The Blue Bird

Plot synopsis:
When poor old widow Berlingot asks Tyltyl and Mytyl, the young son and daughter of her more prosperous neighbors, for the loan of their pet bird to cheer up her ill daughter, Mytyl selfishly refuses. That night, when the children are asleep, the fairy Bérylune enters their home in the semblance of Berlingot, before transforming into her true beautiful appearance. She insists that the children search for the bluebird of happiness. She gives Tyltyl a magical hat which has the power to show him the insides of things. As a result, the souls of fire, water, light, bread, sugar and milk becoming personified, and their pet dog and cat can now speak with their masters. Before they all set out, Bérylune warns the children that their new companions will all perish once their quest is achieved.
The fairy then takes them to various places to search. At the Palace of Night, the traitorous cat forewarns the Mother of Night, having heard the fairy's prediction. The dog saves Tyltyl from one of the dangers of the palace. In a graveyard, the dead come alive at midnight, and Tyltyl and Mytyl are reunited with their grandmother, grandfather and siblings. They receive a blue bird, but when they leave, it disappears. Next, they visit the Palace of Happiness. After seeing various lesser joys and happinesses, they are shown the greatest of them all: maternal love in the form of their own mother. Finally, they are transported to the Kingdom of the Future, where children wait to be born, including their brother. Nowhere do they find the bluebird.
Returning home empty-handed, the children see that the bird has been in a cage in their home the whole time. Mytyl gives the bird to Berlingot. She returns shortly afterward with her daughter, now well. However, the bird escapes from the daughter's grasp and flies away. Tyltyl comforts the upset neighbor girl, then turns to the audience and asks the viewers to search for the bluebird where they are most likely to find it: in their own homes.

Tags: whimsical, fantasy

Review:
After having watched this movie, for the life of me I can't figure out why this picture flopped at the box office when it was released in 1940.
Shirley Temple plays Mytyl, a young girl who is not happy because her family is poor.
Shirley is supported by a wonderful supporting cast such as Spring Byington, who plays her mother, Gale Sondergaard, who plays an evil cat come to life, and Nigel Bruce (usually remembered as Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes movies opposite Basil Rathbone) as Mr. Luxury.
I have read that people felt that this was a "rip-off" of the Wizard of Oz which was released the year before, but even though there are some similarities in the story lines (young girl goes on a magical journey only to find her happiness is truly in her own backyard) but other than that, the similarities end.
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.
(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.
This curious enterprise, based on the play, would seem to have a great deal in common with "Oz" (it even begins in black-and-white and turns to color), but the crucial elements of an identifiable plot are missing, and the young girl at the center of this story is consistently petulant.
It was a fundamental error to make Shirley Temple unsympathetic; as the scowling, complaining daughter of a poor woodcutter, she wakes one night to an elderly fairy-woman knocking on her door and soon finds herself and her little brother on a search to find the Blue Bird of Happiness.
An obnoxious girl, unable to find joy in her life, is sent by an elderly fairy into the Lands of the Past & the Future to seek for THE BLUE BIRD of Happiness.
She tries hard, but the role is very unsympathetic & we are never told why her character is so wicked - indeed, capable of murder.It's interesting to note that both Temple & Sondergaard were important contenders for major roles in OZ, but were instead rejected for Judy Garland & Margaret Hamilton.There are several cast members that do an excellent job with their material: Spring Byington, tender as Shirley's mother; wonderful old Jessie Ralph as the fairy; Eddie Collins, often very funny as the Dog; Nigel Bruce & Laura Hope Crews, giving ripe performances as Mister & Mrs. Luxury; and dear Cecilia Loftus & Al Shean as Shirley's lonely, dead grandparents.Some of the minor casting is also very effective, witness Thurston Hall as Father Time, Edwin Maxwell as Old Man Oak & Sterling Holloway, on screen only a few seconds as Wild Plum.
Kids today in 2005 would certainly immediately respond to the more severe points of this very strong lesson in life - and aware adults who watch it with them will have much to discuss - especially after the 'heaven' sequence with the unborn children.
Apart from the Pixar 3D cartoons, family movies made today are not better than this 1940 and 1975 production, in fact this film of 1940 is easily as well produced and as emotionally powerful as THE WIZARD OF OZ which is the template (as opposed to Shirley) for this version.
THE BLUE BIRD (20th Century-Fox, 1940), directed by Walter Lang, adapted from the story by Maurice Masterlinck, is an interesting failure in Shirley Temple's movie career.
A worthy follow-up to her previous success of THE LITTLE PRINCESS (1939), a family oriented story also produced with lavish scale settings and glossy Technicolor, THE BLUE BIRD, a dream-like fantasy often labeled as the studio's answer to THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939) starring Judy Garland, could have or should have become a box office success, but it didn't.
Unlike her most typical films where she often played either an orphan, or a daughter of a widowed parent, THE BLUE BIRD gives her a set of parents as well as a little brother.Black and White prologue: Set on Christmas Eve in a little German town sometime in the 19th Century, Mytyl Tyl (Shirley Temple), and her little brother, Tyltyl (Johnny Russell) at the Royal Forest are introduced trapping a rare little bird into a cage.
As the children go to bed for the night, (shift to Technicolor) they each dream of themselves searching for the Blue Bird of Happiness, thus, meeting with numerous characters to guide them: Fairy Berylune (Jessie Ralph), Light (Helen Ericson), their dog and cat, Tylo and Tylette (Eddie Collins and Gale Sondergaard), magically changed to human form.
While going through many aspects of human experience, Mytyl and Tyltyl visit the past, going to the land of memories in the cemetery where they are briefly reunited with their deceased grandparents (Al Shean and Cecilia Loftus); living the life of richness in the mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Luxury (Nigel Bruce and Laura Hope Crews); roaming through the forest where danger awaits, with uprooted trees and blazing fire; and moving into the future where the children visit the Palace of the Unborn where they make the acquaintance of children awaiting to be born before finding their destinies on Earth - but still no finding of the blue bird of happiness.
(While it would be asking too much to accept two children to be having the exact same dream while sleeping, but considering this to be a fantasy, it's possible acceptance to the viewer).Other members of the cast are Thurston Hall (Father Time); Sterling Holloway (Wild Plum Tree); and possibly every child actor in the movie business appearing briefly as Gene Reynolds; Ann E.
Johnny Russell, the doll-faced little boy has that rare distinction of having and sharing equal time with Temple, while the lesser known name of Helen Ericson as Light stands out as a sort of glowing guardian dressed in white angel with that Heavenly glow.First produced as a stage play, then adapted as a silent movie (Paramount, 1918), and much later retold again (20th Century-Fox, 1976) directed by George Cukor, regardless of its negative reputation, it's the 1940 edition that's become the best known of the three due to frequent television broadcasts starting in the late 1960s, usually around the Christmas season.
Though there are those who claim this BLUE BIRD has laid an egg, overlooking some dull passages, it does contain some fine moments of honorable mention: lavish scale settings with crisp, glossy Technicolor; the beautiful yet haunting score to "Through the World so Far Away" sung by children on with giant ship with the golden sail on their way to be born, this being one of the longer dream segments of the dream; and one with an important message.
Eddie Collins adds occasional humor as the humanly frightful dog while Gale Sondergaard adds tastes of cat-eye wickedness, but no threat to Margaret Hamilton's scene stealing Wicked Witch of the West from THE WIZARD OF OZ.Formerly available as part of the Shirley Temple Playhouse on video cassette in 1989, and later in DVD format, THE BLUE BIRD has turned up on numerous cable channels over the years, ranging from The Disney Channel (1980s), American Movie Classics (1996-2001), Fox Movie Channel, and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 20, 2015).
With the reportedly heavy editing of songs and scenes to abide to Temple's attention throughout, it's a wonder how THE BLUE BIRD might have turned out theatrically in completed form of more musical sequences as opposed to its 83 minute release of the blue bird search for happiness?
the film deals with the journey of a quest to find the elusive bluebird thru many trials and adventures....the echos of oz are quite evidenti first saw this film wen i was about 9...and it still grips my imagination...even tho i haven't seen it for 20 years...i can still remember the unborn children sequence, and the earthquake/storm ....
But watching the entire film, I can only say that is an amazing experience of fantasy, spectacular set decorations, unforgettable characters (Tylette and Tylo are lovely!)...and the most important thing: the beautiful meaning of the blue bird at the end of the movie.
I search the movie 'The Blue Bird' with 'Shirley Temple' because I want it to buy.
It's making was a particularly pertinent bit of point-making by 20th Century Fox, since its star Shirley Temple had lost out to Judy Garland for the lead role in The Wizard of Oz. However, the fantasy movie Fox gave to Temple got wrong everything The Wizard of Oz got right.The failure of The Blue Bird is usually blamed upon the fact that Temple plays a mean-spirited little girl, and it's true this is at least part of the problem.
Ironically though it's the deliciously evil Gale Sondergaard who I find myself routing for, especially since the "good guys" in this movie are so flimsy (or in the case of Fairy Berylune, downright rude).But there are still deeper flaws running through The Blue Bird.
Admittedly a little poignancy has been eked from the scene with children waiting to be born, but the concept of unborn babies being love-struck teenagers is a little too weird even for a fantasy movie.
There is a tacked-on "daddy going to war" subplot, very much a Shirley Temple staple, but it falls flat because unlike in The Little Princess an emotional bond between father and daughter is not established.And when one compares The Blue Bird to its predecessor The Wizard of Oz, its woeful banality reaches depressing proportions.
You wonder if the folks who came up with the idea of making "The Blue Bird" were either psychotic or they were deliberately trying to make the public hate Shirley Temple.
Shirley Temple is about as good as ever and there are some other nice acting performances but this is otherwise a second-rate film.It is obvious that 20th Century Fox was looking for their own Wizard of Oz but this movie lacks much of what made that classic what it was.This film is released one year after that breakthrough smash but was a flop.There are some nice special effects and the Technicolor is excellent but there is not enough substance here.The plot is largely too dark and doesn't fit well with Temple's persona.There are some brilliant cinematic setups, particularly one in the forest and another that is supposed to be a mix of heaven and a Greek temple that is reminiscent of the castle scene in The Thief of Baghdad (same year - 1940).This is one of the first films to feature Ann E.
Essentially Shirley Temple's child star career ended with The Blue Bird.
If not the best way to end her child star career and the biggest money maker at the box office it certainly was one expensive way.Interesting as well because the rumors had it that Darryl Zanuck saw the big money that The Wizard Of Oz made over at MGM with Judy Garland and decided this was action he wanted 20th Century Fox in.
A magical fairy played by Jessie Ralph sends them on a journey into an Oz like land with their animated pets, Eddie Collins as their dog and Gale Sondergaard as the cat.
Sondergaard is truly interesting, she plays the animated cat like she was being the Spiderwoman and really acts like a fifth columnist for the kids.The story even resolves itself like the Wizard Of Oz.The Blue Bird got Oscar nominations for Special Effects, but lost to Alexander Korda's The Thief of Bagdad.It never came close to raking in its cost for 20th Century Fox. It was the end of Shirley Temple as a child star.
I finally saw this film tonight, thanks to the British cable channel "Talking Pictures" screening a really gorgeous print and at last, I can understand why it was such a major box office flop in 1940.The reviews here on IMDb are mostly from people living in the USA and a large number of them express being entranced by this heavy-handed fantasy.
In this movie (her first in colour), she is even less appealing than usual and the thought that she was ever considered for the part of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz just beggars belief.The main problem with The Blue Bird as far as I'm concerned is that it lacks charm, though it tries very hard indeed.
The composer Alfred Newman (a musical genius) scores the film with as much sweet-toned romantic melody as he is capable of, but it just does not match what is happening on screen.Some wonderful character actors do their best in various roles and the colour photography is often ravishing - but at the end of the day, one never warms to the central character (Temple) and the "message" of the film is so obvious, the final scene is painfully predictable.The Blue Bird is often compared to Oz and I can see why.
But Oz had great songs, humour (Eddie Collins as the dog just leaves me cold) superb special effects (in Blue Bird, the effects are obvious and cheap looking, with gaudy painted backdrops at every turn) and also had a terrific narrative drive thanks to Mr Baum.It also had the unique talents of Judy Garland, who brought pathos, wit, charm and musical verve to the role of Dorothy that had audiences transfixed then and forever afterwards.
Based on a children's play about a sister and brother Mytyl (Shirley Temple) & Tyltyl, who are visited by a fairy Berylune one night to find "the bluebird of happiness," along with Tylo the bulldog and Tylette the cat and a lantern transformed by Berylune's magic.
Throughout the journey, Mytyl's bratty attitude starts to change.I was quite intrigued with the original play/story after watching the version starring Sanrio's "Little Twin Stars" who are a pair of angel-like characters named Lala (sister) and Kiki (brother).
It is about a child (Shirley Temple) who goes on an imaginary journey with her brother to a lot of places to search for the bluebird of happiness.
It flopped at the box office but so have many others like It's A Wonderful Life that have come back to become great classics.
The Blue Bird is a beautiful fantasy film with a great cast and characters.
The majority of the movie is part of the lead characters dream, but the wonderful adventure that she goes on to find the "blue bird" is enjoyable.
What many today miss is the fact that the search for the blue bird is actually the search for happiness and/or hope which was needed so much during the time that it was made.
It does preach wisdom over pure entertainment content.I also love this film in particular because it features Shirley Temple in probably one her most serious acting roles at this time.
A role that was out of character for Temple as a child.As of today this film, and the 'Bluebird' fairy tale in general, fails to capture the same popular interest that other fairy tales like 'Snow White', 'Pinocchio' and 'Peter Pan' do.
I tuned it at the point where Shirley Temple's character was just meeting the witch/fairy so I didn't know this little girl was an obnoxious child and I didn't know their pet dog was a bulldog.I immediately saw the Oz connection, but this story seemed much darker and sadder.
It seemed to me that the little girl was too anxious to leave such a happy time with the grandparents she supposedly missed so much and was so happy to see, and for no other reason than to look for something that was supposed to make her happy.I couldn't figure out the cat character.
Mr. Luxury all but ignores the little girl when she comes to him and he speaks to her in harsh tones and is concerned only with whether she will hurt his gouty foot.A few reviewers mentioned the last scene, where the children meet the unborn.
The little girl meets her sister who is not yet born, but the sister says she will not be with them very long before she goes away (dies), and what does Shirley Temple's character do?
"The Blue Bird" is an excellent study in how not to make a children's movie, and stands in stark contrast to "The Wizard of Oz".
Shirley Temple does a good job, but none of the supporting cast seem up to the task of really selling the fantasy world in which the children find themselves.While I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt for children's films, even my 8-year old daughter pointed out some of the inconsistencies and plot holes, including the fact that while the fantasy of the "Blue Bird" occurs as Shirley sleeps (similar to the "Wizard of Oz"), when she wakes up, her younger brother has also had the same dream and "shared" the experience..
It stars Shirley Temple as a girl who goes in a magical adventure when she comes into the possession of a forest bird.
A kindly old witch sends Shirley Temple (and her brother) on a quest for the proverbial "Blue Bird of Happiness".
I also own several other Shirley Temple films for my family to watch, but not this mess..
Johnny Russell is easier to take than Temple for much of the film, and Eddie Collins and the always deliciously slinky Gale Sondergaard absolutely superb as the human versions of the loyal dog and calculating cat.
It's the individual segments of fantasy that stand out, whether it be trips to see their dearly departed or even to heaven where they meet the spirits of children yet to come, all somehow involved on their search for the blue bird of happiness.