The Blue Bird

US (1940): Children's/Fantasy

This Technicolor fantasy, based on the classic tale by Maurice Maeterlinck, finds a boy and a girl (Johnny Russell, Shirley Temple) searching for the Blue Bird of Happiness. They travel in their dreams through the past, present, and future (including some scary encounters with Tylette the Cat -- Gale Sondergaard -- and a forest fire). After many adventures, they discover that happiness is always right at home. Filmed a year after The Wizard of Oz, this is a family film with lots of visual delights. Walter Lang directs for Fox. Spring Byington and Nigel Bruce support as Mummy Tyl and Mr. Luxury.

This film was a remake of a 1918 film starring Tula Belle and Robin Macdougall that was directed by Maurice Tourneur, father of director Jacques Tourneur. The 1976 remake, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Cicely Tyson and Robert Morley, with Jane Fonda as The Night and directed by George Cukor, was the first film venture that involved Soviet-American cooperation. (amctv.com)

· Cinematography (Color) 1940: Arthur C. Miller, Ray Rennahan
· Special Effects 1940: Fred Sersen - Photographic, E. H. Hansen - Sound

2 nominations