Main Cast: Robert Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Debbie Reynolds, Paul Lynde, Henry Gibson
Release Year: 1973
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
This animated musical, based on E.B. White's children's book classic, is about a courageous spider who helps save the life of an ill-fated pig. Wilbur is a young pig (voice of Henry Gibson) who's owned by New England farmer Homer Zuckerman (voice of Robert Holt). One day he is sold to a neighbor, where he meets a sheep who warns him that his fate lies in the confines of the slaughterhouse. Wilbur is terrified of this news until he meets Charlotte, a charming spider (voice of Debbie Reynolds), who is determined to save Wilbur from this dire destiny. By weaving words into her web, she convinces the farmer that Wilbur is some sort of prodigious animal too important to kill. The music for Charlotte's Web was written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who wrote the scores for countless Disney movies, including Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
Review
E.B. White's classic Charlotte's Web is one of the 20th century's most beloved children's books. The film version is a faithful adaptation, retaining all of the characters -- and most of their characteristics. The gentle but mysterious and at times discomforting tone of the original has been kept, and no attempt has been made to soften the existential sadness at the story's core -- the lesson that everyone lives and then dies, even if that death is successfully postponed for a while. Despite this, the film has the book's generally cheerful and optimistic tone. Voice characterizations are good, with Debbie Reynolds a properly maternal and compassionate Charlotte and Henry Gibson innocent and unassuming as Wilbur. Paul Lynde's Templeton is a standout, as would be expected from the natural mating of actor and role. The film's good points are undermined somewhat by a lackluster score (although the title song is rather haunting) and more seriously by the mediocre animation. Although better than its work for television, Hanna-Barbera's animation is too stiff and money-conscious to do justice to the story. That said, the backgrounds are generally very good, and some sequences involving weather and seasons are very effective. While the lack of top-drawer animation dilutes the film's effectiveness, it is still a fine and worthwhile adaptation. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Ray Aragon - Art Director, Paul Julian - Art Director, Bob Singer - Art Director, Irwin Kostal - Conductor, Charles A. Nichols - Director, Iwao Takamoto - Director, Larry C. Cowan - Editor, Pat A. Foley - Editor, Irwin Kostal - Musical Arrangement, Irwin Kostal - Musical Direction/Supervision, Richard M. Sherman - Songwriter, Robert B. Sherman - Songwriter, George Epperson - Cinematographer, Dick Blundell - Cinematographer, Ralph Migliori - Cinematographer, Roy Wade - Cinematographer, Dennis Weaver - Cinematographer, Joseph Barbera - Producer, William Hanna - Producer, Earl Hamner - Screenwriter, E.B. White - Book Author
A litter of pigs are born to the Arable farm. One is a runt so John Arable decides to "do away with it". However, when his daughter, Fern Arable, hears of the pig's fate she rescues him and tells her dad that it's absurd to kill it just because it's smaller than the others. She gets to raise him and names him "Wilbur". However, after only six weeks of raising him, John Arable tells Fern that it's time for him to be sold (his sibling were already sold). Fern sadly says good-bye as the young pig is sold down the street to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman. When Wilbur wants a play with a lamb, the lamb's father (known as a ram) says that sheep don't play with pigs because it's only a matter of time before they are turned into smoked bacon and ham. Wilbur starts crying saying that he doesn't want to die, but a voice from above tells him to "chin up". The next day she sings a song about "chinning up", and revels herself to be a spider named Charlotte. She saves Wilbur by writing messages in her web, hence the title. She eventually dies, and although 511 of her children leave the barn (she had 514), three of them stay. But as much as Wilbur loves them, they will never replace the memory of Charlotte.
Rotten Tomatos reported that the film has a 74% fresh rating.[1] Craig Butler of All-Movie Guide criticized the animation and the musical score, but called it a faithful adaptation, noting that, “no attempt has been made to soften the existential sadness at the story's core”.[2] Dan Jardine criticized the songs and the “Saturday morning cartoon quality” of the animation, but also says that Hamner “retains just enough of White’s elegant prose in the dialogue and narration to keep the film from being simply a painfully well-intended experiment.”[3]Christopher Null of Filmcritic.com stated that the animation is sometimes “downright bad,” but that E.B. White's classic fable needs little to make it come to life.[4] When it was reissued on DVD the film was awarded an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award.[5]
E.B. White's reaction
According to Gene Deitch, a director of animation and friend of E. B. White, the author's wife wrote the following words in a 1977 letter: "We have never ceased to regret that your version of "Charlotte's Web" never got made. The Hanna-Barbera version has never pleased either of us... a travesty..."[6] E.B. White himself wrote of the film: "The story is interrupted every few minutes so that somebody can sing a jolly song. I don't care much for jolly songs. The Blue Hill Fair, which I tried to report faithfully in the book, has become a Disney World, with 76 trombones. But that's what you get for getting embroiled in Hollywood."[7] White had previously turned down Disney when they offered to make a film based on Charlotte's Web.[8] According to the film's writer Earl Hamner Jr., E.B. White's wife (who sometimes offered advice and suggestions to the filmmakers) would have preferred using Mozart in the film rather than the music of the Sherman Brothers.[9]
Soundtrack
"Chin Up"
"I Can Talk!"
"A Veritable Smorgasbord"
"Zuckerman's Famous Pig"
"We've Got Lots In Common"
"Mother Earth and Father Time"
"There Must Be Something More"
"Deep In The Dark/Charlotte's Web"
"Zuckerman's Famous Pig"
"Zuckerman's Famous Pig" is the title given to Wilbur the pig hero which saves him from being slaughtered in the story Charlotte's Web. It is the theme of the finale song in the film. The song was composed and arranged in a barbershop quartet style by the Sherman Brothers, in keeping with the time and place of the story.[10] It was covered by the Brady Kids and was chosen for release on their first single taken from The Brady Bunch Phonographic Album by producer Jackie Mills.[11]
^ Burr, Ty. Bard of the barn. The Boston Globe. December 10, 2006. Accessed on: September 27, 2008.
^Clark, Beverly Lyon (2003). Kiddie Lit: The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 178. ISBN0-8018-8170-6.
