Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree *** (1966, voices of Sterling Holloway, Junius Matthews, Hal Smith) – Classic Movie Review 8197

Director Wolfgang Reitherman’s 1966 30-minute Walt Disney Productions featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree is a neatly made, appealing, Americanised version of the A A Milne classic, in which Pooh Bear borrows Christopher Robin’s balloon to get to a bees’ nest, then overdoses on honey at Rabbit’s house.

The animation is attractively drawn and Sterling Holloway is ideal as the voice of Pooh, with Robert Sherman and Richard Sherman handling the songs attractively.

Other vocals are by Sebastian Cabot (Narrator), Howard Morris (Gopher), Junius Matthews (Rabbit), Hal Smith (Owl), Clint Howard (Roo), Barbara Luddy (Kanga), Bruce Reitherman (Christopher Robin) and Ralph Wright (Eeyore).

It is followed by four sequels: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons (1981), Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eyore (1983).

The first three were released with some extra material as the cinema  feature film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1977, so Walt Disney finally got his planned feature film, though he did not live to see it.

Holloway, Reitherman, Howard and Cabot also provided vocals for The Jungle Book (1967) as Kaa, Mowgli, the little elephant and Bagheera,

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8197

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