THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967 FILM)

'''The Jungle Book''' is a 1967 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released on October 18, 1967. The nineteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, it was the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It was based, rather loosely, on the stories about the feral child Mowgli from the book ''The Jungle Book'' by Rudyard Kipling. The movie remains one of Disney's most popular, and contained a number of classic songs, including "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You". Most of the songs are by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The film was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, and Mowgli was voiced by his son, Bruce Reitherman.

Contents

Plot

''The Jungle Book'' theatrical release history

US release dates

Worldwide release dates

''The Jungle Book'' home video release history''

''Rereleases''

Characters

Voice cast

Crew members

Songs and music

Songs

Titles in different languages

Trivia

See also

References

External links

Plot

Mowgli is found in a basket as a baby in the deep jungles of India. In the Disney movie there is no mention of what happened to his parents or how he came to be there. Bagheera, the panther who discovers the boy, promptly takes him to a mother wolf who has just had cubs. She raises him along with her own cubs and Mowgli soon becomes well acquainted to jungle life. When the wolf tribe learns that Shere Khan, a man-eating tiger, has returned to the jungle, they realize that Mowgli must be taken to the man village, to protect him and those around him. Bagheera volunteers to escort him back. They leave that very night, but since Mowgli is determined to stay in the jungle things go a little astray. First Kaa, the hungry Indian Python, hypnotizes Mowgli into a deep and peaceful sleep and tries to eat him, but comically fails. The next morning, Mowgli tries to join the elephant patrol led by Hathi. After that Mowgli and Bagheera get in an argument and then Mowgli runs away from Bagheera.
Mowgli soon meets up with the fun-loving bear Baloo, who shows Mowgli the fun of having a care-free life and promises not to take him to the man village. Now more than ever does Mowgli want to stay in the jungle. Before to long, Mowgli is caught by a gang of monkeys and taken to their leader, King Louie the orangutan, who makes a deal with Mowgli that if he tells him the secret of making red fire like a human, then he would make it so he could stay in the jungle. Mowgli is rescued from King Louie by Bagheera and Baloo, but soon runs away from them after Baloo realizes the man village is best for the boy and breaks his promise. Kaa, for a second time, hypnotizes Mowgli into a deep and peaceful sleep, and tries to eat him, and fails, thanks to the intervention of Shere Khan. Mowgli escapes.
He encounters a group of solemn vultures, who closely resemble the Beatles, and they say they'll be his friend. Shere Khan appears shortly after, but when Baloo rushes to the rescue, together they manage to get rid of the ruthless tiger. Bahgeera and Baloo take him to the edge of a man-village, but Mowgli is still hesitant to go in. His mind soon changes when a young girl from the village comes down by the riverside to fetch water. After noticing the boy, she "accidentally" drops her water pot, and Mowgli retrieves it for her and follows her into the man village.

''The Jungle Book'' theatrical release history

US release dates

★ October 18, 1967 (original release)

★ June 9, 1978

★ July 27, 1984

★ July 13, 1990

★ July 11, 1992

★ July 23, 1994

★ November 10, 1997

★ August 16, 1999

★ January 23, 2002

Worldwide release dates

★ 'Argentina': December 7, 1967

★ 'Hong Kong': May 16, 1968

★ 'Australia': June 13, 1968

★ 'Japan': August 24, 1968

★ 'France': December 4, 1968

★ 'Sweden': December 6, 1968

★ 'Italy': December 9, 1968

★ 'West Germany': December 13, 1968

★ 'Spain': December 16, 1968

★ 'Austria': December 20, 1968

★ 'Finland': December 20, 1968

★ 'Denmark': December 26, 1968

★ 'Norway': December 26, 1968

★ 'Kuwait': December 2007 (PLANNING)

''The Jungle Book'' home video release history''

★ May 3, 1991 (VHS)

★ February 13, 1992 (Laserdisc)

★ October 14, 1997 (VHS)

★ October 27, 1997 (Laserdisc)

★ December 7, 1999 (VHS and DVD)

★ October 2, 2007 (DVD)

''Rereleases''

The Jungle Book was released in 1991 in the Walt Disney Classics era then was released in 1997 as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection on VHS in 1998 a Limited Issue DVD was released Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The film is scheduled to be released once again as a 2-disc Platinum Edition DVD on October 2, 2007.^[1]

Characters

★ 'Mowgli' - the main character, a young jungle boy raised by wolves. In the movie, Mowgli is featured as a 10 year old, which is around the age he was in Rudyard Kipling's book when he was first kidnapped by the Bandar Log (monkeys). In the book, Mowgli managed to escape his parent's camp when they were attacked by Shere Khan the tiger, and he entered the wolves' den by himself. In the movie, he is found by Bagheera in a wrecked boat, perhaps after the attack of a crocodile, and Bagheera himself takes him to the wolves.

★ 'Baloo'- A Sloth Bear who befriends Mowgli. He lives life according to his own rhythm. Baloo becomes Mowgli's best friend, and somewhat of a father figure to him, much to the annoyance of Bagheera who believes him to be an irresponsible and careless character. Baloo's design was obviously based on grizzly bears, even though these bears do not exist in India. In Kipling's book, Baloo is said to be a "grey bear".

★ 'Bagheera' - A Black Panther who first finds Mowgli, they become good friends. In the book, Bagheera spoiled Mowgli and was more of a mother figure to him, despite being male, but in the movie he is depicted as a smart, serious and often severe (though never violent) mentor that only wants to take Mowgli to safety.

★ 'Kaa' - An Indian Rock Python around 9 meters long, who wants to eat Mowgli. As in Kipling's book, he has great hypnotic powers, and during the movie manages to hypnotize Mowgli twice and Bagheera once. He even tries to hipnotize Shere Khan, but fails.

★ 'Shere Khan' - A Bengal Tiger and main antagonist in the movie. He is a known hater of man and seeks to kill Mowgli. Unlike the book version, the movie's Shere Khan is not crippled and is perceived as a very powerful character, feared by all other animals. He only appears in the last part of the movie, and yet he has became one of the most popular villains in Disney's history.

★ 'King Louie' - An Orangutan who lives in an ancient ruined temple, he gets Mowgli so he can teach him the secret of fire. Though not exactly evil, King Louie is seen as somewhat of a comic villain in the movie. He was one of the characters created for the movie, for he doesn't appear in Kipling's book. (Orangutans went extinct in India in prehistoric times).

★ 'Colonel Hathi' - An Indian Elephant and leader of the elephant troop who is very pompous. A running gag in the movie is that Hathi says "elephants never forget", yet he manages to forget many things, including his own son. In the movie, Hathi seems to be a war elephant used in the Marajah's army, who escaped to the jungle or was released. He recalls his days as a war elephant as his golden age and often talks about it, much to the annoyance of the other elephants.

★ 'Winifred and Junior' - Indian Elephants, wife and son of Colonel Hathi, respectively. Winifred is the only talking female character in the movie (Mother wolf never speaks, and Shanti only sings).

★ 'Buzzie, Ziggy, Dizzy and Flaps' - Four Vultures, tightly based on "The Beatles". They befriend Mowgli because, according to them, they all are outcasts. In the Latin American dubbing of the movie, the vultures have each a particular accent; Spanish, Mexican, Argentinian and Cuban.

★ 'Rama, Akela, Raksha and cubs' - Are all Grey Wolves, the pack helped raise Mowgli since he was a baby. They only appear during the first part of the movie, and only Akela and Rama (father wolf) get to speak a few lines.

★ 'The Girl' - A young Indian girl who lures Mowgli out of the jungle at the end of the movie. She was simply referred to as "The Girl" in the film's credits, but her name is revealed to be Shanti in the 2003 sequel ''The Jungle Book 2''.
Characters that were not depicted included Chil, the kite bird, Grey Brother, Mowgli's older foster brother, Tabaqui the jackal, and all the human characters from the book. In the original version of the script for the Disney movie, a rhinoceros named Rocky was supossed to appear, but was scrapped out of the definitive version.

Voice cast

★ Phil Harris as Baloo

★ Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera

★ Louis Prima as King Louie

★ George Sanders as Shere Khan

★ Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli

★ Sterling Holloway as Kaa

★ J. Pat O'Malley as Colonel Hathi and Buzzy

★ Darleen Carr as the Girl Shanti

★ Verna Felton as Winifred

★ Clint Howard as Junior

★ Chad Stuart as Flaps

★ Lord Tim Hudson as Dizzy

★ Digby Wolfe as Ziggy

★ John Abbott as Akela

★ Ben Wright as Rama

★ Leo Delyon, Bill Skyles, Hal Smith, and Pete Henderson as Monkeys

Crew members

★ Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

★ Produced by Walt Disney

★ Story by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson and Vance Gerry ''(inspired by the Rudyard Kipling "Mowgli" stories)''

★ Directing animators Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas and John Lounsbery

★ Character animation Hal King, Eric Cleworth, Eric Larson, Fred Hellmich, Walt Stanchfield, John Ewing and Dick Lucas

★ Effects animation by Dan MacManus

★ Background styling by Al Dempster

★ Background by Bill Layne, Ralph Hulett, Art Riley, Thelma Witmer and Frank Armitage

★ Production manager Don Duckwall

★ Sound by Robert O'Cook

★ Film editors Tom Acosta and Norman Carlisle

★ Music editor Evelyn Kennedy

★ Music by George Bruns

★ Orchestration by Walter Sheets

★ Songs by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman

★ "Bare Necessities" by Terry Gilkyson; sung by Phil Harris

Songs and music

Longtime Disney collaborator Terry Gilkyson was brought in to write the songs for the film. Gilkyson delivered several complete songs, but Walt Disney felt that his efforts were too dark and "too Kipling". The Sherman Brothers were brought in to do a complete rewrite, on the condition that they not read Rudyard Kipling's book. The only piece of Gilkyson's work which survived to the final film was his upbeat tune "The Bare Necessities".
The song "Trust in Me" is based upon a song entitled "Land of Sand" which had been written by the Sherman Brothers for, but not used in, ''Mary Poppins''.
Part of "Bare Necessities" was remixed for the theme song of its short-lived 1990s TV spin-off, ''Jungle Cubs''.

Songs

★ "Jungle Book Overture" - (instrumental)

★ "Colonel Hathi's March" - Colonel Hathi and the elephants

★ "Bare Necessities" - Baloo and Mowgli

★ "I Wanna Be Like You" - King Louie and Baloo

★ "Colonel Hathi's March (reprise)" - Colonel Hathi and the elephants

★ "Trust in Me" - Kaa

★ "That's What Friends Are For" - The Vultures, Mowgli and Shere Khan

★ "My Own Home" - Shanti

Titles in different languages

★ Bosnian: ''Knjiga o džungli''

★ Bulgarian: ''Книга за Джунглата''

★ Cantonese: ''小泰山''

★ Croatian: ''Knjiga o džungli''

★ Czech: ''Kniha Džunglí''

★ Danish: ''Junglebogen''

★ Dutch: ''Jungle Boek''

★ Finnish: ''Viidakkokirja''

★ French: ''Le Livre de la Jungle''

★ German: ''Das Dschungelbuch''

★ Greek: ''Το Βιβλίο της Ζούγκλας''

★ Hebrew: ''ספר הג'ונגל''

★ Hungarian: ''A dzsungel könyve''

★ Icelandic: ''Skógarlíf''

★ Italian: ''Il libro della giungla''

★ Lithuanian: ''Džiunglių knyga''

★ Maltese: ''Il-Ktieb tal-Ġungla''

★ Mandarin Chinese: ''森林王子'' sēnlín wángzǐ (Forest Prince)

★ Norwegian: ''Jungelboken''

★ Persian: ''پسر جنگل'' (which actually means "Jungle Boy")

★ Polish: ''Księga Dżungli''

★ Portuguese: ''O Livro da Selva'' (Portugal); ''Mogli - O Menino Lobo'' (Brazil)

★ Romanian: ''Cartea junglei''

★ Russian: ''Книга джунглей''

★ Serbian: ''Књига о џунгли''

★ Slovak: ''Kniha džungle''

★ Slovenian: Knjiga o džungli''

★ Spanish: ''El Libro de la Selva''

★ Swedish: ''Djungelboken''

★ Vietnamese: ''Cậu Bé Rừng Xanh'' (Boy of the Jungle)

Trivia

★ The first Disney film with a human protagonist (Mowgli) who is not of caucasian ethnicity.

★ Kaa's design was later used for Sir Hiss in Disney's adaptation of ''Robin Hood''. Certain animation elements of ''The Jungle Book'' were also reused in ''Robin Hood''; in particular, the animation of Lady Kluck and Little John dancing during the song "The Phony King of England]" mirrors that of, respectively, King Louie and Baloo dancing to "I Wanna Be Like You." The character design for Little John was based on Baloo (though the brown-furred Little John more closely resembles a grizzly bear than Baloo's mix of Sloth Bear and grizzly), and both characters were voiced by Phil Harris.

★ King Louie and Kaa both appeared in the Disneyland version of Fantasmic!.

★ The Jungle Book has been adapted into two Disney TV shows: ''Talespin'', which features Baloo as a pilot and ''Jungle Cubs'', which portrays Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, King Louie, Shere Khan, and Colonel Hathi as children.

★ The Jungle Book was considered to be a world in Kingdom Hearts, but didn't make the final cut due to its similarities as a jungle world with Tarzan

See also

★ The Jungle Book 2

References

1. http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/moviefinder/products/5261503.html

External links

★ Official website

★

★ The Big Cartoon DataBase entry for ''The Jungle Book''