Such a frustrating disappointment

A different way of telling a story

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

AMAZING ACCOMLIISHMENTS IN many fields are the legacy of our own "Renaissance Man" of the Colonial & Revolutionary Period, Mr. Benjamin Franklin. Some have said that he did enough in so many divergent fields in such excellence that he must have had help from others. This kids story adapted by Walt Disney & Co., suggests that he also had counsel of a rodentian nature. That would be one Amos Mouse (Sterling Holloway-voice).AS WITH ALL and everything that is Disney, the best is expected and delivered. This includes the animation, character design, the music, the Technicolor and the cast of voice actors. He cast consisting of names like: Sterling Holloway (Mouse), Hans Conreid (Thomas Jefferson), Charlie Ruggles (Ben) and Bill Thompson (Governor).AND WE WELL remember this two reel cartoon opening up with a modern day tour-guide lecturing a group of interested history Buffs before a statue of the Great Philadelphian, himself. While the guy continued spouting his well rehearsed spiel, the camera's eye panned up, bringing our view to the sculpture's three corner hat. There we're privy to a much smaller tour. Being conducted by a mouse tour guide for other interested mice, this scene mirrored the human's; but the emphasis was on the little one's accomplishments and how he was the power behind Ben's throne.DONE MAINLY IN flashback, this story unfolds with the two meeting and befriending each other. One by one, each invention, discovery or accomplishment or idea is revealed as being largely the work of the mouse.THAT WOULD INCLUDE inventing the potbelly stove, flying that kite in the lightning storm and the development of the bifocal lens. A particularly amusing gag unfolds in the scene where the now broken lenses are cut by Amos and joined together using his teeth.THE MOUSE WOULD ride around town in Franklin's hat and remind him of the names of the fine ladies and gentlemen that he met; as poor been apparently had a poor memory.WE DO SEEM to remember some reference to the Contoinental Congress and the Declaration of Independence, but all of that is very shady; this original screening having taken place nearly 60 years ago. This is a good reason for us to either buy a DVD or rent one (you know, for the grandkids)! NOW THEN SCHULTZ, why don't you do the same!

A Walt Disney Cartoon.Amos the Philadelphia church mouse greatly influences Ben Franklin and the founding of the American Republic.Robert Lawson's classic 1939 story BEN AND ME comes to life in this delightful short film. Celebrated children's author Bill Peet penned the script and left in the original's sense of whimsy and good fun, featuring a slightly bumbling Ben and a remarkably astute Amos - whose ideas become some of Franklin's most famous inventions. The voice cast is perfect, with Sterling Holloway as Amos, Charles Ruggles as Ben & Hans Conried as Tom Jefferson.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

I remember see this cute movie long time ago at the Underground Museum in Franklin Court in Philadelphia. It took a light heart look at Ben Franklin's life told by Amos the Mouse. The film is enjoyable to watch with the whole family. I wish they will release this on video and DVD.

This marvelous film, while occasionally being run in the wee hours on the Disney Channel, has been otherwise shoved to the back of the vault and for being woefully neglected, has suffered a much better fate than much of Disney's output in the 1940's and 1950's. Disney regularly put out one and two-reel shorts and documentaries back then and the majority probably haven't been seen in decades. Ben and Me is a case in point-not in print and rarely shown, while we get the umpteenth replay of Cosmic Capers-a good short, but with so much material available, why not air some less-seen stuff? This film, for example, a funny take on Ben Franklin and why he accomplished so much. One wonders what Edison must have consulted with. Most recommended.