magazine.  The Disney storyboard artists did a brilliant job revising and condensing Pinocchio's story into a 90 minute film with no slow moments.  The Disney artists also elevated and developed the minor character of Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchio's conscience who  in reality is the narrator of the film.

 

Unlike Disney's first feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio does not have kind of a 1930's feel which gives Snow White a bit of a dated look.  The careful use of color particularly the color blue is stunning.  Disney also used their famous multi dimensional camera which gave the illusion of 3-D.  

 

Incredibly this film did not make money on it's initial release despite excellent reviews at the time.  The  reissues of this film started in 1945 and the film made money.

 

The film was written by Ted Sears, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, William, Cottrell, Joseph Sabo, Erdman Penner and Aurelius Battaglia, the running time is 88 minutes,