The Mouse and His Child
Encyclopedia
The Mouse and His Child is a 1977
animated film based on the 1967 Russell Hoban
novel
The Mouse and His Child
. In the United States
the film is
also known as The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child. Critics panned the film for watering down the philosophical themes in the novel.
The Mouse and his child encounter an experimental theater troupe staging a play The Last Visible Dog. In the play, two characters speak their lines from within Bonzo dog food cans, in reference to the two characters who live in trash cans in Samuel Becket's absurdist play "Endgame (play)
."
in 1991
. A DVD version has yet to be released.
1977 in film
The year 1977 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network....
animated film based on the 1967 Russell Hoban
Russell Hoban
Russell Conwell Hoban is an American writer, now living in England, of fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magic realism, poetry, and children's books-Biography:...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Mouse and His Child
The Mouse and His Child
The Mouse and His Child is a 1977 animated film based on the 1967 Russell Hoban novel The Mouse and His Child. In the United States the film isalso known as The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child...
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the film is
also known as The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child. Critics panned the film for watering down the philosophical themes in the novel.
Plot
The Mouse and his child are two parts of a single small wind-up toy, which must be wound up by means of a key in the father's back. After having been unboxed, they discover themselves in a toy shop where they befriend a toy elephant and toy seal. The child mouse proposes staying at the shop to form a family, which the other toys ridicule. After falling from a counter and becoming broken, they are thrown in the trash. Outside, they become enslaved by Manny the Rat, who runs a casino in the city dump and uses broken wind-up toys as his slave labor force. With the aid of a psychic frog, the mice escape and meet various animal characters on a quest of becoming free and independent "self-winding" toys. They rediscover the elephant and seal, who are somewhat broken down, and manage to form a family and destroy the rat empire.The Mysterious Bonzo Can
The can of Bonzo dog food plays a large part in the story. In the film however, it is also a clue to the story's occult undertones. The weight appears, disappears, reappears and changes often. In its first appearance when the rat crashes with his jelly beans and explains the donkey's worthlessness, the weight reads "666 grams". In another scene it reads "Heavy". During the contemplation of infinity, it's missing altogether.The Mouse and his child encounter an experimental theater troupe staging a play The Last Visible Dog. In the play, two characters speak their lines from within Bonzo dog food cans, in reference to the two characters who live in trash cans in Samuel Becket's absurdist play "Endgame (play)
Endgame (play)
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French ; as was his custom, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the...
."
Cast and crew
- Director - Charles Swenson and Fred WolfFred WolfFred Wolf is an American animator. His works include the 1967 short subject The Box, for which he won an Academy Award; television specials such as The Point! and Free to Be... You and Me, and television series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, James Bond Jr., and Sarah Ferguson's Budgie the...
- Screenplay - Russell Hoban and Carol Monpere
- Peter UstinovPeter UstinovPeter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
.... Manny the Rat (voice) - Cloris LeachmanCloris LeachmanCloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
.... Euterpe (voice) - Sally KellermanSally KellermanSally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...
.... The Seal (voice) - Andy DevineAndy DevineAndrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...
.... The Frog (voice) - Alan Barzman .... The Mouse (voice)
- Marcy Swenson .... The Mouse Child (voice)
- Neville BrandNeville BrandNeville Brand was an American television and movie actor.-Early life:Neville Brand was born in Illinois. He was born to Leo and Helen Brand as one of seven children. Leo, was an electrician and bridge building steel worker in Detroit, where Neville was raised...
.... Iggy (voice) - Regis CordicRegis CordicRegis John "Rege" Cordic was an American radio personality and actor.His career in entertainment divides roughly in half: from 1948 to 1965, he was the dominant morning drive-time radio host in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, he was a successful voice, television,...
.... The Clock (voice) - Joan Gerber .... The Elephant (voice)
- Bob Holt .... Muskrat (voice)
- Mel Leven .... Ralphie (voice)
- Maitzi Morgan .... Teller/Starling (voice)
- Frank Nelson .... Crow (voice)
- Cliff Norton .... Crow (voice)
- Cliff Osmond .... C. Serpentina (voice)
- Iris Rainer .... Paper People/Starling (voice)
- Robert RidgelyRobert RidgelyRobert Ridgely was an American actor and vocal artist, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work.-Career:...
.... Jack in the Box (voice) - Charles Woolf .... Bluejay/Paper People (voice)
- John CarradineJohn CarradineJohn Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
.... The Tramp (voice)
Releases
The film was re-released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
. A DVD version has yet to be released.