I don't quite know how to break this to everyone, but -- at least in his own mind -- Dr. Seuss did *NOT* write children's books, and loathed being called a children's author. He didn't even like children. I worked in libraries in San Diego County, where he lived in his later years, and knew several librarians who had encountered him socially and reported as much.
That being said, however, Geisel was also a champion for nonconformism and had a major "question authority" attitude -- listen to "Just Because We're Kids" --qualities in the screenplay which probably attracted Kramer to the project in the first place.
If you've ever read any of the Brothers Grimm stories, you'll see they are rather violent and gruesome -- not at all what we're used to seeing when they're retold in modern storybooks. That's because the notion of separate literature for children didn't materialize until the Victorian era, an era when the writings of many authors were Bowdlerized, biographies were used to teach moral lessons and not truth (chopping cherry trees, anyone?), and it wasn't unusual for the executors of literary estates to outright destroy the writings and manuscripts of some of our most noted authors because they didn't fall within the rigid permissions of Victorian society. Just the kind of thinking Ted Geisel abhorred.
I think the main problem with the film -- and why it was a flop when released -- was that it was marketed to the wrong audiences: PR should have targeted the pre-adolescents reading EC Comics -- no Comic Book Seal of Approval until the Senate investigations in 1954 -- not the younger kids who were dropped off at the kiddie matinees.
"What kind of fiend possessed her and everything she loved? What mysterious power drew her to him? She was unable to stop -- though every part of her screamed 'No!' His hands were everywhere -- and there was no escape! Perversions of nature . . . and love . . . oozed from his dungeons. Two men fought-- one for her virtue, the other for conquest -- in the deadly shadow of the atomic cloud."
Since I saw it in the late 1950's I've loved this film.
You know what gave me nightmares?
The death of Bambi's mother.
Shooting Old Yeller.
The Wicked Stepmother and her poison apples.
You know who you are, Disney.
"I thought I told you to come alone."
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freerun250
15 years ago
I think the main problem with the film -- and why it was a flop when released -- was that it was marketed to the wrong audiences: PR should have targeted the pre-adolescents reading EC Comics -- no Comic Book Seal of Approval until the Senate investigations in 1954 -- not the younger kids who were dropped off at the kiddie matinees.
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I think what we have to remember is that in the 50s and 60s studios didn't ask what age people would enjoy this film at, studios were marketing what thought PARENTS would think their kids would enjoy , and what parents thought their kids would enjoy (and what parents WANTED their kids to enjoy) was not always the same thing as what their kids actually liked. Witness Disney: I once read in a book about cartoons (wish I remembered the title) that there is a Warner Bros camp and a Disney camp. You either love one of the other. I was firmly in the WB camp, I disliked everything Disney except the live feature movies. Still do to this day. The cartoons I thought were childish and I couldn't understand what half the characters were saying--and this is as a child myself! To this day everytime I see a full length Disney cartoon on TV I know at some point there's going to be some "Disney bluebirds" flying around, LOL! This same book, which was obviously leaning towards the WB camp, said that if kids had their way, they're rather watch the more slapstick, violent, and innuendo laden Warners cartoons rather than the Disney cartoon, but DISNEY WAS WHAT PARENTS WANTED THEIR KIDS TO LIKE. I realize this is a little off topic, but as far as marketing goes my point is they didn't give a hoot what kids would have liked or what age kids to market this too. In parents' minds "Dr. Suess" equalled "kids stuff" and they looked no further than that. It probably would have been more of a hit if they'd just marketed it to the parents themselves but I think adults of that time period were too grown up to admit they liked anything so reactionary.
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