Line #1 Trivia/TheBlueBird


1	!!!1940 version
2	* CreatorKiller: The box-office failure of this film kicked Creator/ShirleyTemple off the A-List.
3	* FollowTheLeader: This was 20th Century Fox's answer to MGM's ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', although that film had also been a flop which should have told them something.
4	* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/ShirleyTemple playing a girl who starts out as outspoken and spiteful and gradually learns her lesson was something audiences were not comfortable with, although Temple had always wanted to play such roles and her mother had urged the producers/directors to allow it.
5	* One of the children in the Unborn Children sequence was played by Caryll Ann Ekelund. In October 1939, a few months after filming, Caryll was burned to death by a jack o'lantern. She was buried in her unborn child dress. Many people think Caryll played Little Sister, but she was played by Ann Todd. Caryll was one of the two kids who kept sneaking up to the doorway and getting told "It's not your time yet."
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7	!!!1976 version
8	* ActingForTwo: Four for Elizabeth Taylor (technically three, due to the CompositeCharacter issue).
9	* AllStarCast: Both on the American and Russian sides of the equation, but this does mean some BillingDisplacement.
10	* BillingDisplacement: Tyltyl and Mytyl (Todd Lookinland and Patsy Kensit) are billed ninth and tenth in the opening credits, and after the title to boot. Moreover, while Creator/ElizabethTaylor's top billing makes sense (given her [[ActingForTwo multiple roles]] and their relevance to the plot), and U.S. viewers of the time would certainly recognize her fellow American actresses in important supporting roles, the four Russian performers credited before the title all play ''much'' smaller roles. (Oleg Popov, as "The Clown" at the Palace of Luxury, is just TheCameo played up because he was the star of the Moscow Circus.) Given the nature of the production, this was probably mandated so that the Russian side of it would not be marginalized.
11	* BoxOfficeBomb: Grossed less than $1 million in the U.S. against a $12 million budget. Financial figures for the production became a '''state secret''' in Russia!
12	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: No legit U.S. video release as yet, and unscreened on television for 20+ years before Fall 2011, when Fox Movie Channel (now FX Movies) began occasionally airing it.
13	* TheOtherMarty: Shooting started with James Coco as Tylo, but he suffered a gallbladder attack and was replaced with George Cole.
14	* TroubledProduction: The movie was heavily hyped as being the first-ever cinematic co-production between the United States and the U.S.S.R. An AllStarCast of mostly American actors had the lead roles while respected director George Cukor helmed the project, shooting in Russia.
15	** The first problem was that the U.S. side originally promised the participation of Creator/MarlonBrando (in what role, it isn't known), but he backed out. This was resolved amicably when Creator/ElizabethTaylor was brought in to play ''four'' parts, though her attempt to get Music/DavidBowie in the cast (probably as Fire) didn't pan out once he read the script; for that matter, Creator/KatharineHepburn and Creator/ShirleyMacLaine also backed out of the film by the time it was set to go.
16	** The real trouble started in Russia. The Russian studio and crew were far behind the curve of the American talent (they had to replace the cinematographer because he'd ''never shot a film in color'') and the on-set translators weren't up to the task of making sure both sides could communicate clearly. Leading ladies Taylor, Creator/JaneFonda and Cicely Tyson all caused unique sets of problems: Taylor fell ill with amoebic dysentery, Fonda wouldn't stop chatting up the crew about politics, and Tyson warred with the director (among other things, she couldn't get proper lighting with a Caucasian woman serving as her stand-in). The American and Russian composers argued over the direction the score should take, James Coco (cast as Tylo the dog) dropped out in mid-shoot when he suffered a gallbladder attack, the filmmakers couldn't find real bluebirds to use or import for the title figure and resorted to dyeing ''pigeons'' (and their handlers were actually accused of '''eating''' some of them), etc. The resultant $12 million film was so bad that it tanked instantly; in the U.S. it still hasn't had a legit video release after 35+ years, and the financial figures related to it were rendered a '''state secret''' in Russia.
17	** George Cukor told the Soviet studio head how honored he was to be filming in the same studio where Sergei Eisenstein had filmed ''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'' in 1925. "Yes," said the studio head, "and with the very same equipment."
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19	!!!1980 anime
20	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Despite becoming fairly popular in Europe, the anime had lukewarm ratings in Japan and has never been released on home video there save for one CompilationMovie.

Context Trivia / TheBlueBird