Dan Navarro's Movie Reviews

"Forever young!"

That's the dream... and it's the theme of James M. Barrie's candy-coated confection "Peter Pan," which has delighted audiences for over 100 years. Peter debuted in print in 1902, and has been adapted for stage and screen several times. The best version is Herbert Brenon's Peter Pan, filmed for Famous Players-Lasky and released by Paramount in 1924.

It's the magical story of Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up and accept the responsibilities of adulthood. He's magical, of course. He can fly like a bird; his best friend is Tinker Bell, a tiny pixie who is secretly in love with him; and he has enough smarts to outwit a pirate scoundrel, the infamous Captain Hook. But Peter also has a spiritual side, as we learn in the unfolding of his story.

Peter's first stage appearance saw him played by a petite female—actress Maude Adams in 1904—partly because she was easy to harness and lift by invisible wires during the flying sequences. Probably nobody knew then that they were initiating a long tradition, but through the years Peter Pan has almost always been played by a woman. (On stage, the role has been played by Jean Arthur, Mary Martin, and Sandy Duncan, among others.) The girl who would star in Brenon's Peter Pan was the 18-year-old charmer Betty Bronson, a ballet-trained youngster picked for the role by Barrie himself.

An opening title tells us that, to appreciate the story of Peter Pan, you must have "a child's outlook on life." In the home of the Darlings, a family of five including Wendy and her younger brothers John and Michael, one night a mysterious boy shows up at their window. Mrs. Darling (Esther Ralston) spots him and shuts the window. The boy—Peter Pan—flies away, but not quickly enough to avoid having his shadow caught in the window sill and left behind.

A few nights later, Peter shows up again, trying to retrieve his shadow. He enters the children's room while all are asleep and rummages through the bureau drawers, aided by a tiny ball of light that darts around in the air. That ball of light is Tinker Bell, and though she is a fairy, she has some human peculiarities, as we will soon learn.

Wendy (Mary Brian), the oldest of the three Darling children, is awakened by the noise and confronts Peter. They quickly strike up a friendship. When they decide to share a kiss, the flying minx Tinker Bell yanks on Wendy's hair—hard. It seems Tinker Bell is jealous of any girl who shows Peter that sort of affection.

Soon the boys are awakened, and Peter begins to charm all three Darling children with tales of eternal youth in his home, Never Never Land. He even teaches them to fly. It seems that all it takes is for Peter to blow some fairy dust on you, and for you to "think lovely, wonderful thoughts... and they lift you up in the air. Come now—beautiful thoughts." After a few false starts, the children are actually flying around the room. Then they all head out the window, headed for Never Never Land.

Peter's homeland is filled with colorful characters: mermaids; a group of youngsters he calls the Lost Boys ("children who fall out of their perambulators when their nurses aren't looking"); cutthroat pirates led by the villainous Captain Hook; and a tribe of American Indians who protect Peter and the Lost Boys.

It seems that Tinker Bell is not the only female vying for Peter's affections. The tribe's young squaw Tiger Lily (Anna May Wong, underused but wonderful) approaches Peter, rubs noses with him, and asks forthrightly: "What Peter Pan give Tiger Lily for guarding him?" Peter, so innocent he doesn't know a come-on from a comma, just stares... and Tiger Lily turns and leaves, frustrated.

Now established in Never Never Land, Wendy pops the question too: "Peter, what are your exact feelings for me?" Peter replies, happily, "Those of a devoted son, Wendy." But that isn't what she wanted to hear.

He replies: "You're so puzzling. Tiger Lily's just the same. There's something she wants to be to me, but she says it's not my mother." Now here you have a real "lost boy." But hey, he's Peter Pan!

After several adventures, fantasy merges with reality when Peter leads Wendy, her brothers, and all six of the Lost Boys back to the Darling home. The parents have been grieving, and mourning the loss of their children. There's a touching scene when Mrs. Darling, crying silently in her children's empty bedroom, turns and sees that they are all sleeping soundly in their beds, just as they should be. We expect her to be pleasantly surprised, but Brenon has other plans. He has Esther Ralston look away from the beds, musing, thinking she had just seen a dream. In an extraordinarily well-played scene, she continues to sob until the three children, awakened, come to her and embrace her. That's when she finally realizes they are truly back, and all one family again.

Plus six. She and Mr. Darling (Cyril Chadwick) agree to adopt the Lost Children and raise them as their own... and Peter too, if he wishes. But he politely declines. "I just want to be a little boy and always have fun!" And he flies away.

Unlike most treasures of the Silent Era, Peter Pan happily exists in a near-pristine 35mm print. In 1999 the film was lovingly restored by film historian David Pierce for Kino International and made available to the public in videotape and DVD editions, with a new orchestral score.