It’s Film Strip
Friday!
Johnny Tremain
Release Date June 19th, 1957
Summary:
Meet young Johnny Tremain,
a silversmith's apprentice with dreams of learning the trade and making his own
way. When a terrible injury ends his hopes, he joins the emerging Sons Of
Liberty. The Redcoats are coming as you journey back to the Boston Tea Party,
the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and Lexington Green, where tyranny was
vanquished by an idea -- freedom for all! Based on the classic novel by Esther
Forbes.
FUN FACTS:
Johnny Tremain is a 1957 film made
by Walt Disney Productions, based on the 1944 Newbery Medal-winning children's novel
of the same name by Esther Forbes, retelling the story of the years in Boston,
Massachusetts prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution. The movie was
directed by Robert Stevenson. It was made for television, then ultimately
released to theatres, and finally wound up on television a year after that, on
the Walt Disney anthology television series. It was shown on television in two
episodes rather than as a complete film on a single evening. The song
"Liberty Tree", with music by George Bruns and Lyrics by Tom
Blackburn, became familiar, when the song was placed on the Disney Record album
entitled "Happy Birthday and Other Holiday songs".
Plot
Johnny Tremain is an arrogant and exceptionally skilled apprentice
silversmith to Mr. Lapham, who dreams of one day owning his own shop and
becoming wealthy and respected. All of this is abruptly taken from him when his
hand is damaged in a silver accident. He ends up joining the Sons of Liberty in
the movement for American independence. Along the way Johnny befriends several
historical giants including Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and Joseph Warren. The
story reaches its climax with the start of the American Revolutionary War and
the actions taken by so many notable figures of the time to lead a young
America into her first battles.
Cast
- Hal
Stalmaster as Johnny Tremain
- Luana
Patten as Priscilla Lapham
- Jeff York
as James Otis
- Sebastian
Cabot as Jonathan Lyte
- Richard
Beymer as Rab Silsbee
- Walter
Sande as Paul Revere
- Whit
Bissell as Josiah Quincy
- Rusty
Lane as Samuel Adams
- Walter
Coy as Dr. Joseph Warren
- Will
Wright as Mr. Lapham
- Virginia
Christine as Mrs. Lapham
- Ralph
Clanton as General Gage
- Geoffrey
Toone as Major Pitcairn
Walt Disney's daughter Sharon Mae Disney also had a small
uncredited role as Dorcas, a young friend of Johnny and Priscilla (who in the
novel was one of Priscilla's sisters).
Educational films
Portions of Johnny Tremain were used in 1968 for
educational purposes. Two distant sequence of the films were issued under the
titles of The Boston Tea Party and The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.
Legacy
After the movie was released, Walt Disney intended to
build Liberty Street in Disneyland as an annex to Main Street USA. However, the
project was never realized. Years later after Walt's death, the concept was
revived and turned into the much more expansive Liberty Square in Walt Disney
World, which opened on October 1, 1971.
Furthermore, an elm tree found on the Disney property
(originally 6 miles from where the Magic Kingdom is located) was moved &
transplanted by Disney engineers and now serves as the square's Liberty Tree.
Adorning the tree are 13 lanterns, representing the original 13 American colonies.
Louis Marx and Company released an American War of
Independence playset featuring character figures of the actors in the show as a
film tie-in.
