Sunday 30 May 2010

Dumbo Deleted Scenes - Part 0

(edited 4th June 2010 - see "Dumbo Deleted Scenes - Part 2")

OK, in the rush to get that first post out, I missed out a couple of things - nothing really major though, and the first one isn't really a deleted scene, because more changes seem to have been made than just removing some footage.

Ain't that just like me to forget?

(Once again, deleted material goes in italics)

From sequence 5 "Circus Parade" (Draft No. 1)
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13 - Dumbo's mother pans through - Dumbo holding onto her tail. Dumbo runs underneath mother. She goes out, leaving Dumbo in the open.

14 - Mother looks back at Dumbo.

15 - Dumbo looks up, runs after mother and falls in mud.

16 - Rear view, parade going back toward tent. Dumbo runs in, trying to catch up with parade.
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In the film, scenes 13 and 15 seem to have been run together. The important thing missing is the extra shot of Mrs Jumbo and the final rear view. I don't know what kind of expression Mrs Jumbo was supposed to have, but the fact that she just carries on ahead and leaves him to try to catch up seems uncharacteristically neglectful. When they finished putting the sequence together, it seems they decided to solve the problem of "What is Mrs Jumbo doing?" by ignoring it, and keeping Dumbo as the only character on screen. Having the final shot be of Dumbo fallen in the mud puddle with the crowds laughing once again keeps the focus on Dumbo's ears as the source of his misfortune. It also leads nicely into the following sequence, of Mrs Jumbo washing him.

In the "Elephants Gossip" (Draft No. 4) and "Timothy Befriends Dumbo" (Draft No. 4) sequences there are a few extra scenes/lines I didn't catch last time but nothing worth writing home about. In "Elephants Gossip", the line in scene 8 "Yes, but mother love doesn't have to be blind" seemed to become "...can hide a multitude of sins." Scene 14 and the accompanying line "I'll bet she's furious" were cut, as were a couple of shots where Timothy is frightening the elephants.

In scene 31 of "Timothy Befriends Dumbo" Timothy rejects one of his own (unmentioned) ideas with "Aw, no... that's old stuff..." before he overhears the Ringmaster coming up with an idea of his own. Unlike his deleted lines from earlier in the sequence, I can't think of much of an argument for keeping this one.

If anyone catches anything else on the draft that I should have caught bit didn't, please let me know!

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