The Three Worlds of Gulliver
Encyclopedia
The Three Worlds of Gulliver is a 1960
Columbia Pictures
fantasy film
loosely based upon the 18th-century English novel Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
. The film stars Kerwin Mathews
as the titular character, June Thorburn
as his fiancée Elizabeth, and child actor Sherry Alberoni
as Glumdalclitch. Filmed in England and Spain, Gulliver was directed by Jack Sher and featured stop-motion animation and special visual effects by Ray Harryhausen
. Cast includes Martin Benson
as Flimnap, Lee Patterson
as Reldresal, Jo Morrow
as Gwendolyn, Marian Spencer
as the Empress of Lilliput, Peter Bull
as Lord Bermogg, and Alec Mango
as the Minister of Lilliput.
The film has been broadcast on American television and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.
in 1699. Dr Lemuel Gulliver (Kerwin Mathews
) is an impoverished surgeon
who seeks riches and adventure as a ship's doctor on a voyage around the world. His fiancée Elizabeth (June Thorburn
) strongly wishes him to stay ashore and settle down in a ramshackle cottage. The two quarrel with Gulliver further saddened when a soldier patient is off to another war with Spain, having only just returned from one with France.
As Gulliver embarks on a vessel, he is soon surprised to discover Elizabeth has stowed away to be near him. A storm arises; Gulliver is swept overboard and washed to the shores of Lilliput
, a land of tiny human beings. The Lilliputians are apprehensive regarding Gulliver but he eases their fears by performing acts of kindness. An old quarrel between Lilliput and neighboring Blefuscu is revived and Gulliver lends a hand in the proceedings by towing Blefuscu's war ships far out to sea. The Emperor of Lilliput (Basil Sydney
) then views Gulliver as a potential threat to his power and arranges his execution. Gulliver escapes in a boat he has built.
He finds his way to the isle of Brobdingnag
, a land of giants. A kind peasant girl named Glumdalclitch
(Sherry Alberoni
) finds him on the shore and carries him to the castle of King Brob (Grégoire Aslan
). There, Gulliver is delighted to find Elizabeth, who was washed ashore after a shipwreck. The King installs the two in a dollhouse. When Gulliver cures the Queen (Mary Ellis
) of a stomach-ache, Prime Minister Makovan (Charles Lloyd Pack
) accuses Gulliver of witchcraft. The King orders Gulliver's execution and pits his pet baby dwarf alligator against him whom Gulliver slays. Glumdalclitch saves Gulliver and Elizabeth from the pursuing Brobdingnagians by placing them in her sewing basket and tossing the basket into a brook that flows to the sea.
Gulliver and Elizabeth wake on a beach with the basket of Glumdalclitch in smaller size behind them. A passer-by of their own size and shape indicates they are only a short distance from their home in England. Elizabeth asks if it had all been a dream with Gulliver, now happy to settle down with Elizabeth replies that the bad qualities of the pettiness of Lilliput and ignorance of Brobdingnag are inside everyone. Elizabeth asks about Glumdalclitch with Gulliver giving her a knowing look saying that she hasn't been born yet...
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
loosely based upon the 18th-century English novel Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
by Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
. The film stars Kerwin Mathews
Kerwin Mathews
Kerwin Mathews was an American actor best known for playing the titular heroes in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad , The Three Worlds of Gulliver and Jack the Giant Killer .-Life and career:...
as the titular character, June Thorburn
June Thorburn
June Thorburn was a popular English actress whose career was cut short by her death in an air crash.-Early life:Thorburn was born in Karachi when the city was still in a non-independent India...
as his fiancée Elizabeth, and child actor Sherry Alberoni
Sherry Alberoni
Sherry Alberoni is an American actress and voice artist. Alberoni got her start as a Mouseketeer on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club. As an adult, she became a voice artist for Hanna-Barbera Productions...
as Glumdalclitch. Filmed in England and Spain, Gulliver was directed by Jack Sher and featured stop-motion animation and special visual effects by Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
. Cast includes Martin Benson
Martin Benson (actor)
Martin Benjamin Benson was an English character actor, who appeared in films, theatre and television. He appeared in both British and Hollywood productions.-Career:...
as Flimnap, Lee Patterson
Lee Patterson
Lee Patterson was a Canadian film and television actor.After attending Ontario College of Art, Patterson moved to England, where he specialized in playing virile American types in British films...
as Reldresal, Jo Morrow
Jo Morrow
Jo Morrow , is an American film actress. Through a "Be a Star" contest she won a film contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1958....
as Gwendolyn, Marian Spencer
Marian Spencer
Marian Alexander Spencer is a former Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is also the first African American woman to be elected to the Council.-Personal life:In 1920 Spencer was born in the town of Gallipolis, Ohio...
as the Empress of Lilliput, Peter Bull
Peter Bull
Peter Cecil Bull, DSC was a British character actor.- Biography :He was the fourth and youngest son of Hammersmith MP Sir William James Bull, 1st Bt..Bull was educated at Winchester College...
as Lord Bermogg, and Alec Mango
Alec Mango
Alec Mango was an English actor. He is best known for portraying El Supremo in the 1951 Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N., he also appeared in South of Algiers , The Strange World of Planet X , The 7th Voyage of Sinbad , Danger Man , and Frankenstein Created Woman, .-Selected filmography:* They Who...
as the Minister of Lilliput.
The film has been broadcast on American television and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.
Plot and cast
The film begins in WappingWapping
Wapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...
in 1699. Dr Lemuel Gulliver (Kerwin Mathews
Kerwin Mathews
Kerwin Mathews was an American actor best known for playing the titular heroes in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad , The Three Worlds of Gulliver and Jack the Giant Killer .-Life and career:...
) is an impoverished surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
who seeks riches and adventure as a ship's doctor on a voyage around the world. His fiancée Elizabeth (June Thorburn
June Thorburn
June Thorburn was a popular English actress whose career was cut short by her death in an air crash.-Early life:Thorburn was born in Karachi when the city was still in a non-independent India...
) strongly wishes him to stay ashore and settle down in a ramshackle cottage. The two quarrel with Gulliver further saddened when a soldier patient is off to another war with Spain, having only just returned from one with France.
As Gulliver embarks on a vessel, he is soon surprised to discover Elizabeth has stowed away to be near him. A storm arises; Gulliver is swept overboard and washed to the shores of Lilliput
Lilliput and Blefuscu
Lilliput and Blefuscu are two fictional island nations that appear in the first part of the 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The two islands are neighbors in the South Indian Ocean, separated by a channel eight hundred yards wide. Both are inhabited by tiny people who are about...
, a land of tiny human beings. The Lilliputians are apprehensive regarding Gulliver but he eases their fears by performing acts of kindness. An old quarrel between Lilliput and neighboring Blefuscu is revived and Gulliver lends a hand in the proceedings by towing Blefuscu's war ships far out to sea. The Emperor of Lilliput (Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney was an English actor who made over fifty screen appearances, most memorably as Claudius in Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of Hamlet. He also appeared in classic films like Treasure Island , Ivanhoe and Around the World in Eighty Days , but the focus of his career was the legitimate...
) then views Gulliver as a potential threat to his power and arranges his execution. Gulliver escapes in a boat he has built.
He finds his way to the isle of Brobdingnag
Brobdingnag
Brobdingnag is a fictional land in Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels occupied by giants. Lemuel Gulliver visits the land after the ship on which he is travelling is blown off course and he is separated from a party exploring the unknown land.The adjective Brobdingnagian has come...
, a land of giants. A kind peasant girl named Glumdalclitch
Glumdalclitch
Glumdalclitch is the name Gulliver gives his "nurse" in Book II of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. In Book I, Gulliver travels to the land of Lilliput. Leaving there, he travels to the land of Brobdingnag...
(Sherry Alberoni
Sherry Alberoni
Sherry Alberoni is an American actress and voice artist. Alberoni got her start as a Mouseketeer on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club. As an adult, she became a voice artist for Hanna-Barbera Productions...
) finds him on the shore and carries him to the castle of King Brob (Grégoire Aslan
Grégoire Aslan
Grégoire Aslan was an Armenian actor.Born Krikor Aslanian in Switzerland or in Constantinople, according to different sources, Aslan made his professional debut at 18 as a vocalist and drummer with a Paris dance band, then launched an acting career under the name of Koko Aslan. His first film...
). There, Gulliver is delighted to find Elizabeth, who was washed ashore after a shipwreck. The King installs the two in a dollhouse. When Gulliver cures the Queen (Mary Ellis
Mary Ellis
Mary Ellis was a long-lived star of the British stage best known for her roles in the genre of musical theatre. After appearing with the Metropolitan Opera beginning in 1918, later appearing opposite Enrico Caruso, she acted on Broadway, creating the title role in Rose Marie...
) of a stomach-ache, Prime Minister Makovan (Charles Lloyd Pack
Charles Lloyd Pack
Charles Lloyd-Pack was a British film, television and stage actor.He was born in London, England. He was seen in several horror movies produced by the Hammer Studios including Dracula, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Revenge of Frankenstein and The Reptile and Quatermass 2, the film version of...
) accuses Gulliver of witchcraft. The King orders Gulliver's execution and pits his pet baby dwarf alligator against him whom Gulliver slays. Glumdalclitch saves Gulliver and Elizabeth from the pursuing Brobdingnagians by placing them in her sewing basket and tossing the basket into a brook that flows to the sea.
Gulliver and Elizabeth wake on a beach with the basket of Glumdalclitch in smaller size behind them. A passer-by of their own size and shape indicates they are only a short distance from their home in England. Elizabeth asks if it had all been a dream with Gulliver, now happy to settle down with Elizabeth replies that the bad qualities of the pettiness of Lilliput and ignorance of Brobdingnag are inside everyone. Elizabeth asks about Glumdalclitch with Gulliver giving her a knowing look saying that she hasn't been born yet...