The mafo's MoFo 100 List

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#150: Pinocchio (Ben Sharpsteen & Hamilton Luske, 1940)



Disney's second animated feature is a wonderful family film but it's also much more. Pinocchio not only tells the story of how an inanimate object can become a human being but it tells the story in a subtle manner which can be seen as an allegory for those who believe in such things as spiritual awakening and resurrection. Pinocchio is a little wooden puppet who is the pride and joy of carver Geppetto (voice of Christian Rub). One night, a wandering cricket named Jiminy (voice of Cliff Edwards) stops at Geppetto's house to try to keep warm and witnesses the man wish upon the wishing star for Pinocchio to become a real boy. Later, the Blue Fairy (voice of Evelyn Venable) comes to the house and animates Pinocchio, telling him that he can become a real flesh-and-blood boy if he proves himself to be brave, truthful and unselfish. Since Pinocchio needs lessons in these matters, the Fairy appoints Jiminy as his "Conscience".



The next morning, Pinocchio bids goodbye to his father and his cat Figaro and goldfish Cleo and heads off to school, but he falls into temptation before he even reaches there. It's difficult for Jiminy to keep up with Pinocchio who becomes an "actor" after being sold by the poorly-named Honest John (voice of Walter Catlett) to the menacing Stromboli (voice of Charles Judels). Later, Pinocchio goes to an even-more terrible place where boys can do whatever antisocial behavior they choose until they literally turn themselves into jackasses. With Pinocchio gone, Geppetto goes in search of him and ends up in the belly of the huge whale Monstro. That's when it's up to Pinocchio to search for and try to save his father.



Pinocchio is charming, lovingly-animated, surprisingly scary, teaches simple life lessons unobtrusively, is very funny and contains some wonderful songs. Besides the beautiful opener "When You Wish Upon a Star", it contains the wonderful "Give a Little Whistle", "Hi-Diddle-Dee" and "I've Got No Strings". The animation accompanying the songs is of extremely high visual quality and wit. In fact, sometimes it's difficult to believe how eye-popping the imagery is in this almost 70-year-old classic. Without benefit of computers, there is a remarkable 3-D quality to many of the shots, and some of the scenes underwater seem mind-boggling in their complexity and believabilty. Pinocchio was always my fave early Disney cartoon when I was younger, not only because it had the best story but because the animation was incredible. Seeing it on DVD, it truly is timeless as it seems to have just been made yesterday.



Pinocchio gets scarier the longer it progresses. Stromboli is a fiend who treats the "living" wooden boy the same way he does his fire wood. The Coachman who takes the unruly boys to Pleasure Island is devilish, and there are plenty of freaky scenes at the island which can only be described as horrific. Monstro is a truly awe-inspiring creature who can move extremely quickly and generate massive power; think the shark in Jaws, only a hundred times larger. Pinocchio does seem to mix a large amount of adventure in with its fantasy, and it's not surprising that the film's final song ends at just about the time that Stromboli gets ahold of his ax.



Even with all the qualities mentioned above, Pinocchio earns some extra credit for actually having a very deep story. It's true that you may find some parallels between the tales of Geppetto and Monstro and that of Noah and the great fish, but Noah didn't have a wooden boy attempting to be brave, truthful and unselfish in it. Without giving away the ending of Pinocchio for those few who may not know it, it does seem to grow out of a self-realization which is taught by many of the world's religions. It can also be argued that many of Disney's animated features repeat the concept of bringing the dead back to life and creatures being transformed by some important acts which they accomplish near the end of the story. It's just that Pinocchio did it first and, at least to me, the most-honestly, so that's why it's one of the few (along with Dumbo) which can move me to tears when that little bug reprises his trademark song as the film ends.

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It's my favourite early Disney film too Mark, probably my favourite non-Pixar Disney release. I'm also a huge fan of Fantasia, but I put that one in a classification all on its own. Great review.

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Thanks Marky I love the cute Pinocchio

When are you going to post Days of Heaven, man?

Stone me sideways. This is an unexpected edition. I haven't seen Pinocchio in YEARS but your clear enthusiasm for the narrative and the way you made it sound deeper than what I remember of it has encouraged me to watch it again. I just hope it stands the test of time for me. Very nice, mate.

Got to be honest, mate. I'm one of those MoFo's who didn't care for this film and i'm not sure if that'll change. I love your review of it though when I read it the other day. I'm gonna be honest though, i'm not sure if I have the balls to give it another go :/

I can lend you mine if you think it'll make it any easier to get through...

That's fine..you show me yours and i'll show you mine x x x

Still no sign of Sherlock jr. get on that, man!

I'm curious to think of what you thought about the remake. I actually prefer the remake to this one. That's not to say I dislike this one, I just think that the remake felt more taut and had stronger performances. Plus I love Denzel Washington.

I hated the remake

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#151 Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)



This could certainly find a spot in the 100 proper, but as I mentioned before these added films at the end are all worthy, and I actually recommend many of these over some of my earlier ones. The point is that I recommend them all. I've been saying since I joined here that this has my fave cinematography and musical score of any film, so I suppose it's surprising that I haven't listed it earlier. The thing that Days of Heaven and all of Malick's films are light on thus far are plot, but this one is easily my favorite and the most-organic of his films. One thing you need to realize about Malick is that his films are visual tone poems and that they're all narrated by someone who doesn't necessarily understand the situations which they are in. In Days of Heaven, the narrator is Linda (Linda Manz), the sister of Bill (Richard Gere). Linda and Bill are traveling with Abby (Brooke Adams) who's Bill's lover but also poses as his sister. After Bill kills a man, the three of them take a train to Texas and go to work at a wheat farm owned by Sam Shepard. When they learn that the Farmer doesn't have much time to live, Bill convinces Abby to snuggle up to the Farmer in the hopes that he'll marry her and they'll inherit a fortune. Of course, things don't go as planned.

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Although mostly set in Texas, Malick shot Days of Heaven in Alberta, Canada, so that he could show all four seasons on the farm. Ennio Morricon'es beautiful score is augmented by Leo Kottke's acoustic guitar, Doug Kershaw's fiddle, and "Carnival of the Animals - The Aquarium" by Camille Saint-Saëns. The film could be called leisurely paced for the first hour, but it's so magnificent a visual and aural experience that it seems to fly by within its own heightened-sense of ultra-naturalism. The final half-hour definitely picks up the pace and intensity of the action as a locust attack and fire threatens to destroy the farm, passions reach a boiling point and violence rears its head once again.

I really thought that Days of Heaven was going to hit it big at the Oscars, especially since I found it superior to much of its competition, including The Deer Hunter, Coming Home and An Unmarried Woman, but alas, it only got four Oscar nominations and won Best Cinematography for Nestor Almendros. Apparently, it's still well-ahead of its own time and our time as well. However, anyone who wants to take a vacation back in time and enjoys availing themselves to some rustic beauty for about an hour and a half would do well to watch the visionary Days of Heaven. Even in the Malick canon, I find it a one-of-a-kind experience. Anyone who wants to discuss this or any of my other films in more detail, this here is the place.

#152 - Queen of Hearts (Jon Amiel, 1989)



I'm glad I picked this one up years ago on used VHS because it's still not on DVD! It's got to be one of the best films I've ever seen which is not on DVD. It's got a wonderful cast although you could rightfully call them "no-name". Director Jon Amiel was fresh off directing the TV mini-series "The Singing Detective", and the way this film begins, almost as an operatic fantasy, shows that he was the right man to helm Tony Grisoni's first feature length script. As the film begins, we are cast immediately into a dispute over a beautiful woman named Rosa (Anita Zagaria) who has been promised by her poor family to rich young Barbariccia (Vittorio Amandola) even though she loves poor Danilo (Joseph Long). This opening scene seems like a fairy tale with almost no dialogue and a florid musical score by Michael Convertino. Then, a young boy begins narrating the story and keeps saying things like, "My Papa tells it this way" or "It's the way I remember it". This turns out to be Eddie (Ian Hawkes), the youngest of four children that Rosa and Danilo have after they move (or should we say, escape?) from Italy to England with Rosa's Mama (Eileen Way) - beware of her because she's trickier than the Devil - and open up a small cafe with an authentic espresso maker. Eventually, both Danilo's eccentric but loving father (Vittorio Duse) and Barbarricia turn up to test Danilo's love for his wife and family.

Queen of Hearts is certainly about a specific ethnic family, but the fact that they're what might be called "Anglo-Italians" nowadays only adds to the truth and empathy which the viewer feels for them since these are some of the most believeable characters you'll ever see, at least (or perhaps especially because they're) in a borderline fantasy film which seems to transport through time and location from Fairy Tale Land Europe all the way up to London of the late 1980s. Part of the reason that things feel so real, and thus more humorous and dramatic, is that the cast is basically unknown. They really seem to be a family and care about each other honestly, even when one of them seems to drift apart for the various reasons which occur in real life. Eventually, financial worries seem to threaten to split the family apart, especially when Barbarricia tempts the normally-lucky Danny to a game of cards where he might ultimately encounter the dreaded "King of Swords" and lose everything.

Queen of Hearts is a charming film which everyone should enjoy. I'm really at a loss why such an entertaining, deeply-felt and accomplished film is still awaiting DVD release. Maybe it's because it's fantastical but it's got no super heroes (unless you call your Dad or your little Bro a super hero). Maybe it's because it doesn't need any nudity to show love, romance and a healthy sexual appetite. Or maybe it's because although there are some very suspenseful scenes involving guns and knives, the film doesn't need any gore to make you care and fear about what's going to happen to the characters. Queen of Hearts is a timeless film alright. Not only in the way it tells its story beautifully but in the way it could almost have been filmed at any time. That's what you can do when you have a thoughtful script, an imaginative director and a gung-ho, "no-name" cast; you can make a film for The Ages.

Days of Heaven is an amazing film and I agree with you Mark in regards to its cinematography and score. As for Queen of Hearts, seeing as it's not available on DVD I'm probably not going to get to watch it anytime soon.

I do plan on adding some more to my list, but my current priority is to get the order more accurate, especially in the Top 10-20 or so. I look at my Top 10, and I think they're all great, but I get this idea that they're not in the proper order, so I already watched Elmer Gantry and Star Wars. They will obviously be staying in the Top 6, and there is no way that Elmer Gantry will drop below #2, but I'm thinking that Star Wars may go down a couple of notches, but that's no biggie because I wrote that list on the spur of the moment and have never change it. I'm pretty sure that my first three will remain, but I believe that Little Big Man should probably be #4 and that Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? should move up a few notches. So, for the two or three people who care, that's what's up with this list and My Fave Film list you may see get changed up a bit in the near future.

This is a good-looking list, my friend.

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I MUST see this movie ASAP.

I love your list.

I wasn't going to post anything just yet. I really wanted to read the entire thing but after reading a good portion of it and coming across your love for The Assignment I now feel compelled to say something and that something is Great bloody choice! of a truly lesser known film. It's funny in that I somewhat came across this film in a similar fashion esp in that my expectations where to say the least not high. I will come back a read thought this thread again. Great picks. Also, this is like killing two birds with one stone. There's a heck of a lot to be entertained by, found in, and discussed about here and now I can find this thread readily available and so can everybody else without having to search for it because, I didn't even no it existed, so in other words call it a bump.

Thanks a lot, Mr. Stewart. I have always desired for people to ask me questions, criticize, call me crazy (good or bad) and just generally refer to this thread. It started slowly and built and built and I'm very proud of it, but I'd be even prouder if it stirred more MoFo's curiosity and typewriting.

This is a specific link to what LB is referring to.