Taken from Maurice Maeterlinck's play (which was produced in the period immediately after Barrie's successful "Peter Pan") about 2 children who must go on an epic journey to find the Blue Bird of Happiness. Their journey takes them through the houses of terror, excessive wealth, and happiness. There are some very interesting scenes visually speaking. In the early sequences, we see the common household items come to life, such as milk (a lovely woman in flowing white robes), the family dog and cat (who bear comparison to the animals in the silent versions of "Oz"), a sugar loaf (amusingly portrayed by a man in a white tube costume with a pointy head) and most impressively fire (an interpretive dance with striking impact). Unfortunately some of these early scenes are almost ruined by the deterioration of the print.
Later they see some somewhat terrifying things as they must enter the house of "Mrs. Night". Upon leaving there, they encounter their dead grandparents in a graveyard, who remonstrate with them for not visiting their graves enough. That's typical of the many ways in which this film attempted to give children a guilt trip about not taking things in their lives seriously enough. I found it bizarre that their "dead brothers and sisters" were also present, and there were a full half dozen of them. That would indicate an infant mortality rate above 80%. There's an amusing bit where they are in some kind of house that symbolizes excessive luxury. All the "things" begin to turn from their mission and enjoy the luxury, including the Sugar Loaf who is being licked by a half dozen lovely ladies! They end up in the house of happiness, where they see a deified version of their mother and in one interesting bit they come upon all the children who have not yet been born.
The children who portrayed Mytyl and Tytyl were quite engaging, but most of the other performances in the film felt very 2 dimensional. Although there is some stylization, a lot of the shots feel very stage-bound. I think Tourneur should have strayed further from the story's original stage version and made it more cinematic in general. Also I think the film's story and its message are hopelessly obvious. There really isn't a feeling of continuity in the children's character transformations, they seem confused and at times foolish only to suddenly realize what's happening in the film's conclusion -- which might work in terms of the plot but it doesn't make this a richer film. In the end I think it has to be called an interesting failure by Tourneur in terms of expanding the scope of film fantasy.
Later they see some somewhat terrifying things as they must enter the house of "Mrs. Night". Upon leaving there, they encounter their dead grandparents in a graveyard, who remonstrate with them for not visiting their graves enough. That's typical of the many ways in which this film attempted to give children a guilt trip about not taking things in their lives seriously enough. I found it bizarre that their "dead brothers and sisters" were also present, and there were a full half dozen of them. That would indicate an infant mortality rate above 80%. There's an amusing bit where they are in some kind of house that symbolizes excessive luxury. All the "things" begin to turn from their mission and enjoy the luxury, including the Sugar Loaf who is being licked by a half dozen lovely ladies! They end up in the house of happiness, where they see a deified version of their mother and in one interesting bit they come upon all the children who have not yet been born.
The children who portrayed Mytyl and Tytyl were quite engaging, but most of the other performances in the film felt very 2 dimensional. Although there is some stylization, a lot of the shots feel very stage-bound. I think Tourneur should have strayed further from the story's original stage version and made it more cinematic in general. Also I think the film's story and its message are hopelessly obvious. There really isn't a feeling of continuity in the children's character transformations, they seem confused and at times foolish only to suddenly realize what's happening in the film's conclusion -- which might work in terms of the plot but it doesn't make this a richer film. In the end I think it has to be called an interesting failure by Tourneur in terms of expanding the scope of film fantasy.