The Light in the Forest

Disney was riding high after the immense popularity of Old Yeller and followed it up with an admittedly more serious affair, The Light in the Forest. The movie is based on Conrad Richter's novel of the same name which Disney bought the rights to as soon as it was released in 1953. The movie deals with a young white boy who was raised by Native Americans until a treaty with the United States forces him to be thrust back into white society. This would be Fess Parker's last film with Disney as he had become dissatisfied with the roles Disney cast him in. He complained that he was always playing the exact same character, a claim that was given more validity because Disney refused to lend him out to other studios if said role was outside of the norm for what they would use him for. He was offered only a small part in the movie Tonka and subsequently refused, causing him to be put on suspension, as he was a contract actor for Disney. He left the studio shortly after. Parker would never see as much success in movies as he had with Disney, but he would go on to lead an ensemble cast in the popular 1964 series Daniel Boone (ironically another American hero like Davy Crockett).

Story

In 1764, a new peace treaty between white settlers and Native Americans declares that all white captives must be released. Johnny Butler was taken captive early in his young life, and now at near fifteen he knows nothing of his life with his real family. He had been fully assimilated in Lenni Lenape tribe and was given the name True Son by his adoptive father, Cuyloga. He is taken to Fort Pitt accompanied by a young soldier named Del Hardy who looks after him. True Son is despondent that he must live with the white people, the very people he grew up hating. He tries to commit suicide on the way to Fort Pitt but is stopped by Hardy. Hardy introduces him to his real father and accompanies them back to their home acting as an interpreter (and basically mentor). As you can imagine, things don't go so smoothly. True Son refuses to acknowledge his family and is cold to them, pretending that he understands no English. At his homecoming party he has a confrontation with is Uncle Wilse, who claims that the Lenni Lenape killed nearby settlers and scalped women and children. True Son defends his adoptive family and gets slapped for it. A girl named Shenandoe, who is an indentured servant for Uncle Wilse's family becomes fascinated by True Son, though she has her own hatred for natives due to her family being scalped by an unknown tribe. True Son and Shenandoe eventually get to know each other, and they start to realize that their prejudices were completely wrong. With that understanding they also start to fall in love with each other. While things are starting to go better between True Son and his new family, things become complicated when True Son's old friend Half Arrow comes and visits him. Half Arrow gives him news that Little Crane, another member of their tribe, was killed by men in town because he was trying to visit True Son. Half Arrow attacks Uncle Wilse and almost scalps him but is stopped by True Son. True son and Half Arrow run back to the Lenni Lenape. The Lenni Lenape declare war on the white settlers and it looks like for a short time that things will go back to the way they were before the treaty for True Son. However, while he is in a raiding party and they are prepared to attack a boat of white settlers, he sees that Del Hardy is in the boat and decides to warn them of the attack. He is almost executed by his tribe but Cuyloga convinces his people to have him be cast out permanently. Hardy takes True Son back to his family, though they talk about how True Son had heard of murdered children by the Lenni Lenape. Hardy tells him that there are good and bad people everywhere. He returns back to his real family, but quickly gets into a fight with Uncle Wilse. They duke it out once and for all, with True Son winning the brawl and Uncle Wilse declaring that True Son is now a white man. True Son and Shenandoe reunite and begin to plan their future. 

The film follows the book pretty closely, but you can definitely see why Disney made the changes they made. In the book, Uncle Wilse is scalped by Half Arrow and True Son after Little Crane is murdered. Del Hardy is basically just in the beginning of the book and does not factor into the climax the way he does in the film. This was obviously done to give Fess Parker a bigger part in the film since he wasn't the lead actor. Shenandoe was added to the film to give True Son a love interest, something that would make the film more accessible to the younger movie-going demographic. The novel ends more on a not of uncertainty, with True Son being led back to a white road by Cuyloga and not sure where his future lies. 

Cast

The cast is led by James MacArthur playing the young True Son/Johnny Butler. MacArthur signed on as a contract actor for Disney starting with this film and would go on to star in three more Disney movies. Disney was pretty good about keeping one consistent actor in a string of movies, so consider this the transition from Fess Parker to James MacArthur. MacArthur is perhaps more known for his role as Danny "Danno" Williams in Hawaii Five-O. Carol Lynley plays Shenandoe, her first of many roles. Lynley would be nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the Golden Globes in 1969 for her role in The Light in the Forest. She would go on to have prominent roles in Blue Denim and The Poseidon Adventure. Perhaps the most well-known actor outside of Fess Parker in this movie is Jessica Tandy, who played True Son's real mother. Tandy became famous later in her life in roles like Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy, and Fried Green Tomatoes. 

Release

The film premiered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the movie is supposed to take place, on July 9th, 1958. Reception to the movie was tepid at best. Most critics praised some aspects of the film, but most were superficial. Generally it was seen as not a worthy follow-up to the smash hit that was Old Yeller. I myself liked the movie just fine, but it certainly doesn't belong in the same conversation as the Disney greats. The next film I'll be covering did end up surprising me on how much I enjoyed it, and it showed how good of an actor that James MacArthur could be. 

Westward Ho the Wagons!

Westward Ho the Wagons! would be Disney's first live action Western film. Adapted from Mary Jane Carr's 1934 book, Children of the Covered Wagon, Disney picked up the rights to the book in 1949. Westerns had been money-makers starting in the 30's, with films like Stagecoach in 1939 being one of the biggest box office hits of the year. The trend would continue into the the 40's, but wouldn't start to truly hit it's stride until the 50's, when Westerns were among the most popular genres in film. This was the perfect time for Disney to jump onto the bandwagon, and Disney wanted another vehicle to use Fess Parker in.

Story

The story details a wagon train on the Oregon Trail in 1846. The wagon trail is informally led by James Stephen, who had taken the trail before and is now bringing family along. John Grayson, known as Doc for his ambition to study medicine, soon becomes the de-facto leader of the group. The wagon train faces many perils, including bad weather and antagonistic Pawnee natives. Things start to look grim when a group of Pawnee raid the wagon train and drive away the group's spare horses. They find respite at Fort Laramie, and the children from the wagon train become friends with the Sioux children. Things take a turn when the Sioux chief's son gets hurt and Grayson is the only one who can help him. After he is able to heal the chief's son, the Sioux offer to escort them through Pawnee territory, thus guaranteeing that they have a clear path to Oregon.


Cast

Fess Parker played doctor John Grayson, marking Parker's second lead role for Disney outside of Davy Crockett. Other notable actors in the film were Sebastian Cabot, who played Bissonette. While Cabot's name might not be extremely recognizable, his voice will. He voiced such Disney characters as Bagheera in The Jungle Book, Sir Ector in The Sword in the Stone, and the narrator of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. James Stephen was played by Adventures of Superman actor George Reeves. This would unfortunately be Reeves last film, as he passed away in 1959 from an apparent suicide.

Reception

Westward Ho the Wagons! was released on December 20th, 1956 to mixed reviews and was only a moderate success for Disney. Most reviewers commented on the beauty of the film thanks to being shot in Cinemascope, giving the film a larger than life feel. Outside of the scenery and Fess Parker's reliable acting, the film suffered from being predictable and just not that interesting compared to Disney's other ventures like Davy Crockett. Disney attempted to build up excitement for the movie, as they had done for others before, by releasing a TV special on the Magical World of Disney a month before Wagons would hit theaters. Titled "Along the Wagon Trail", it focused on the making of Westward Ho the Wagons. Fess Parker would also release a single for the movie titled "Wringle Wrangle".

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of information on this movie. Much less than the past Disney live action movies, so that's why this one is a little lacking. Next up is the story of Johnny Tremain!

The Great Locomotive Chase

Fess Parker started acting in earnest in the early 50's and caught a break when he became a contract actor for Warner Bros. He played bit parts for a few years and then graduated to being a weekly contract actor until he received a call from destiny. By destiny I mean the Walt Disney company. Parker had taken the advice of his agent to star in the sci-fi movie, Them!, a role that only demanded that he be on the set one day. His character had a very small role, that of a pilot put in an insane asylum because he claimed his plane had been taken down by giant flying bugs. Disney was looking for someone to play Davy Crockett in a new mini-series for TV he had been planning. James Arness, who had a much bigger role in Them!, was the frontrunner for the part. Disney went to Them! in theaters and he looked right passed Arness's character and zeroed in on Parker's pilot. Disney was impressed by Parker's ability to portray a man that was unswerving in his belief in what he saw despite the forces of authority against him. As mentioned before, Parker was called to come meet with Disney himself. Parker brought a guitar to the interview and sang Disney a song. It must have been a good song because Parker was chosen over Arness and Buddy Ebsen, who would go on to play Crockett's sidekick, Georgie Russell. The Davy Crockett mini-series was presented in five episodes that were released periodically between 1954 and 1955. The first three episodes, which were released within three months of each other, proved to be extremely popular (this is an understatement). Disney had the episodes packaged together and released it as Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier for theaters later in 1955. The last two episodes would be made into a second package film, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates that released the following year in 1956. Parker's star rose very quickly, becoming a household name thanks to the mini-series. He was quickly signed on to be a contract actor for Disney, and would star in four movies for the company, the first being The Great Locomotive Chase. Disney was going to milk the sudden popularity that Fess Parker enjoyed for all it was worth, so you'll notice that Parker will be a part of most of next few Disney movies.

Story Background

Disney decided to follow up the massively successful 20,000 Leagues with a movie that would cost much less to produce and therefore wouldn't hurt them too bad if it flopped: The Great Locomotive Chase. Based on an actual event that took place during the American Civil War, it details the story of union soldiers  and two civilians that attempted to sabotage the Confederate railroad by stealing one of their trains. The main goal was to keep Confederate forces in Atlanta, Georgia from being able to send resources to Chattanooga, the city the Union was trying to seize. Led by civilian scout James J. Andrews, the group commandeered Confederate train, the General near Marietta, Georgia. The Union men went northward and cut telegraph lines and destroyed train tracks when they could. William Fuller, the General's conductor, and two other men chased after the Union raiders, using everything from a handcar, to several other locomotives, even running on foot, to catch their stolen train. Andrews and his men experienced some bad luck, including the raid getting delayed by a day thanks to rain, which in turn made the wood they were going to use to burn bridges too wet to keep a flame. They also were held up at a train station for over an hour before they could continue on. The track they were traversing was between Atlanta and Chattanooga, infamous for it's hills, thus making the ride that much slower. Fuller took command of the Texas, though having to run it backward, and was finally able to put a message ahead by telegraph before Andrews and his men could cut the line to that station. The General eventually ran out of fuel and the Union men scattered. All raiders were caught within two weeks and a were put on trial for being unlawful combatants and spies. Eight men total were executed by hanging soon after the trial, with Andrews and the only other civilian, William Hunter Campbell, being among them. Eight more escaped, fearing they would also be executed. The rest were eventually exchanged for Confederate prisoners. Most of the men received the Medal of Honor for their work in disrupting the Confederate lines, some posthumously. Both Andrews and Campbell were not eligible since they were not in the military. I'm giving the briefest of run-throughs of the event, so if you would like to know more, I would highly recommend looking up some articles on it!

Production Background

It's not hard to see why Walt Disney was attracted to a story that centered completely on steam trains. The story had been on the slate for production since Disney started making live action movies. Like with Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, Disney wanted to film where the action took place, but in this case it wasn't feasible. The original track that the chase took place on had been modernized and was, unfortunately for Disney, very much in use. Disney had to settle for the shortline Tallulah Falls Railroad which located fifty miles east. The line had been bustling at one time, used to transport vacationers to Tallulah Falls, but when the resorts went bust in the area, the train line eventually was used only to haul freight. Since the train only ran once a day, it was perfect for shooting Disney's new movie. Not only was the line mostly unused, it was also winding and had not been updated, so it fit the look of the story perfectly. Disney reached out to B&O Railroad to cast the most important players in the movie: the trains. The William Mason would play the General, while the Lafayette would portray the Yonah, one of the trains that Fuller commandeers to chase the General. Disney also borrowed two Civil War era couches, a baggage car, and two ammunition cars. To get the train to portray the Texas, Disney reached out to Paramount Pictures, who sent them the Inyo. Filming started in late September of 1955 and went on for about six weeks. The production provided a much needed economical boom to the towns surrounding the Tallulah Falls line. All of the workers on the line were part of the production, though most had to run the train lying down while the actors were doing their scenes. Walt himself was there for the production for a few weeks, delighting all those he met. Many of the surviving businesses in the area have photos hanging on the wall with Walt and their overjoyed proprietors. Walt had considered buying the Tallulah Falls Railroad and turning into a scenic tour, though was dissuaded when he learned that the Railroad owed millions in accumulated debt and back taxes. The film would unfortunately not save the sleepy railroad, as it would close six years later.

Cast

Fess Parker, in his first Disney leading role that didn't involve Davy Crockett, portrayed the doomed civilian leader of the raiders, James J. Andrews. Disney apparently wanted to use as many actors from the Davy Crockett show as possible and used Kenneth Toby, Don Megowan, and most notably Mike Fink's actor Jeff York, who in this film portrays William Campbell. Campbell in this version of the story is a Union soldier as opposed to a civilian. The other big name attached to the film, and one that wasn't in Davy Crockett, was Jeffrey Hunter, who played the determined Confederate conductor William H. Fuller. Hunter is probably best known for his role as Martin Pawley in The Searchers.

Critical Reception

Walt Disney grew up in Marceline, Missouri, and when the town contacted him in the mid-50's asking permission to name their new park and swimming pool after him, it lead to one of the most notable events in the town's history. Not only would Walt, along with his brother Roy and their wives, come to dedicate the new park and pool, they would also give Marceline the gift of a movie premiere. The Great Locomotive Chase would make its Midwest premiere in a small town in Missouri. On July 4th, 1956, a crowd of mostly children crowded the Uptown Theatre, but Walt and Roy made sure to shake hands and greet each one that entered to see their new movie. Before the movie started, Walt gave a speech about how much Marceline meant to him, and also spoke about how much he enjoyed reading about the Union raider's exploits as a boy. The film was shown continuously until 1:30 the next morning, with all the citizens of Marceline getting in for free.The Uptown Theatre still stands today, though it closed in 2014, being purchased by the local historical society to renovate the aging theater.

Released in June of 1956, The Great Locomotive Chase received mixed reviews from critics. Audiences apparently weren't in the mood for a historical train thriller because the movie only made $1.7 million against a $2.5 million budget. The lack of gross can most likely be chalked up to the anti-climactic ending of the film. Many critics pointed out that the movie basically ends once the men abandon the train. After that it's just people trying to escape and a good portion, including the main character, getting hanged. Audiences apparently didn't like movies that had a sad ending in the 50's. Walt was disappointed in the performance of the film, but since it wasn't 20,000 leagues level of money put into the film, it wouldn't sink the company.

Perhaps the most famous version of the Great Locomotive Chase is Buster Keaton's silent film, The General. Made in 1926, the film was a comedy, with Keaton basically a Confederate that chases after the General, though more because the love of his life is onboard and is an unwitting captor of the Union soldiers. Like The Great Locomotive Chase, The General wasn't a hit when it came out, critically or financially. Unlike The Great Locomotive Chase, The General was re-evaluated later and is now considered one of the best movies ever made.I guess Disney should have slipped some slapstick into their movie!



Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Locomotive_Chase
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/making-great-locomotive-chase
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/hollywood-premiere-marceline-great-locomotive-chase