On October 23rd, 1941, the legendary Walt Disney released the iconic animated film’ Dumbo.’It was Walt’s 4th animated feature film and was released by RKO Radio Pictures.
Dumbo is based on a story written by Helen Eberson and Harold Pearl. The plot centers around an elephant nicknamed «Dumbo.» He is chosen for his large ears, which actually allow him to fly later in the story.
His friend, Timothy, is a mouse. Dumbo is clumsy because of his big ears. He is turned into a sideshow attraction and separated from his mother. After receiving a magic feather, Dumbo can fly and frees his mother.
Watercolor paints were used to render the backgrounds similar to ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Disney tried his best to keep costs down while producing the film. Given the opportunity to add another 10 minutes to the film, Walt decided it would be too expensive, so Dumbo kept its short running time of 64 minutes.
Dumbo became Disney’s most financially successful film of the 1940s. It cost half the production of «Snow White» and a third of the cost of «Pinocchio». The total production was $950,000 and the box office grossed over 1.3 million.
The tale of an elephant who could fly brought Disney a healthy profit and allowed it to continue its animated projects. He followed Dumbo with Bambi in 1942 and Cinderella in 1950.
