Peter Pan

In my opinion, this film should not be missed by any child, adolescent, or adult who likes music and loved J.M. Barrie's masterpiece novel. Unlike the animated Disney film made seven years earlier (also a classic musical), this film follows the original story more closely, as adapted by Jerome Robbins for the stage. The music is beautiful, catchy, and fun. Peter Pan is portrayed by a woman because any male old enough to play the role would have gone through puberty -- thus no longer looking or sounding like a 10 year old. In this day of shows about cross dressing and sexuality bending, is it really such a stretch to believe that a woman in costume is a little boy?

Of course its special effects are lacking in quality: it was filmed in 1960, before the innovation of Lucasfilm, and is not just a movie, but a filming of an actual stageplay. This is the reason for the "poor" special effects. Sorry, videogame generation, there's no CGI, so you'll have to leave something to your imagination...if you still have some.

This is truly a magical movie. The singing, the colors, the flying. Mary Martin embodies Peter Pan so gracefully and whimsically that I cannot imagine this character as played by anyone else. I view this Peter Pan as the best and most classic depiction of the boy who never grew up.

Awesome! Clearly, the commenter above didn't know one thing from another. The characters were masterfully played. Peter Pan was delightfully mischievous and willful while Captain Hook was devious and intriguing. The children sometimes got a little on the annoying side, but they are little to be dealt with, though Wendy could be accused of being whiny. Tinker Bell was classically played. Though Tiger Lily couldn't be played by today's standards, her song is fun as well are the animals which chase around Neverland. This makes a great play for children with active imaginations to watch and which parents can sit through without hitting themselves over the head with an empty video box. Fun, light hearted music and a hint of a moral.

what the medium for this production was. It was one of the first Broadway stage productions that had been duplicated exactly for television. The idea was ahead of it's time, and also has preserved Mary Martin's and the rest of the cast's memorable performances which otherwise would have been lost forever. People today are too much into "special effects" instead of good down home theater. All of the performers perform admirably. My son cannot get enough of this video and I'm happy to say that I was able to obtain it when it was reissued a few years back. I wish we had more of this type of entertainment of the "classics". If anyone knows of any, let me know if at all possible.

This version of Peter Pan is etched forever in my memory. A great score, a great cast -- what more is there to say.

Yes, Miss Mary Virginia Martin was 40-something when she played the title part, all the while introducing the world to The Sound of Music on Broadway, and she played THAT splendidly as well.

As this great story marks its centennial in 2004, it would be a coup to offer the 1960 version on DVD.

Just think lovely thoughts.