Best Family Movies of 1940

Lonely toymaker Geppetto has his wishes answered when the Blue Fairy arrives to bring his wooden puppet Pinocchio to life. Before becoming a real boy, however, Pinocchio must prove he's worthy as he sets off on an adventure with his whistling sidekick and conscience, Jiminy Cricket.

When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.

Daffy Duck convinces Porky Pig to quit the cartoon biz and try his luck in the features. Porky's adventures begin when he tries to enter the studio.

Jasper is given an ultimatum by his master: break one more thing and you're out. Rodent Jerry does his best to make sure that his tormentor "gets the boot".

Mickey is heading out on vacation from Burbank to Pomona, taking the train. The conductor, Pete, won't let him on with Pluto, so he hides Pluto in his suitcase, and tries to hide him all throughout the trip without much luck. But Pete wins when Pluto is hooked by a mail hook. Or does he?

Mickey is performing routine maintenance on his tugboat (with interference from a pelican) when a call comes on the radio that there's a sinking ship needing assistance. Sadly, Mickey's crew consists of Donald and Goofy, so getting underway to help is not easy. Goofy has to fight a boiler's door to get it stoked with coal (and when he succeeds, he overfills it) and Donald gets tangled up in the machinery. Not to mention that nobody casts off, so they drag half the dock along with them. The overworked boiler soon explodes.

Elmer takes up wildlife photography but finds his subject, a rabbit, much too rascally.

The second entry in the four "Five Little Peppers" films finds the family struggling to keep their copper mine when their elderly business partner becomes ill.

An ungrateful girl and her little brother are transported in their dreams by a fairy to a wonderland, tasked with finding the mythical blue bird of happiness, meeting friends and foes along the way.

Two little boys have faith in a dog they name Promise, so much faith that they enter him in the championship trials for bird dogs. The favorite is Georgia Boy bred and trained by the boys' fathers. And if Georgia Boy doesn't win, the fathers may both lose their jobs.

Christmas Eve, and Sniffles is determined to stay awake to see Santa. Not an easy task.

Construction worker Buzz Blackwell becomes the guardian of 12-year-old Pat Johnson after one of his buddies, her father, is killed. Buzz and Pat, along with their chum Axel Swensen, head to New York to look for the girl's uncle. The trio soon unexpectedly become owners of a tired restaurant.

Yet another sport is made 'easy' for us by Goofy's demonstration how- never, ever, to try anything for real, least of all with a glider-flying machine he launches in ways that would kill anything but a cartoon character, such as a giant catapult and even a canon. Meanwhile Goofy proves totally incapable to control any of its movements in the air, let alone the 'landing' which is too messy even for a bombshell.

Wholesome comedy about newlyweds (and the bride's understanding--but sometimes interfering--parents) discovering married life isn't always bliss.

Barney's going fishing, but just as he's getting ready to hook a whole school of trout, a rather persistent duck keeps getting in the way.

To the sound of the title song being sung by a campfire, a cow and her calf are bedding down for the night. The calf is frightened by a shadow, until it's revealed to be a jackrabbit. He follows the rabbit deep into the woods, but neither of them notices the wolf following until it's too late for the calf. The calf is trapped in a niche under some rocks, which the wolf quickly digs out. The wolf is closing in on the calf when the rabbit tries to distract him, to no avail.

The last of the four "Five Little Peppers" films finds the children having a hard time adjusting to their new boarding school.

Donald is washing windows on a high-rise; Pluto is his assistant, hauling the rope for the platform and refilling buckets but mostly sleeping. And when things are finally going well, Donald makes the mistake of tormenting a bee.

The three little kittens have lost their mittens and are sent to bed without dinner. From their room, they see the Milky Way and sail up to it, using a basket and helium balloons, passing through some fanciful astronomical bodies, until they reach a Milky Way filled with every conceivable form of milk.

Alfalfa and the gang decide to turn to a life of crime, but Spanky tries to trick them with a fake burglary.

Judge Hardy takes his family to New York City, where Andy quickly falls in love with a socialite. He finds the high society life too expensive, and eventually decides that he liked it better back home.

The Three Bears meets Little Red Riding Hood, told in the style of Tex Avery.

Sniffles the mouse and his friend the Bookworm decide to take up egg collecting, setting their eyes upon a big barn owl egg. But the big barn owl isn't so hot on the idea.

Mickey Mouse is about to build Pluto a doghouse when Pluto digs up a magic lamp that speaks in black dialect. It offers to do Mickey's bidding. Mickey's first wish is for a doghouse, and the lamp starts to work. Suddenly, the saw, the planer, the paintbrush and other tools magically begin working on their own. Finally, Pluto has a magnificent doghouse. The second wish? Mickey asks the lamp to give Pluto a bath. But things go awry when Pluto accidentally breaks Mickey's radio. Now, all sorts of conflicting messages are coming out of the speaker as Mickey tries to fix it. The lamp assumes all the voices are Mickey's and obeys them. Pluto is rolled with a rolling pin, punched with boxing gloves, frozen in an aspic and is about to be cut into thin slices before all ends happily.

Nellie Kelly, the daughter of Irish immigrants, patches up differences between her father and maternal grandfather while rising to the top on Broadway.

A flea settles into a new dog.

In this version of "The Courtship of Miles Standish", Elmer Fudd is messanger John Alden, sent to give Miles' love letter to Pricilla. While delivering the message, however, her house is attacked by Indians, and John is the only one who can save her.

When her doctor advises her to move West because of her health, Mrs. Pepper takes her five kids and relocates to Oregon to live with her sister. But adjusting to a new home and community isn't easy for the brood. Third entry in the "Five Little Peppers" series of four films.

A mouse, imitating W.C. Fields, leads a nighttime tour of a closed drugstore for other mice, that include a very inquisitive little boy.

Sniffles the mouse is in the country for a restful vacation of fresh air, enjoyment of nature, and peace and quiet.

A young horse says hi to little donkey Spunky. But the horse's mother pulls him away, saying we don't associate with that kind. Spunky makes a few more overtures, and eventually they set off on a chase, running across a bull from time to time. The horse stops to eat a lot of apples and drink far too much water; this leaves him too bloated to move much at all. The two continue to anger the bull, which gives chase; Spunky saves the colt, and they all live in harmony.

Native American children play in the canyons of Arizona.

In this animated short featuring the Bear Family, Papa Bear attempts to fix a leaky roof.

Tom Turkey and his friends play their harmonicas so enthusiastically that they nearly destroy the general store.

To impress Darla, Alfalfa drinks a concoction of Butch's "dynamite" brew.

Our Gang member Alfalfa comes face to face with his wealthy lookalike Cornelius.

A 1940 Columbia Picture feature film, "I Married Adventure" stars Osa Johnson and closely follows her 1940 best-selling book of the same name. Osa portrays herself in studio-produced scenes which bridge the transition between actual documentary footage segments as the film recounts the Johnson's nine world expeditions to Africa, Borneo, and the South Seas. Jim Bannon, a Hollywod stuntman who lent his voice to many western's including Red Ryder, Don Clark, and Albert Duffy narrate this adventure classic that compiles the very best images from the Johnsons' original feature films.

The gang offers to help their pal Waldo attract customers to his lemonade stand. Redecorating their clubhouse as a lavish nightclub, the kids stage an elaborate floor show, with Darla Hood as the star vocalist.

Papa Bear attempts to give the family's pet canary a bath. An MGM Bear Family cartoon.

This uplifting story begins on Christmas Eve in New York City as three elderly businessmen prepare to enjoy a festive dinner together. In a show of holiday spirit, they receive visits from two kind-hearted strangers; first a young man, then a young woman. Each has come to return a wallet they believe one of the gentlemen has lost. From this humble beginning, friendships are built, and romance ensues. The elderly gentlemen meet with a tragic mishap in a blizzard, returning to earth as benevolent ghosts who act as the young couple's guardian angels. Before proceeding to Heaven, the spirits work behind the scenes to ensure that the couple's love will endure forever. Filled with heart and soul, this charming 1940 holiday classic is perfect for the Christmas season and beyond.

When private tutor Thomas Arnold (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) becomes headmaster at Rugby, a boy's preparatory school in England, he puts into place a policy of strict punishment for unruliness and bulying. Arnold finds an ally in Tom Brown (Jimmy Lydon), a new student who is subjected to hazing and abuse by a group of older boys and is pressured by his friends to keep quiet about it. Fed up, he leads his fellow classmates in an underground rebellion against their tormentors. But certain unspoken rules still apply at the school and Brown loses his hero status when he is accussed of breaking the Rugby code of silence.

Live-action shots of the orchestra illuminated in blue and gold, backed by superimposed shadows, fade into abstract patterns. Animated lines, shapes and cloud formations reflect the sound and rhythms of the music.

Selections from the ballet suite underscore scenes depicting the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter. A variety of dances are presented with fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves, including "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", "Chinese Dance", "Arabian Dance", "Russian Dance", "Dance of the Flutes" and "Waltz of the Flowers".

A visual history of the Earth's beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the planet's formation to the first living creatures, followed by the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs.

A mythical Greco-Roman world of colorful centaurs and "centaurettes", cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology is portrayed to Beethoven's music. A gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine, is interrupted by Zeus, who creates a storm and directs Vulcan to forge lightning bolts for him to throw at the attendees.

A comic ballet in four sections: Madame Upanova and her ostriches (Morning); Hyacinth Hippo and her servants (Afternoon); Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe (Evening); and Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators (Night). The finale finds all of the characters dancing together until their palace collapses.