Release Date November 11, 1953

Running time 24:55

Synopsis

A revisionist version of American history as a small mouse comes to live with Benjamin Franklin and turns out to be responsible for many of his ideas; including the beginning of the Declaration of Independance!

Characters

Amos Mouse

Governour Keefe

Doctor Farmer

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Jefferson

Credits

Director : Hamilton Luske

Original Story : Robert Lawson

Story

Bill Peet

Del Connell

Story Adaptation

Ernest Colon

Winston Hibler

Del Connell

Ted Sears

Narraration : Sterling Holloway

Layout

Al Zinnen

Hugh Hennesy

Thor Putnam

Background

Al Dempster

Thelma Witmer

Dick Anthony

Animation

Wolfgang Reithermann

John Lounsberry

Cliff Nordberg

Marvin Woodward

Hugh Fraser

Eric Cleworth

Ollie Johnson

Hal King

Les Clark

Don Lusk

Harvey Toombs

Jerry Hatchcock

Effects Animation : George Rowley

Art Directors

Ken Anderson

Claude Coats

Music : Oliver Wallace

Awards

Nominated for an Academy Award (Short Subjects - Two Reels)

Videos

Walt Disney Mini-Classics : Ben and Me

United States Release

Italian Release

Germany

Mickey, Donald und Goofy im Märchenland

Italy

C'era Una Volta un Topo

Laserdiscs

United States

Ben and Me / Bongo

Japan

Once Upon a Mouse

DVD

United States

Disney Treasures : Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s

Timeless Tales : Volume 3

Region 2 : United Kingdom

Walt Disney's Fables : Volume 3

Television

Donald's Quack Attack : Episode 1

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Technicolor

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ration : 1.37 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Comments

From Ryan : I remember seeing this cartoon as a kid. Years later, I saw it again on Mouseterpiece Theater. I like this short pretty well. This is a good cartoons for a history teacher to show his/her class. Amos the mouse looked a lot like one of the mice from the movie "Cinderella" and a cat in one scene looked like Lucifer from the same movie.

From Olivia E. : An absolutely heart warming movie. I watched it for the first time in years after having chosen to read the Autobiography of Ben Franklin for my semester project in my English class, and all the people that Ben meets on the street in the movie were actually real people from his life.

From Jeremy Fassler : I haven't seen this short in a while, but from what I remember, I liked it a lot. I used to be a big 1776 era buff when I was about six or seven, and I used to love this short. I like the animation a lot, and I love the concept of how the mouse writes the declartaion of independence in the end. I would reccomend this cartoon to anyone who is a fan of history, or would like to see a good Disney cartoon.

From Christopher Cruz : I'm 22 years old and came across this cartoon short when I was 7. I saw it again at age 12 after reading the novel (which I must add, is as entertaining as the cartoon). I've always loved history, especially US history. My favorite is the Colonial Era. I haven't seen "Ben and Me" in a while and would like to find it on video (call me childish.) I think it's entertaining, funny, and as other reviewers have pointed out, a great thing to add to any classroom curriculum.

From Kenneth Colby : I own a copy of the vedio "Ben and Me" and use this in school classes with little boys and girs through the Sons of the American Revolution group that I belong too. They seem to relate and remember this more so than trying to talk to them about it.

From Julie Arsenault : I have always loved films (animated and live action) and also theatrical shorts that are based on books, and this was one of my favorite literary short from my childhood, because I've watched it a bunch of times as a kid, and I've even readed the book too.

This short has an excellent cast featuring Sterling Holloway (Amos Mouse/Narrator), Charles Ruggles (Ben Franklin), and Hans Conried (Thomas Jefferson),and I also love why they combined paintings and the animated characters in the backgrounds. Excellent work! I recommanded this short those who literary shorts and films like me.

From Baruch Weiss : This cartoon focuses on a mouse named Amos and the famous Benjamin Franklin. Amos helps Benjamin with some new inventions and he helps him with the beginning of the Declaration of Independance. This is a fabulous cartoon with nice music and background art and animation. What is more, it is part of our history told with a Disney twist (when it comes to Disney it is always mice). Finally, I enjoyed the scenes where Benjamin plays tricks on Amos.

From Billy Joe : "Ben and Me" is a very fun tale. It focuses on Benjamin Franklin's history, adding a fun little character, Amos Mouse (voiced by Sterling Holloway). Amos Moused helped Ben do such things as print newspapers, and even helped him discover electricity. I really enjoyed it when Amos invented the final words for Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence". It all started with a mouse. This short is recommended, and is worth watching (and rewatching too!).

This short is the first featurette produced by Disney. It was also played before the first Disney feature to be distributed by Beuna Vista, "The Living Desert".

From Josh Perez : When I first purchased Disney Rarities from the Walt Disney Treasures Line the last thing I expected was to find myself with a short lasting almost 30 minutes. At first I wasn't even sure if I would buy the set, but then I noticed that it contained animated shorts so I quickly bought on the first day of release. The set contained many shorts I hadn't seen since I was a kid, but this was one short I had never seen before. As I watched it for the first time I fell in love with it and actually hoped for it to be longer than what it really was. I would have easily watched it if it was made as a feature-length film. I thought it was great. I only wish that animators now-a-days will put as much thought to their cartoons as they did back then.

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