Gulliver's Travels

Synopsis of Movie

Every time there’s a Star Wars, the way will be opened for Buck Rogers and The Black Hole. When E.T. hits, expect Explorers and Flight of the Navigator to follow. It was ever thus. With Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney proved that feature animation could not only succeed, it could enchant and dazzle. Two years later, Max and Dave Fleischer (the men behind Popeye, Betty Boop and the 1940’s Superman cartoons) delivered their first venture into feature animation, an adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

After a tremendous storm at sea, Lemuel Gulliver washes up on the shores of Lilliput, whose thumb-sized citizens tie the unconscious Gulliver to the ground. Gulliver breaks the bands easily, but he’s stuck in the little people’s land. He picked a lousy time to visit, as the Lilliputians are in the midst of a bitter feud with rival tiny-folk kingdom Blefuscu.

Prince David, son of Lilliput’s King Little, was set to wed Princess Glory, daughter of Blefuscu’s King Bombo, but plans fell apart when the pair of potentates couldn’t agree on whose national anthem should be played at the wedding. The giant Gulliver serves as mediator, forced to overcome the comic misunderstandings caused by Bombo’s spies Sneak, Snoop and Snitch, in order to make the world safe for young lovers.

Like most adaptations of Gulliver’s Travels, this version set aside Swift’s socio-political satire in favor of slapstick comedy and adventure. The film also featured a song score that included the Academy Award-nominated “Faithful Forever.” While it was not a smash along the order of Snow White, Gulliver’s Travels was a modest success at the time, and the movie remains a fondly-remembered effort from a pair of animation pioneers.

Movie Release History

1939 - Gulliver's Travels

Movie Sub Categories

animated
sci-fi/fantasy
comedy

Movie Studio

Fleischer Studios

Cast

Prince David Lanny Ross
Gabby Pinto Colvig
Princess Glory Jessica Dragonette
King Little Jack Mercer
Gulliver Sam Parker

Other Movie Links

Updates to this Movie

Do you have an update or correction for this item? Send us Feedback here!