Pinocchio (1940 film)

Pinocchio
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySupervising Directors Sequence Directors
Story by
Based onThe Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi
Produced byWalt Disney
Starring
Music by
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release dates
  • February 7, 1940 (1940-02-07) (Center Theatre)[2]
  • February 23, 1940 (1940-02-23) (United States)[3]
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.6 million[4]
Box office$164 million

Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Carlo Collodi's 1883 Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, it is the studio's second animated feature film, as well as the third animated film overall produced by an American film studio, after Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Fleischer Studios' Gulliver's Travels (1939). With the voices of Cliff Edwards, Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Walter Catlett, Charles Judels, Evelyn Venable, and Frankie Darro, the film follows a wooden puppet, Pinocchio, who is created by an old woodcarver, Geppetto, and brought to life by a blue fairy. Wishing to become a real boy, Pinocchio must prove himself to be "brave, truthful, and unselfish." Along his journey, Pinocchio encounters several characters representing the temptations and consequences of wrongdoing, as a cricket named Jiminy, who takes the role of Pinocchio's conscience, attempts to guide him in matters of right and wrong.

The film was adapted by several storyboard artists from Collodi's book. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, and the film's sequences were directed by Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, and Bill Roberts. Pinocchio was a groundbreaking achievement in the area of effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles and machinery as well as natural elements such as rain, water, lightning, smoke, and shadow. After premiering at the Center Theatre in New York City on February 7, 1940, Pinocchio was released in theatres on February 23, 1940.

Although it received critical acclaim and became the first animated feature to win a competitive Academy Award – winning two for Best Music, Original Score and for Best Music, Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star" – it was initially a commercial failure, mainly due to World War II cutting off the European and Asian markets. It eventually made a profit after its 1945 rerelease, and is considered one of the greatest animated films ever made, with a 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. The film and characters are still prevalent in popular culture, featuring at various Disney parks and other forms of entertainment. In 1994, Pinocchio was added to the United States National Film Registry for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[5]

In 2000, a live-action made-for-television semi-remake and musical film titled Geppetto, told from Geppetto's perspective, was released via ABC. A live-action remake of the same title directed by Robert Zemeckis was released in 2022 on Disney+.

  1. ^ "Pinocchio | Movie, Disney, Plot, Characters, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. October 13, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  2. ^ Williams & Denney 2004, p. 212.
  3. ^ "Pinocchio (1940)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  4. ^ Barrier 1999, p. 266.
  5. ^ "25 Films Added to National Registry". The New York Times. November 15, 1994. p. C20. Retrieved September 20, 2020.