The Blue Bird
Directed by	Walter Lang
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Written by	Screenplay: Ernest Pascal Walter Bullock Play: Maurice Maeterlinck
Starring	Shirley Temple Spring Byington Nigel Bruce
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	January 19, 1940 (1940-01-19)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Blue Bird is a 1940 American fantasy film directed by Walter Lang. The screenplay by Walter Bullock was adapted from the 1908 play of the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck. Intended as 20th Century Fox's answer to The Wizard of Oz, which had been released the previous year, it was filmed in Technicolor and tells the story of a disagreeable little girl (Temple) and her search for happiness. The film was a box office flop, lost money, nominated for two Academy Awards, and is available on DVD and videocassette.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Mytyl, the bratty daughter of a woodcutter, finds a unique bird in the Royal Forest and selfishly refuses to give it to her sick friend. That night, she is visited in a dream by a fairy named Berylune who sends her and her brother Tytyl to search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. To accompany them, the fairy magically transforms their dog Tylo, cat Tylette, and lantern ("Light") into human form. The children have a number of adventures. The dream journey makes Mytyl awake as a kinder and gentler girl who has learned to appreciate all the comforts and joys of her home and family.

[edit] Cast

• Shirley Temple as Mytyl
• Spring Byington as Mummy Tyl
• Nigel Bruceas Mr. Luxury
• Gale Sondergaard as Tylette (the cat)
• Eddie Collins as Tylo (the dog)
• Sybil Jason as Angela Berlingot
• Helen Ericsonas Light
• Johnny Russell as Tytyl
• Laura Hope Crews as Mrs.Luxury
• Russell Hicks as Daddy Tyl
• Cecilia Loftus as Granny Tyl
• Al Shean as Grandpa Tyl
• Gene Reynolds as Studious Boy
• Stanley Andrews as Wilhelm

[edit] Production

Twentieth Century-Fox reportedly made the film intending to give Temple her own fantasy vehicle after she lost the role of Dorothy to Judy Garland. Shirley had been considered for the role of Dorothy Gale in MGM's The Wizard of Oz a year earlier, but her modest singing talent and contractual obligations to Fox Studios prevented her from getting the part.

The Blue Bird was Shirley Temple's first box-office flop in her 6 years as a child star. Audiences disliked the idea of Shirley as a nasty character needing to learn a lesson. While many of Temple's films show her character misbehaving in various ways, this is the only to show her being truly punished. Early in the film, her brattiness earns her a spanking and a reprimand from her mother.

Almost a month prior to the film's release, Blue Bird was dramatized as a half-hour radio play on the December 24, 1939 broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater, starring Shirley Temple and Nelson Eddy.

[edit] See also

• List of American films of 1940
• Shirley Temple filmography

[edit] References

• Windeler, Robert (1992) [1978], The Films of Shirley Temple, Carol Publishing Group, pp. 208-211 

[edit] External links

• The Blue Bird at the Internet Movie Database