Peter Pan

### Story By

Milt Banta, Bill Cottrell, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears and Ralph Wright

### Followed By

Return to Never Land

**Peter Pan** is a 1953 animated film directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske. It is based on the 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie.

The film was the final Disney animated feature released through RKO before Walt Disney founded his own distribution company, as well as the final Disney film in which all nine members of Disney's Nine Old Men worked together as directing animators.

It is the 14th Disney animated feature film and was released on February 5, 1953.

## Plot

In London, England, circa 1900, George and Mary Darling's preparations to attend a party are disrupted by the antics of their boys, John and Michael, who are acting out a story about Peter Pan. Wendy, their elder sister, tells them stories of Peter Pan every night. George, who is fed up with the stories, declares that Wendy has gotten too old to continue staying in the nursery with the boys. That night, Wendy and the boys are visited in the nursery by Peter Pan himself, who teaches them to fly with the unwilling help of his pixie friend, Tinker Bell. He takes them with him to the island of Never Land.

A ship of pirates is anchored off Never Land, led by Captain Hook and his first mate, Mr. Smee. Hook desires to take revenge upon Peter Pan for cutting off his hand, but fears the crocodile who consumed the hand, knowing it is eager to eat the rest of him. When Pan and the Darlings arrive, Hook shoots at them with a cannon, and Peter sends the Darlings off to safety while he baits the pirates. Tinker Bell, who is jealous of Pan's attention to Wendy, persuades the Lost Boys that Pan has ordered them to shoot down Wendy. Tinker Bell's treachery is soon found out, and Peter banishes her. John and Michael set off with the Lost Boys to find the island's Native Americans; however, the Native Americans capture the group, believing them to be responsible for taking the chief's daughter, Tiger Lily.

Meanwhile, Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids, who flee in terror when Hook arrives on the scene. Peter and Wendy see that Hook and Smee have captured Tiger Lily, to force her to disclose Peter's hideout. Peter frees Tiger Lily and returns her to the Chief, and the tribe honours Peter. Meanwhile, Hook takes advantage of Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy, tricking the fairy into revealing Peter's secret hideout.

Wendy and her brothers eventually grow homesick and plan to return to London. They invite Peter and the Lost Boys to join them and be adopted by the Darlings. The Lost Boys agree, but Peter doesn’t want to grow up and refuses. The pirates lie in wait, and capture the Lost Boys and the Darlings as they exit the lair, leaving behind a time bomb to kill Peter. Tinker Bell learns of the plot, just in time to snatch the bomb from Peter as it explodes.

Peter rescues Tinker Bell from the rubble, and together, they confront the pirates, releasing the children before they can walk the plank. Peter engages Hook in combat as the children fight off the crew. Peter defeats Hook, who falls into the water and swims away over the horizon, pursued by the Crocodile. Peter commandeers the deserted ship and assisted by Tinker Bell's pixie dust, flies it to London with the children aboard.

George and Mary Darling return home from the party and find Wendy sleeping at the nursery's open window. Wendy awakens and excitedly talks about their adventures. The parents look out the window and see what appears to be a pirate ship in the clouds. George, who has softened his position about Wendy staying in the nursery, recognizes the ship from his own childhood.

## Cast and Characters

* Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan
* Kathryn Beaumont as Wendy Darling
* Paul Collins as John Darling
* Tommy Luske as Michael Darling
* Hans Conried as Captain Hook / George Darling
* Heather Angel as Mary Darling
* Bill Thompson as Mr. Smee / Pirate Crew
* Candy Candido as Indian Chief
* Tom Conway as The Narrator
* Stuffy Singer, Robert Ellis, Jeffrey Silver and Johnny McGovern as The Lost Boys
* June Foray, Connie Hilton, Karen Kester and Margaret Kerry as The Mermaids
* Jimmy MacDonald as Tick-Tock the Crocodile
* June Foray as Native American Squaw
* The Mellomen as Pirate Chorus / Native Americans
* Roland Dupree and Don Barclay as Additional Voices
* Gloria Wood and Thurl Ravenscroft as Chorus

### Non-speaking

* Tinker Bell
* Nana
* Tiger Lily

## Production

In 1935, Walt Disney expressed interest in doing an adaptation of Peter Pan as his second film following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, the live-action film rights were held by Paramount Pictures. The copyright owner, the Hospital for Sick Children in London, unsuccessfully offered to have Disney make an agreement with Paramount. However, in January 1939, Disney obtained the animation rights to the play by outbidding Fleischer Studios, which was also developing animated feature films. By early 1939, a story reel had been completed, and by the following May, Disney had several animators in mind for the characters. Vladimir Tytla was considered for the pirates, Norman Ferguson for the dog, Nana (who also animated Pluto) and Fred Moore for Tinker Bell.

During this time, Disney explored many possible interpretations of the story. In the earliest version, the film would start by telling Peter Pan's backstory. But during a story meeting on May 20, 1940, Disney said, "We ought to get right into the story itself, where Peter Pan comes to the house to get his shadow. That's where the story picks up. How Peter came to be is really another story." Disney also explored the idea of opening the film in Never Land with Peter Pan coming to Wendy's house to kidnap her as a mother for the Lost Boys. Eventually, Disney decided that the kidnapping plot was too dark, and he went back to Barrie's original play in which Peter comes to get his shadow and Wendy is eager to see Never Land.

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States military took control of the studio and commissioned Walt Disney Productions to produce training and war propaganda films, so pre-production work on Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland was shelved. However, the Bank of America allowed production to continue during the war. After the war, work on the film resumed with Jack Kinney as director. At the time, Kinney had considered leaving Walt Disney Productions for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, but wartime restrictions prevented it. Because he did not want Kinney to get out of his contract, Disney appointed Kinney to direct Peter Pan.

During this same time, Disney talked to Mary Martin, who was appearing in a stage production of the play, about voicing Peter Pan, although Roy O. Disney complained that her voice was "too heavy, matured, and sophisticated." Jean Arthur contacted Walt about being considered for the role. Disney had also talked to Cary Grant about voicing Captain Hook, a possibility to which Grant replied that the "idea intrigued him." Impatient with the delays, Disney asked Kinney to work on sequences consecutively rather than finishing the entire script before it was storyboarded, so that a scene would be approved at a morning story meeting and then immediately put into development. Six months later, during a storyboard meeting, Kinney presented a two-and-a-half-hour presentation, during which Disney sat silently and then stated, "You know, I've been thinking about Cinderella."

By 1947, Walt Disney Productions' financial health started to improve again. Around this time, Walt Disney acknowledged the need for sound economic policies, but emphasized to his financial backers that slashing production would be suicidal. In order to restore the studio to full financial health, Disney expressed his desire to return to producing full-length animated films. By then, three animated projects: Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, were in development. Disney felt the characters in Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan were too cold, but as Cinderella contained elements similar to those in Snow White, he decided to green-light Cinderella. In May 1949, Variety reported that Peter Pan had been placed back into production.

The scene in the nursery went through many alterations. In one version, it is Mrs. Darling who finds Peter Pan's shadow and shows it to Mr. Darling, as in the original play. In another version of the film, Nana goes to Never Land with Pan and the Darling children, the story being told through her eyes. In another interpretation of the story, John Darling is left behind for being too serious, practical and boring, but story artist Ralph Wright convinced Disney to have John go with the others to Never Land. This adaptation also included Wendy bringing her Peter Pan picture book and Peter and the children eating an "imaginary dinner". At one point, a party in Peter's hideout was conceived at which Tinker Bell becomes humiliated and, in her rage, tells Captain Hook the location of Peter Pan's hideout of her own free will. However, Disney felt that this story was contrary to Tinker Bell's character; instead, he had Captain Hook kidnapping Tinker Bell and persuading her to tell him. In Barrie's play, Captain Hook puts poison in Peter's dose of medicine and Tinker Bell saves Peter by drinking the poison herself, only to be revived by the applause of the theatre audience. After much debate, Disney discarded this story development, fearing it would be difficult to achieve in a film.

In earlier scripts, there were more scenes involving the pirates and mermaids that were similar to those with the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Ultimately, these scenes were cut for pacing reasons. The film concept was also a bit darker at one point than that of the finished product; for example, there were scenes involving Captain Hook being killed by the crocodile, the Darling family mourning over their lost children and Pan and the children discovering the pirates' treasure loaded with booby traps.

### Animation

#### Live-action Reference

As with previous Disney animated features, a live-action version was filmed to serve as an aid to animators with the actors performing to a pre-recorded dialogue track. Margaret Kerry received a call to audition to serve as the live-action reference for Tinker Bell. For the live-action reference, Kerry said she had to hold out her arms and pretend to fly for all the scenes requiring it. Additionally, Kerry served as reference for one of the mermaids along with Connie Hilton and June Foray. At the same time, the studio was looking for an actor to portray Peter Pan, for which Kerry suggested her dancing teacher Roland Dupree. He was interviewed and eventually won the role, providing a reference for the flying and action sequences. Bobby Driscoll also served as the live-action reference model for Peter Pan, although he was mainly used for the close-up scenes. Hans Conried completed the voice work over the course of a few days, and served as the live-action reference for two and a half years. He later did the same kind of thing as the live action reference for Princess Aurora’s father, King Stefan, in Sleeping Beauty, although he did not get the chance in voicing Stefan as Taylor Holmes was given the task instead. In addition to being the voice role and model for Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Kathryn Beaumont, who was also the voice of Wendy, also performed for the live-action reference footage for Wendy.

#### Characters

Milt Kahl wanted to animate Captain Hook but was instead assigned to animate Peter Pan and the Darling children; he claimed he was "outmanoeuvred". During production, while animating Peter Pan, Kahl claimed that the hardest thing to animate was a character floating in mid-air. While observing the animation of Peter Pan, Walt Disney complained that the animators had let too many of Bobby Driscoll's facial features find their way into the character design, telling Kahl that "[t]hey are too masculine, too old. There is something wrong there." Kahl replied, "You want to know what's wrong!?... What's wrong is that they don't have any talent in the place."

The job of animating Captain Hook was assigned to Frank Thomas, who faced conflicting visions of the character. Story artist Ed Penner viewed Hook as "a very foppish, not strong, dandy-type, who loved all the finery. Kind of a con man. Geronimi saw him as an Ernest Torrence: a mean, heavy sort of character who used his hook menacingly." When Walt Disney saw Thomas' first test scenes, he said, "Well, that last scene has something I like I think you're beginning to get him. I think we better wait and let Frank go on a little further." Because Thomas could not animate every scene of Hook, certain sequences were given to Wolfgang Reitherman, such as that showing Hook trying to escape Tick-Tock the crocodile.

Ollie Johnston animated Mr. Smee. To best capture his comedic yet fear-ridden, sycophantic personality, Johnston used a variation of the Dwarf design from Snow White and had Mr. Smee blink repeatedly. Johnston's former mentor, Fred Moore, worked in his unit as a character animator for Smee's minor scenes. Moore also animated the mermaids and the Lost Boys. On November 22, 1952, Moore and his wife were involved in an auto accident on Mount Gleason Drive in Los Angeles. Moore died of a cerebral concussion the following day at St. Joseph's Hospital, across from the Disney studios.

## Release

### Original Theatrical Run and Re-releases

Peter Pan was first released in theatres on February 5, 1953. During the film's initial theatrical run, Peter Pan was released as a double feature with the True-Life Adventures documentary short, Bear Country. It was then re-released theatrically in 1958, 1969, 1976, 1982 and 1989. The film also had a special limited re-release at the Philadelphia Film Festival in 2003. It also played a limited engagement in select Cinemark Theatres from February 16–18, 2013.

### Home Media

Peter Pan was first released on North American VHS, LaserDisc and Betamax in 1990 and UK VHS in 1993. A THX 45th anniversary limited edition of the film was released on March 3, 1998, as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. Peter Pan was released on DVD on November 23, 1999 as a part of the Walt Disney Limited Issues series for a limited 60-day time period before going into moratorium. Peter Pan was re-released as a special-edition VHS and DVD release in 2002 to promote the sequel Return to Never Land. The DVD was accompanied with special features including a making-of documentary, a sing-along, a storybook and a still-frame gallery of production artwork.

Disney released a two-disc "Platinum Edition" DVD of the film on March 6, 2007. A Blu-ray "Diamond Edition" was released on February 5, 2013 to celebrate the movie's 60th anniversary. A DVD and digital copy of the "Diamond Edition" was also released on August 20, 2013. Peter Pan was re-released in digital HD format on May 29, 2018 and on Blu-ray on June 5, 2018, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection line, to celebrate the film's 65th anniversary.

## Reception

### Critical Response

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times criticized the film's lack of faithfulness to the original play, claiming it "has the story but not the spirit of Peter Pan as it was plainly conceived by its author and is usually played on the stage." Nevertheless, he praised the colours are "more exciting and the technical features of the job, such as the synchronization of voices with the animation of lips, are very good." However, Time gave the film a highly favourable review, making no reference to the changes from the original play. Mae Tinee of The Chicago Tribune wrote "The backgrounds are delightfully picturesque, the music only so-so. The film is designed for broad effect, with the accent of comedy. I'm sure the youngsters who grow up with cartoons will be right at home with all the characters." Variety described the film as a "feature cartoon of enchanting quality. The music score is fine, highlighting the constant buzz of action and comedy, but the songs are less impressive than usually encountered in such a Disney presentation." Harrison's Reports felt the film was "another Walt Disney masterpiece. It should prove a delight, not only to children, but also to every adult. The animation is so good that the characters appear almost natural."

Contemporary reviews remain positive. Giving the film 3+1⁄2 stars out of 4, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune noted the "drawing of Tinkerbelle and the flamboyance of Captain Hook" as well as the "quality music mixed with appropriate animation" were the film's major highlights. Michael Jackson cited Peter Pan as his favourite film, and from it he derived the name of his estate, Neverland Ranch, in Santa Barbara, California, where he had a private amusement park. Ronald D. Moore, one of the executive producers of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, has cited this film as the inspiration for the series' theme of the cyclical nature of time, using the film's opening line, "All of this has happened before and it will all happen again," as a key tenet of the culture's scripture. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported the film received an approval rating of 78% based on 37 reviews, with an average score of 7 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though it doesn't delve deeply into the darkness of J.M. Barrie's tale, Peter Pan is a heart-warming, exuberant film with some great tunes."

### Box Office

During its initial theatrical run, Peter Pan grossed $6 million in distributor rentals from the United States and Canada. The movie has earned a lifetime domestic gross of $87.4 million. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film has had a lifetime gross of $427.5 million.

### Controversy

Peter Pan has been criticized in recent decades for its broadly stereotypical treatment of the Native Americans. In the song "What Made the Red Man Red?", the Native Americans are called "Injuns" and their skin colour is attributed to blushing because of being kissed by women. Marc Davis, one of the supervising animators of the film, said in an interview years after the production that "I'm not sure we would have done the Indians if we were making this movie now. And if we had we wouldn't do them the way we did back then." The Native Americans were not included in the 2002 sequel Return to Never Land, but they were included in a tie-in video game. In 2021, the film was one of several that Disney limited to viewers 7 years and older on their streaming service Disney+, citing depictions of Native American characters that were "stereotypical" and not "authentic", and references to them as "redskins".