On this date in 1967 Walt Disney's The Jungle Book opened in New York. 10 things you might not know about the film:
It was inspired by a book of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The film doesn’t particularly follow the book. In the book. Mowgli only appears in three of the seven stories. A few facts about the book – Rudyard Kipling wrote the stories while living in Vermont, and the first edition included illustrations by his father, John Lockwood Kipling. Each story was meant to be a fable with a lesson, and each one had a short poem at the end which summed up that lesson.
The first writer Disney hired to write the screenplay was Bill Peet, but Disney decided what he came up with was too dark. Peet either left or was fired and a new team was hired to lighten it up. Disney actually discouraged the writers from reading the original book. The same thing happened with the songs. Composer Terry Gilkyson’s songs were largely rejected for not being enough fun and he was replaced by the Sherman brothers (Richard and Robert). Disney did keep one of Gilkyson’s songs, however, and it was that song, The Bare Necessities, which gained the film its only Oscar nomination.
Most of the character names were based on Hindi words for the animal in question. Bagheera is based on the Hindi word bāgha, which means Tiger. Baloo is inspired by Bhālū, the Hindi word for several species of Indian bears. Shere Khan’s name translates as "tiger" or "Lion" and "sovereign," "king," or "military leader". So you could argue that Shere Khan could be translated as “Lion King”. Mowgli is the exception here. Mowgli is a word that Kipling made up and was supposed to mean “Frog”.
Several characters were not voiced by Disney’s original choices. He wanted John Wayne as Baloo, but he was unavailable. Wayne suggested his close friend, actor and singer Phil Harris for the role, and Harris based his voice on John Wayne’s. The vultures were written with The Beatles in mind, but the Fab Four declined, not wanting anything to do with voicing animated films at the time. King Louie the Orangutan was originally written for Louis Armstrong but that idea was shelved because of potential backlash casting an African-American performer as an ape. To avoid accusations of racism, they went with Jazz singer and bandleader Louis Prima who was of Italian descent.
It was the last animated film to be personally overseen by Walt Disney, as he died during production. Had the film not been the box office success that it was, it may well have been the last animated Disney film ever.
There are a couple of errors regarding the animals. For a start, there aren’t any orangutans in India where the film is set. Orangutans live in Borneo and Sumatra. The company got around this by saying that King Louie belonged to an undiscovered "cryptid" species.
Another error concerns the Elephants. In a real elephant herd, Colonel Hathi would not be the leader – his wife Winifred would, because elephant herds are matriarchies and adult male elephants are solitary. Winifred, incidentally is the only female animal to speak in the film. Raksha the mother wolf appears at the beginning, but doesn’t say anything.
There was originally going to be a Rhino called Rocky who was a rather bumbling, comical character. Storyboards were made up including him but he ended up on the cutting room floor because his scene was just after King Louie’s, and Disney didn’t want two funny scenes so close together. In the book there was a character called Tabaqui the Cowardly Jackal, a sidekick to Shere Khan, who didn’t make it into the film at all, possibly because he was too similar to the inept wolf from The Sword in the Stone, so Kaa the Snake was made the villain instead, although in the book, Kaa was on Mowgli’s side.
The biggest nightmare for the animators was Shere Khan’s stripes.
There was a 2003 sequel with Haley Joel Osment as Mowgli and John Goodman as Baloo, but it was panned by Rotten Tomatoes with a 19% rating.
A Very Variant Christmas
Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.
The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?
Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.
Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.
Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.
Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.
Themes Christmas; superheroes; reunions; parties; life choices; shocking surprises; mistaken identity; kidnap and rescue.
Reasons not to read it
- It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
- Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
- It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
- There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
- Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
- Superheroes. Again.
- Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.
- It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
- Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
- It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
- There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
- Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
- Superheroes. Again.
- Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.
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