Movie Type: Fantasy Adventure, Family-Oriented Adventure
Themes: Mischievous Children, Fantasy Lands, Genie in a Bottle
Main Cast: Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, Eddie Collins
Release Year: 1940
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
When Darryl F. Zanuck's arrangement to loan Shirley Temple to MGM as star of The Wizard of Oz fell through, Zanuck hastily assembled a lavish Technicolor vehicle for his diminutive star which, he hoped, would match Wizard in popularity and appeal. The result was The Blue Bird, adapted from the allegorical stage play by Maurice Maeterlinck (previously filmed by director Maurice Tourneur in 1918). In emulation of The Wizard of Oz, The Blue Bird was bookended with black-and-white sequences, reserving Technicolor for the fantasy "body" of the film; similarly, Gale Sondergaard, who had been the first choice to play the Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard, was cast as Blue Bird's nominal villainess. Set in mid-Europe sometime in the late 18th century, the story concerns Mytyl (Temple and Tyltyl (John Russell), the children of a woodchopper (Russell Hicks) who has been called to fight in a faraway war. Heartbroken, the kids decide to run away from home in search of the Bluebird of Happiness, which will ostensibly solve all their problems. Falling asleep, Mytyl and Tyltyl dream that the good fairy Berylune (Jessie Berylune) is leading them on that search, accompanied by their household pets Tylo (a dog) and Tylette (a cat), who have assumed human form (and as such are repectively played by Eddie Collins and the aforementioned Gale Sondergaard). Before arriving at the far-from-unexpected realization that the elusive Bluebird of Happiness is no further than their own backyard, the two kiddies undergo a variety of astonishing experiences, including a raging forest fire (a triumph of 20th Century-Fox special-effects master Fred Sersen) and an oddly unsettling visit to "The Land of the Unborn". Rather heavy going for its intended family audience, The Blue Bird proved to be Shirley Temple's biggest flop, and a subsequent 1976 US-Soviet version starring Elizabeth Taylor fared no better at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Comparisons between The Blue Bird and The Wizard of Oz are perhaps inevitable, given that The Blue Bird was put into production in response to The Wizard and that two of its stars (Shirley Temple and Gale Sondergaard) had been sought for Wizard. Bird falls far short in comparison with the MGM classic in almost all categories, but taken on its own, it's decent children's entertainment. Certainly, Bird's flaws are not due to monetary constraints; a great deal of money was lavished on the production, and it's all there on the screen. The costumes and sets are undeniably impressive, and the special effects are first rate, with the forest fire sequence simply stunning. Unfortunately, despite all the money, the end result simply isn't magical. It never really takes wing, tending to plod instead -- mainly because, for all the talk of a search for an elusive blue bird (of happiness), there's never any real sense of urgency or purpose to the film. Instead, it meanders along from one segment to another -- and since those segments are not especially interesting, and since the characters are not particularly well developed, the film never really makes an impact. The cast is good, although Temple is not ideally suited to the role of a selfish girl whose self-centeredness keeps her from being happy. Bird's visual delights and the appeal of its performers make it worth a glance, especially for young viewers; but its episodic nature and lack of genuine excitement may cause attention to stray. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The Blue Bird is a 1940 American fantasy film directed by Walter Lang. The screenplay by Walter Bullock was adapted from the 1908 play of the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck. Intended as 20th Century Fox's answer to The Wizard of Oz, which had been released the previous year, it was filmed in Technicolor and tells the story of a disagreeable little girl (Temple) and her search for happiness. The film was a box office flop, lost money, nominated for two Academy Awards, and is available on DVD and videocassette.
Mytyl, the bratty daughter of a woodcutter, finds a unique bird in the Royal Forest and selfishly refuses to give it to her sick friend. That night, she is visited in a dream by a fairy named Berylune who sends her and her brother Tytyl to search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. To accompany them, the fairy magically transforms their dog Tylo, cat Tylette, and lantern ("Light") into human form. The children have a number of adventures. The dream journey makes Mytyl awake as a kinder and gentler girl who has learned to appreciate all the comforts and joys of her home and family.
Twentieth Century-Fox reportedly made the film intending to give Temple her own fantasy vehicle after she lost the role of Dorothy to Judy Garland. Shirley had been considered for the role of Dorothy Gale in MGM's The Wizard of Oz a year earlier, but her modest singing talent and contractual obligations to Fox Studios prevented her from getting the part.
The Blue Bird was Shirley Temple's first box-office flop in her 6 years as a child star. Audiences disliked the idea of Shirley as a nasty character needing to learn a lesson. While many of Temple's films show her character misbehaving in various ways, this is the only to show her being truly punished. Early in the film, her brattiness earns her a spanking and a reprimand from her mother.
Almost a month prior to the film's release, Blue Bird was dramatized as a half-hour radio play on the December 24, 1939 broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater, starring Shirley Temple and Nelson Eddy.
