Customer Reviews

A Tiger Walks [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

FROM THE BOX:
A dramatic adventure unfolds when a mistreated Bengal tiger is accidently freed in the tiny community of Scotia. As a result, an avalanche of national attention turn the sleepy little town into a chaotic jungle of frightened citizens. While a well-meaning sheriff (Brian Keith), his young daughter (Pamela Franklin) and an Indian trainer (Sabu) struggle to safely capture the magnificent animal, kids across the nation rally to the creature's defense with a rousing "Save The Tiger" campaign. Excitement and danger are on the prowl when A Tiger Walks! Wonderful ending the children will surely enjoy -- good film for children (5-10)

I remembered this movie from when I was a child and ordered it. It was good to see it again and share it with my kids. It arrived on time and in the condition the seller said it would be in.

THE PLOT: When a traveling circus drives through town, they lose a tiger due to an abusive animal handler. But another handler Ram Singh (Sabu, in his last film) knows the tiger and is determined to catch him before the locals kill him. Sheriff Williams (Brian Keith) and his wife (Vera Miles) try to keep things calm at home when their daughter (Pamela Franklin who had appeared 3 years earlier in "The Horse Without a Head") is fighting mad about attempts to kill the tiger instead of catching it. Adding to their problems, the Governor sends in the National Guard in a move to bolster his re-election campaign and uses the event to create hysteria. There are more dangers than tigers when the townsfolk and guardsmen are all tromping through the woods with loaded weapons and fog sets in. Meanwhile the sheriff's daughter helps start a national "Save That Tiger" campaign amongst school children. The sheriff may be able to handle the issue without bloodshed, but he is also facing a re-election that is struggling due to the maneuvers by the Governor and the clumsy work by the mob of reporters. The film has quite incidents of people exploiting others, enough to become a running theme of the show. This includes the hotel owner who increases her room rate 10 times the normal rate when it appears a mob of reporters and government officials are coming to town; or the local reporter who sensationalizes the story to get a big job outside the town, despite the sherrif's request to keep the story from creating panic; the Governor using the incident for his re-election; the host of a childrens show who uses the issue to build ratings; and so on. All in all, an exciting movie that points out that everyone has character flaws, but in the end we must do what is right.

BEHIND THE SCENES & TRIVIA: Walt Disney oversaw this project and he liked working with people he worked with before, who brought a familiar Disney face to his projects, but he also did it because he knew what to expect from them. This movie was no exception as half a dozen actors, the director, writer, composer, producer, art directors, set decorator, and most of the crew selected for this project had all worked on other Disney projects in the past or were full time studio employees. Directed by Norman Tokar, who also directed "Big Red", and "The Happiest Millionaire" for Disney. Tokar had a strong background in television, having previously written and directed on episodes from famous shows including Leave it to Beaver and the Donna Reed Show. While the film appears to be set in a small town, most of the shooting took place indoors at the Disney Studios in Burbank. The fog effects The screenplay was adapted from the book by Ian Niall, by Lowell Hawley. He worked as a studio writer for Disney on episodes for the Zorro series, and later wrote screenplays for the "Swiss Family Robinson", and "In Search of the Castaways" movies. The music was by long-time Disney Studio staff composer Buddy Baker, who came to Disney to work on Davey Crockett in the 1950's and stayed on, eventually composing music for the theme parks up until 1999. The art direction was by Carroll Clark, and Marvin Aubrey Davis, who would win an Emmy Award for the studio two years before this movie for their work on the Disney Studio television movie, "The Mooncussers". Set designer Emile Kuri served worked for Disney for over two decades, and was nominated for the Academy Award ® 8 times, winning it twice including "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". Add to this Brian Keith Vera Miles, Edward Andrews and others and you can see that Walt kept hiring people that were good at their craft and dependable. The supporting cast for the movie was also full of familiar faces including Una Merkel, Kevin Corcoran, peter Brown, Ed Andrews, Frank McHugh, and others. Originally the movie was writen to be much more violent and make the tiger a malicous animal, but Walt overuled that and made the tiger a victim instead and toned down the violence, as it is after all a Disney movie. This movie had it's theatrical release on March 12, 1964, at 91 minutes in length. The movie was re-edited into two episodes of the "Walt Disney Wonderful World of Color" on NBC television, and aired in the 12th season as episode #22 on March 20 & 27 1966. It re-aired in August 1966; and on September 2 & 9, 1973; and once again on June 3 & 10, 1979. First released on VHS in 1986 at 88 minutes according to the clamshell. Released as an exclusive DVD in 2008 but the image has not been re-mastered for that version.

I saw this movie as a child, and it has given me a much greater understanding of the plight of endangered animals. It was very enjoyable. I absolutely love Brian Kieth (wish he was my Dad.) I hope they bring this back on video soon. This was a very obscure movie, but it has alot more substance than most Disney films. Great movie for the young ones. They will thoroughly enjoys this movie....especially the animal lovers.