1973-10-14
N/A
8 min
A family of seven lives on a New England island with nobody else. One winter, they got stranded because the bay froze over. This didn't much matter to them, but someone on the mainland remembered them and launched an aerial rescue mission; an unfounded story that one boy had appendicitis results in a larger rescue mission, with the situation rapidly escalating into a major catastrophe all because of the rescue mission.
It's EB White's commentary that raises a smile as we follow the tragedy of the poor "Pruitt" family. They live, quite contentedly, on a remote island - all seven of them - surviving on a diet of tins and corn biscuits whilst hibernating the winter through snuggly safe in their home. One year, though, the cold is especially bad and someone on the mainland realises how isolated they are. Alarmed, somebody somehow also gets the notion that one of the family has appendicitis and so just about every resource is mobilised to "rescue" him. A calamitous series of not so helpful activities now ensues that leaves a trail of death and destruction in it's wake. The animation is simple, but still quite entertaining using aeroplanes and terrible weather, a family who might have been cousins of "Popeye" and a jolly score to augment a story that extols the virtues of just leaving well alone.
