Once Upon A Time, in the midst of world war, a slightly shady showman by the name of Jerry Flynn (a mesmerizing Cary Grant, His Girl Friday), though very successful for a decade, was now having money problems because New York City hadn’t fallen in love with his last three Broadway productions. The bank was threatening to take his sumptuous theater with marble columns even in his spacious office where an oil of his handsome face reigned and this time the nervous, portly banker refused to be coddled into an extension of the deadline. Flynn was stunned, depressed, speechless for once. When he left his theater a broken man, he flipped a nickel over his shoulder for luck and a couple of kids find it, then ask him if it’s his.

It’s 1943 when a nickel meant a lot to a kid and people were not afraid to talk to strangers. Flynn smiled at them and said they could have it, but soon they persuade him to look inside their shoebox at what they claimed was a dancing caterpillar. As Pinky, the light-haired boy, hoofed “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” on his harmonica, Flynn gaped at sight of Curly the dancing caterpillar!

He looked twice, three times. Curly was still when Pinky (a doe-eyed Ted Donaldson, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn) stopped playing, then rose up on its many feet and rocked to the music when the boy began again. Visions of the money he could make from this stupendous worm instead danced through Flynn’s head, hoping to save his theater, and immediately he teamed up with Pinky. The boy’s vision did not include selling Curly, but only to show off his little wonder, which Flynn seemed to want too.

The showman had his friend, The Moke, a fun and expressive James Gleason (Arsenic And Old Lace), bully a crew of reporters to Flynn’s office for the announcement of his miraculous discovery, but they walk out in disgust, mockery and sometimes sympathy for Flynn’s desperate need for attention, without looking at the caterpillar. “There’s a war going on, haven’t you heard?” was shot at him. Flynn was devastated, but not for long. A very popular broadcaster (gentle-souled Art Baker, Spellbound) overheard the quibbling reporters as they stormed through the theater lobby and he called Flynn up.

After viewing Curly in the shoebox (did you really think we’d see him?), his ensuing broadcast in the form of a charming fairytale gripped the city as nothing ever had. Jaws dropped, coffee was sputtered, Pinky’s beautiful, older sister and guardian, Jeannie (a concerned, engaging Janet Blair, Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood) hurried over to whisk Pinky away and the reporters turned ashen-faced. A Disney representative expressed interest in buying Curly, but would Disney agree to $100,000? Would Jeannie fall for Flynn and let the rebellious Pinky stay partners with him?

Do you really need to wonder? Of course the hostile leader of the reporters, Brandt (a snappy William Demarest, Uncle Charlie in My Three Sons and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington) acquired the services of the most respected lepidopterists to study Curly. Flynn was overjoyed with the national publicity he was receiving!

Now do you suppose Curly has unusual features? That Pinky had his harp with him and showed the scientists what the worm could do? That those stuffy old men sported child-like awe as they swayed along with Curly?

And was that a cameo by Walt Disney himself? Wonders will never cease in this certifiably goofy movie. It may sound like only a child would stand for such fare, and indeed Once Upon A Time was ignored by the public and critics upon release, but I absolutely adored it. Flynn doesn’t remain the cad he was in the beginning. Oh no, this couldn’t be a fairytale if he wasn’t the most charming, befuddled character that he was. He was a man in crisis, not because of the war, but because he didn’t know who he was anymore. The public laughed at him, called him ‘washed up.’ He needed a miracle and found one, but it changed him into a better man who could see the beauty of life through a boy’s unjaded gaze.

Sappy? Perhaps if you only prefer to live in a world of intellect that denies the possibility of things that can’t be explained or rationalized. You must honor the realm of imagination, of myth, of soaring, lyrical paroxysms of spirit. Grant, without a doubt the most magnetic and accomplished male actor in cinematic history, doesn’t simply walk, but glides as if by magic. No slang, no sex, no off-colored jokes need mar this tale, or caterpillar tail. Common sense is repeatedly challenged and found wanting, my friends, as it would be in my ideal world. It will make a believer out of you if given the chance.

I won’t give away the ending, but simply observe that Flynn and Pinky must worm their way out of disillusion with their dreams when tragedies coincide and they must be encouraged to see life differently. Not without dreams, but with more reverence for the fragile beauty of them.

Finally released on home video and a crisp-looking, clean-sounding DVD, this ninety-minute black-and-white revitalizes the charm of the old-fashioned family drama and romance. Every character gives his heart sooner or later to the worm; even the fighter pilots going to war in a plane dubbed Curly (with a cute picture of a dancing caterpillar) are heard remarking that animals are worth fighting for, or to that effect. This is in reference to Flynn refusing to surrender Curly to science.

The world needs more heart and now more than ever. It needs a future like Once Upon A Time. Thanks, Alexander Hall for directing, Norman Corwin for the story and Irving Fineman for adaptation. I needed the laughter and the tears with Cary Grant.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4