Peter Pan

The only thing wrong with Peter Pan is the crowd of children that once must trample getting into the Keith. The picture is wonderful, and Walt Disney has added another inch to his stature as a first class pixic.

UPA has raised cartoon animation to high intellectual plane with stylized, angular drawing, while Disney's characters remain round, warm and fine companions. The drawing is so expert that after the first few minutes of watching the screen I forgot that Peter was being played by a number 3 indelible pencil.

Flamboyant imagination is not necessary to fly with the First Pixie Squadron to the Technicolor world of Never Land. Tinkerbelle, a fetching sprite in a clinging Jantzen, sprinkles the Darling family with so much pixie dust that ample remains for the audience. From there on, Indians, Pirates, songs, and the Boys make everyone wish they were seeing the show for the first time. Maude Adams and Jean Arthur, after all, never really could fly; this Pan can.

His voice, by courtesy of Booby Driscoll, is that of any boy who duels with pirates and rescues Indian Princesses: it reeks with pleasant bravura. Disney's animators make Peter a consummate actor, posturing and posing with verve unequalled since the elder Fairbanks.

Kathy Beaumont speaks for Wendy, and brings tears to even Hook's crusty eyes, singing, "Your Mother And Mine." The songs, in general, are good, if not spectacular. I thought that the most catchy tune was the crocodile theme, which does not have words in the picture.

In all, it's a fine show, and Disney's techniques seem particularly suited to Barrie's nimble story. So those who have sampled the stage production will do well to savor the new product. Those who have never applauded for Tinkerbelle's life should brave the throng of popcorn munching gamins and see it before they grow up and it's too late.

On the same bill is another Disney "True-Adventure" featuring the life and times of some photogenic bears. Nature must have some special love for Disney because animals act for his camera men with more compliance than most directors can expect from Equity's brightest stars. It is fitting companion to Peter Pan, and a fascinating short in itself.