The Three Worlds of Gulliver
| The Three Worlds of Gulliver | |
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 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Jack Sher |
| Produced by | Charles H. Schneer |
| Written by | Arthur Ross Jack Sher Jonathan Swift (Novel) |
| Starring | Kerwin Mathews June Thorburn Basil Sydney Sherry Alberoni |
| Music by | Bernard Herrmann |
| Cinematography | Wilkie Cooper |
| Editing by | Raymond Poulton |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 16, 1960 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Three Worlds of Gulliver is a 1960 Columbia Pictures fantasy film loosely based upon the 18th-century English novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The film stars Kerwin Mathews as the titular character, June Thorburn as his fiancée Elizabeth, and child actor Sherry Alberoni as Glumdalclitch. Filmed in England and Spain, Gulliver was directed by Jack Sher and featured stop-motion animation and special visual effects by Ray Harryhausen. Cast includes Martin Benson as Flimnap, Lee Patterson as Reldresal, Jo Morrow as Gwendolyn, Marian Spencer as the Empress of Lilliput, Peter Bull as Lord Bermogg, and Alec Mango as the Minister of Lilliput. The film has been broadcast on American television and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.
Contents |
[edit] Plot and cast
The film begins in Wapping in 1699. Dr Lemuel Gulliver (Kerwin Mathews) is an impoverished surgeon who seeks riches and adventure as a ship's doctor on a voyage around the world. His fiancée Elizabeth (June Thorburn) strongly wishes him to stay ashore and settle down in a ramshackle cottage. The two quarrel with Gulliver further saddened when a soldier patient is off to another war with Spain, having only just returned from one with France.
As Gulliver embarks on a vessel, he is soon surprised to discover Elizabeth has stowed away to be near him. A storm arises; Gulliver is swept overboard and washed to the shores of Lilliput, a land of tiny human beings. The Lilliputians are apprehensive regarding Gulliver but he eases their fears by performing acts of kindness. An old quarrel between Lilliput and neighboring Blefuscu is revived and Gulliver lends a hand in the proceedings by towing Blefuscu's war ships far out to sea. The Emperor of Lilliput (Basil Sydney) then views Gulliver as a potential threat to his power and arranges his execution. Gulliver escapes in a boat he has built.
He finds his way to the isle of Brobdingnag, a land of giants. A kind peasant girl named Glumdalclitch (Sherry Alberoni) finds him on the shore and carries him to the castle of King Brob (Grégoire Aslan). There, Gulliver is delighted to find Elizabeth, who was washed ashore after a shipwreck. The King installs the two in a dollhouse. When Gulliver cures the Queen (Mary Ellis) of a stomach-ache, Prime Minister Makovan (Charles Lloyd Pack) accuses Gulliver of witchcraft. The King orders Gulliver's execution and pits his pet baby dwarf alligator against him whom Gulliver slays. Glumdalclitch saves Gulliver and Elizabeth from the pursuing Brobdingnagians by placing them in her sewing basket and tossing the basket into a brook that flows to the sea.
Gulliver and Elizabeth wake on a beach with the basket of Glumdalclitch in smaller size behind them. A passer-by of their own size and shape indicates they are only a short distance from their home in England. Elizabeth asks if it had all been a dream with Gulliver, now happy to settle down with Elizabeth replies that the bad qualities of the pettiness of Lilliput and ignorance of Brobdingnag are inside everyone. Elizabeth asks about Glumdalclitch with Gulliver giving her a knowing look saying that she hasn't been born yet...
[edit] Reception
In the New York Times of December 17, 1960, Eugene Archer praised the film's technical achievement in stop-motion animation and enthusiastically recommended it for children but noted, "...adults will find it all too mechanical to really capture the imagination, and may resent the unclear ending that seems certain to provoke some youthful queries. They should be grateful for a children's film that treats a classic without condescension or burlesque."[1]
[edit] Merchandise
Dell Comics released a comic book adaptation of the film.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ New York Times Review Retrieved 1 September 2008.
[edit] External links
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