Film Music Central

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs and films, check out the main page here: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

The Great Mouse Detective “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” (1986)

7 Replies

great_mouse_detective

It pains me to see that The Great Mouse Detective (1986) often falls under the radar of Disney fans. The film is really quite important to the history of animated film: after the debacle of The Black Cauldron (1985), Disney’s animation department was at serious risk of being eliminated. But the great success of The Great Mouse Detective the next year proved to the powers-that-be that Disney could still find success in animation and because of this, a little film called The Little Mermaid was given the green light (paving the way for the Disney Renaissance).

Based on a series of children’s books entitled Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, the film follows the adventures of the titular “great mouse detective” Basil, who lives in a tiny home at 221B Baker Street (sharing his residence with Sherlock Holmes and Watson). When Basil’s eccentric life is interrupted by Dr. Dawson and a little girl named Olivia whose father was kidnapped, Basil finds himself thrust into the greatest case of his career: stopping that master of crime, Professor Ratigan!!

tumblr_msj9ntENU31s3bzqro1_500

Ratigan might just be one of the greatest animated Disney villains, as he was brought to life by the master of horror himself, Vincent Price. Price had always wanted to be a Disney villain, and in an interview he gave, he called his performance as Rattigan as one of his favorites. In fact, Price’s acting influenced how the character was animated. Originally, Rattigan was going to be this rather weak-looking and snivelling character, but Price’s unforgettable voice changed all of that.

Mouse-detective-disneyscreencaps.com-1724

Ratigan, as his name implies, is a very large rat; but in a world where mice make up the majority of the population, he has taken great pains to pass himself off as a mouse, and won’t stand to be referred to as a rat. “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” serves as Ratigan’s introduction to the audience, as well as highlighting how evil and devious he is.

The Great Mouse Detective “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” (1986)

The song begins with a spoken prologue, where Ratigan informs his gang that the time has come for his greatest plan to be put into motion, “the crime to top all crimes.” All we know for now is that it will take place on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and that it will be “a night she will never forget” and that he will be “the supreme ruler of all Mousedom!!” This declaration begins the song proper, as Ratigan brags about all the crimes he’s done before: robbing the Crown jewels, drowning widows and orphans and robbing many other places based on the amount of treasure laying around.

From the brain that brought you the Big Ben Caper
The head that made headlines in every newspaper
And wonderous things like the Tower Bridge Job
That cunning display that made London a sob

Now comes the real Tour de Force
Tricky and wicked of course
My earlier crimes were fine for their times
But now that I’m at it again
An even grimmer plot has been simmering
In my great criminal brain

Mousedetective239

During this part of the song, one detail that sticks out right away is Bartholomew, the really, really drunk gang member who is more interested in lapping up the champagne instead of listening to Ratigan’s plan and song.

Even meaner? You mean it?
Worse than the widows and orphans you drowned?
You’re the best of the worst around
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
The rest fall behind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world’s greatest criminal mind!

Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You’re tops and that’s that
To Ratigan
To Ratigan

In fact, he gets so drunk, that as the gang is preparing to toast Ratigan mid-song, Bartholomew pipes up “To Ratigan the world’s greatest rat!!”

Of course Ratigan is not amused. And as the rat in mouse’s clothing tells his drunken lackey “…I’m afraid you’ve gone and upset me. You know what happens when someone upsets me…” he pulls out a bell and gives it a ring, and as this very action causes the rest of the gang to squeak in terror, you know something bad is coming.

GMD06

As it turns out, Ratigan has a rather fat cat at his beck and call. As the overfed kitty stalks up for her next meal, the oblivious Bartholomew launches into a spine-chilling refrain of “Oh Ratigan, Oh Ratigan, you’re the tops and that’s that…” This use of the song is what we musicologists call “musical irony”, in that the lyrics praising Ratigan are contrasted with the increasingly sinister sounds that are building to the mouse’s death by cat. To further add to the suspense, you don’t actually see the moment happen: all the audience see’s is the shadowy profile of Bartholomew suspended above the cat’s mouth and then….*GULP* Now thoroughly cowed, the gang hysterically launches into the final verse (lest Rattigan summon the kitty again) and the status quo in Ratigan’s lair is re-established.

Even louder
We’ll shout it!
No one can doubt what we know you can do
You’re more evil that even you
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You’re one of a kind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world’s greates criminal mind!!!

Seeing how casually Rattigan can dispose of anyone who “upsets” him (though we don’t really get to see him upset until the climax), this one sequence has made it clear that Rattigan is very, very dangerous (a lot more dangerous than even Basil is aware of). And also because of this scene, Ratigan remains one of my favorite Disney villains.

Become a patron of the blog at: patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

The Great Mouse Detective “Goodbye, So Soon” (1986)

For more great Disney songs check out the main page here: Disney A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Beauty and the Beast “The West Wing” (1991)

13 Replies

From the moment Beast informed Belle that she could go anywhere in the castle except the West Wing (with no other explanation than “It’s forbidden!”), it was a foregone conclusion that Belle would go to the West Wing and that she would get caught. This is a long-standing trope in film that when something is explicitly forbidden, the character will go anyway and get caught by somebody at some point (case in point: Ariel was forbidden to have anything to do with humans, but she kept a grotto full of human things, and we all know how that turned out; Simba was forbidden to go to the elephant graveyard, Quasimodo couldn’t leave the bell tower, etc.)

I absolutely love the music for this scene. Purely orchestral, it highlights the danger of what Belle is doing (because we have no way of knowing where the Beast is right now), and also the growing curiosity to see what IS in the West Wing. As Belle walks down the hallway, she passes by a lot of broken statues that all resemble different beasts. Actually, that’s by design: practically every “beast” statue you see in the castle comes from a concept drawing when the animators were designing the look of the beast. My personal favorite is a statue of a giant snake (when Belle is looking in horror at all of the ugly statues in the hallway, just before she bursts into tears, look to the right and you’ll see it in an alcove).

Finally, Belle comes to a large door and for a moment there’s a breath of tension, as if the Beast might appear at any second, but Belle’s curiosity wins and she pulls the door open to reveal the forbidden West Wing. It’s in a shambles, but Belle presses forward anyway (as a child, my heart would always stop when she knocked the table over). And it’s here that she discovers two things: a heavily ripped portrait of a handsome man, with very familiar blue eyes (in reality a portrait of what the Beast really looks like), but just as Belle seems to make the connection, she notices something else, it’s the magic rose!!

The shot of Belle walking up to the bell jar is just beautiful, and for a moment, it almost looks like the rose is rotating to “look” at her (and maybe it is, it IS a magic rose after all). Of course, Belle then does the worst possible thing she could do, which is to remove the jar and try to touch the rose itself, and that’s when everything goes wrong in a hurry.

When I was young, I didn’t quite understand the magnitude of what Belle almost did. I knew that Beast was angry because she’s gone where she wasn’t supposed to, but something was going over my head. It was only when I was older that I realized that the reason Beast kept the rose in a jar was to protect it from any outside force inadvertently knocking off the petals more quickly and thus shorten the time he has left to break the spell. If Belle had touched the rose, she might have done just that, and that is what really infuriates Beast, who as expected, appears just as Belle is reaching out, and he is beyond angry!

Now, while Belle is in trouble and Beast does have a right to some anger (since she did disobey him), it’s also true that Beast never told Belle why she couldn’t go into the West Wing, so Beast’s roar of “Do you realize what you could have done??” can never be answered because no, Belle doesn’t realize what could have happened because Beast didn’t tell her! All of this is too much for Belle to take and she runs from the castle (literally), swearing “Promise or no promise, I can’t stay here another minute!”

I’m sure there will be a counterpart to this scene in the live-action version of the film (and I can’t wait to see how it plays out!)

Become a Patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs and films, check out the main page here: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

The Sword in the Stone “Mad, Madam Mim” (1963)

7 Replies

You know how a lot of Disney movies have been adapted into Broadway plays? Like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc. ? Well, one film that I wish would be turned into a Broadway show is The Sword in the Stone (1963), a Disney animated feature that was released after Disney’s Golden Age and long before the Disney Renaissance at the end of the 1980s. This film generally slips under the radar but it still contains some amusing and memorable moments.

Based on T.H. White’s book The Once and Future King (1958), The Sword in the Stone tells the story of a young page named Wart (real name Arthur, voiced by Rickie Sorensen, and Richard and Robert Reitherman) who meets a strange wizard named Merlin (Karl Swenson) and a talking owl named Archimedes (Junius Matthews). Merlin is convinced that Wart has a big future in front of him, but it won’t come to pass unless he gets a proper education (that Merlin will provide).

Casa_MadamMim

The Sword in the Stone “Mad Madam Mim” (1963)

Wart’s “education” can be divided into several segments based on the animal he is turned into (and the appropriate lesson he learns): a fish (brains are better than brawn); a squirrel (Love is the greatest force on Earth); a bird (knowledge and wisdom are real power). It’s this last segment, where Wart become a bird that really wants me to see this story as a stage show because THIS is where we meet Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth), a slightly-deranged witch who is as evil as Merlin is good. Wart (still in bird form) ends up falling down her chimney by mistake while fleeing a hawk and quickly comes to the witch’s attention. Hearing that the Wart is acquainted with Merlin (“the world’s most powerful bungler” as she puts it), Mim decides to prove to Wart that SHE is the most powerful, and not Merlin, by performing a song that I would dearly love to see rendered on the stage.

Mim

With only a touch, I have the power
Zim zaba rim bim, To wither a flower
I find delight in the gruesome and grim
(Oh, that’s terrible.)
(Thank you, my boy. But that’s nothing, nothing for me!)
‘Cause I’m the magnificent, marvelous, mad Madam Mim

(You know what? I can even change size.)

I can be huge; Fill the whole house
I can be teeny, small as a mouse
Black sorcery is my dish of tea
It comes easy to me,
‘Cause I’m the magnificent, marvelous, mad Madam Mim!

Mim demonstrates various abilities: she can change size (from giant to very tiny), make herself even uglier than she already is (by her own admission) and also change herself into someone beautiful as well. I’m not sure how a live show would accommodate all of these changes exactly, but I’m sure it could be done somehow.

(Hahahaha! Marvelous, boy! Marvelous! Hahohoho! Hey, lad. Did you know I can make m’self uglier yet?)
(That would be some trick, er… I mean, uh…)
(Wanta’ bet? BOO! You see? I win, I win! Aren’t I hideous, boy? Perfectly revolting?)
(N- Yes, m’am.)
(But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Watch this.)

I can be beautiful, lovely and fair
Silvery voice, long purple hair
La la la la, la la la la la
La la la la la, la la la la la la la
But it’s only skin deep, for Zim zaberim ZIM
I’m an ugly old creep; the magnificent, marvelous, mad, mad, mad, mad Madam Mim!

After her song, Mim demands to know which one is better, but Wart still believes that Merlin is the best because his magic is for good (Mim doesn’t like this at all). Recognizing that Merlin sees something “good” in the boy, Mim declares that for her that’s “bad” and therefore she’ll have to destroy him. Moving in for the kill, Mim demonstrates one more ability, she can change into animals just like Merlin can, and what animal do you use to catch a bird? A CAT!!!

swordinthestone01

Fortunately for Wart, Merlin steps in shortly afterward…

I absolutely love this song, it’s pure Disney madness from beginning to end. If “Mad Madam Mim” were performed on a Broadway stage today, who do you think could pull it off the best? I’m not sure myself, but I’d love to hear your thoughts about it 🙂

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Become a patron of the blog at: patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

The Sword in the Stone “That’s What Makes the World Go Round” (1963)

The Sword in the Stone “A Most Befuddling Thing” (1963)

For more great Disney songs and films, check out the main page here: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Beauty and the Beast “Human Again” (1991)

10 Replies

“Human Again” is a musical number created by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman that originally occupied the position that “Something There” now does. Written in the tempo of a fast waltz, the song features a number of enchanted objects (led by Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and the Wardrobe with her own verse) singing about how they could be human again now that Belle and Beast are growing closer together.

This song was ultimately cut from the original version of the film because of pacing issues and length (the entire sequence was approximately 11 minutes long!!). It also presented an issue because the number implies that a very long passage of time is occurring, which doesn’t make sense since it’s already been established that Maurice is out in the woods looking for Belle (and it wouldn’t make sense for him to be out there alone for months). So the decision was made to cut “Human Again” and replace it with the shorter and to-the-point “Something There.”

The number was first restored for the Beauty and the Beast Broadway production in 1994 and ultimately was restored to the film for the 2002 Special Edition DVD release (it is placed between “Something There” and the ballroom scene).

For the restoration, all the original cast members from the film were reunited to record the song and careful work was done on the animation to ensure it merged in seamlessly with the rest of the film. I’m glad they did this when they did, as Jerry Orbach (the voice of Lumiere) sadly passed away two years later.

I like “Human Again,” it’s a fun musical number and features some great shots of different areas of the castle being cleaned up. In fact, re-inserting this sequence does help to explain why the West Wing is suddenly much tidier when Beast takes Belle to see the magic mirror after their dance (because various servants are shown cleaning the room up). There’s also a hysterical moment when the footstool-dog comes across a pillow-cat and gives chase, tracking dirt into the newly cleaned ballroom!

Run pillow-kitty, run!!!

Believe it or not, we’ve actually made our way through all the songs of Beauty and the Beast, but I’m not done with this film just yet. There’s a few musical moments that I still want to explore: “The West Wing”, “Battle on the Tower”, and especially “The Transformation.”

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs check out the main page here: Disney A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Beauty and the Beast “Something There” (1991)

12 Replies

“Something There” is a fun, if brief, interlude for our main characters before the romance of the ballroom scene and the drama that follows afterward. Before the song proper commences, there’s a funny scene where Belle and Beast are meeting for breakfast and Belle discovers that Beast is…slightly out of practice using silverware, let’s just put it that way. However, Belle finds a compromise and we next shift to the pair taking a walk through the snow covered garden while Belle feeds the birds.

Neither Belle nor Beast sing aloud, this song is really an expression of their thoughts regarding each other. Belle is finding that Beast is really sweet and is just on the cusp of recognizing that she feels love for him as well, even though he’s “no Prince Charming.”

There’s something sweet
And almost kind
But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
And now he’s dear, and so unsure
I wonder why I didn’t see it there before

She glanced this way
I thought I saw
And when we touched she didn’t shudder at my paw
No it can’t be, I’ll just ignore
But then she’s never looked at me that way before

New and a bit alarming
Who’d have ever thought that this could be
True that he’s no Prince Charming?
But there’s something in him that I simply didn’t see

Beast, at the same time, is delighted that Belle isn’t scared of him anymore, though he still doubts that romance could develop between them. At the same time, he does admit that Belle is looking at him somewhat differently, so maybe there is hope after all.

Then Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts get into the act and they sing a verse of their own as they observe the pair in a rather one-sided snowball fight (Belle wins), with their own hope growing that soon the enchantment will be broken.

Well, who’d have thought?
Well, bless my soul
Well, who’d have known?
Well, who indeed?
And who’d have guessed they’d come together on their own?
It’s so peculiar. We’ll wait and see, a few days more
There may be something there that wasn’t there before

Poor little Chip though can’t figure out why everyone is so excited and Mrs. Potts shushes him with “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

It really is an adorable moment, you can tell that something is building between the pair, and it might just be love, but neither will say as much yet.

I really like the moment where Belle sings “New, and a bit alarming!” Just the way she emphasizes that last word shows how unsure she still is about this (which is understandable, Beast doesn’t fit the traditional mold of a sweetheart). And I absolutely LOVE the moment when Belle looks back and discovers that Beast is covered in birds!!!

For next time, I’ll look at a song that initially didn’t make the final cut, but thanks to the special edition, we have it now! Get ready for “Human Again” !

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Become a patron of the blog at: patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs and films, check out the main page here: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

11 Replies

I admit I’ve been putting this particular song off because it’s really my favorite (and I was afraid of not being able to do it justice). But having re-watched the movie for inspiration, I feel confident enough to proceed now.

“Beauty and the Beast” (also known as the Dancing scene) is the culmination of the Beast’s efforts to forge a relationship with Belle. The magical rose is already well on the way to wilting, so it is imperative that Beast confess his love at just the right moment.

The beginning of this scene is just beautiful as Belle comes down the stairs in her golden dress (fact: I loved this dress so much as a kid that I begged my mother to make one for me so I could be Belle too). The Beast, meantime, has made a complete transformation from the mostly-wild creature we first met, to a perfect gentleman.

As the pair walk to dinner, the entire moment is graced with a song by Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), and here comes one of the craziest stories I ever heard about a Disney song (it might just beat the story I told about “Gaston” too). See, the writers and director knew that this moment was pivotal to the story, if they got any part wrong it just wouldn’t work. And therein lay the problem for a long time, they just couldn’t figure out WHO should sing this song. For a while it was going to be Lumiere, but since he’d already performed “Be Our Guest”, it didn’t feel quite right for him to be narrating this moment. Cogsworth was also considered, as well as a Lumiere-Cogsworth duet, but that REALLY didn’t feel right.

Eventually, they felt that Angela Lansbury (as Mrs. Potts) would be just right, however, the actress did NOT want to do it; she didn’t feel right with it, didn’t think she could do the song justice, etc. In short, she politely refused. But the director knew that there was no one else to turn to, so…he used a trick. The director and Alan Menken approached Angela Lansbury and said something to the effect of “We know you don’t want to perform the song, and that’s fine. But could you please do a run-through anyway, just so we have something to help pace the scene?” The actress agreed to that and did a single run-through of the song…and that is what you hear in the final movie. Oh, I’m so glad they convinced her to do it too, it just couldn’t have worked without her.

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast

This scene is also notable for the use of CGI in the main ballroom (the room and especially the chandelier being computer generated). There had initially been two ideas for a CGI scene, one being the ballroom scene, and the other being the climactic battle on the tower. Well, it turned out that the technology of 1991 was not quite ready to render the tower battle realistically, so the ballroom became their sole chance to show off what computer animation could do. There was even a plan B if the animation ultimately didn’t work: the animators planned to use an “Ice-capades” theme (i.e. Belle and Beast would’ve been dancing in a spotlight with darkness all around) if for some reason the computer animation failed.

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

I think this could be the perfect Disney scene, there isn’t a flaw anywhere, and Angela Lansbury’s rich voice perfectly complements what is going on. I especially love, during the “bittersweet and strange” verse, when the camera is panning down from the ceiling and showing Belle and Beast twirling, fully engrossed in the moment. Should I ever get married some day, I fully plan on this song being “the first dance song” during the reception (because it’s perfect).

I’m not sure what the live-action remake will do as an equivalent for this scene, but, however good it looks, it’ll be hard pressed to top this, that’s for sure.

Next time there’s “Something There” that wasn’t there before (oh what could it possibly be!)

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Become a patron of the blog at: patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

For more Beauty and the Beast, see: