Jiminy Cricket goes to listen to a tale of a bear named Bongo narrated by Dinah Shore after explaining importance of being “Fun and Fancy Free” and not letting ones’ issues intervene, and then later goes to a party where Edgar Bergen and his dummies, Charlie and Mortimer partake in narrating a telling of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Bongo: Bongo runs away from the circus far away for his own freedom, but his love for another bear gets him in big bear trouble.

Mickey and the Beanstalk: Willie the Giant steals a girl with a golden harp that can give life to the land. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, end up in possession of magical beans that lead the three to Willie’s castle.

For a while, both stories were split and put out separately by Walt Disney Home Video under the Walt Disney Mini Classics lineup in the 80s and 90s; excluding an early release of the full movie earlier in the 1980s. Mickey and the Beanstalk was rereleased again on video a few years later under the “Favorite Stories” series.

Animation from Dumbo and Bambi is reused in a couple of scenes. The tree falling and Bongo getting out of the way for example is from Bambi.

Dinah Shore and Edgar Bergen were replaced with Jiminy Cricket (Bongo) and Professor Ludwig Von Drake (Mickey and the Beanstalk) when both halves were split.

After this movie, Walt Disney employed James MacDonald to voice Mickey Mouse; quite likely because all that tobacco was starting to cause him trouble. His death in 1966 should be quite clear that tobacco can send a person to an early grave – so don’t smoke!!

The giant, Willie, would become the Ghost of Christmas Present in Mickey’s Christmas Carol roughly 35 years later.

Edgar Bergen later appeared in The Muppet Movie, which was dedicated to him.

I think the golden harp owner is an early version of Tinkerbell.

The scenes of the food in the castle make me hungry, much like the steak vision scenes from Madagascar.

1. Donald Duck’s rage from agonizing hunger is quite possibly one of Donald’s greatest moments.
2. Edgar Bergen’s puppets are a laugh riot, especially Charlie.
3. Theme song is amazing.
4. Thought the animation in 60s and 70s Disney movies was good? 40s and 50s Disney animation is even better.
5. Hilarious ending where Willie lifts the roof and strolls through the town and puts a giant hat on from a sign. Someone stop this man!

Cons

1. I’m kind of on the fence on the bears “slapping” other bears for love; that’s kind of fucked up and I’d like to believe that they don’t do that, since it’s basically assault. However given how Baloo would slash his back on walls and trees in the Jungle Book (I thought he suffered from poison ivy or mosquito bites) and that bears do that all the time in real life (Videos of bears doing this are all over video sites) that might also hold true for the slapping thing.
2. The pacing is somewhat slow in Mickey and the Beanstalk.