Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

VHS cover

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (also known as Pooh II in the working title) is a 1968 animated featurette inspired by A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books. The featurette was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company on December 20, 1968 before The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. It was later added as a segment to the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The music was written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. It is won the 1968 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Plot

The film's plot is based primarily on seven A.A. Milne stories: "In which Pooh and Piglet go hunting and nearly catch a Woozle" (Chapter III of Winnie the Pooh), "In which Piglet does a very grand thing" (Chapter VIII from The House at Pooh Corner,"In which Eeyore finds the Wolery and Owl moves into it" (Chapter IX from The House at Pooh Corner), "In which Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast" (Chapter II from The House at Pooh Corner), "In which Piglet meets a heffalump" (Chapter V from Winnie the Pooh: Winnie the Pooh's nightmare of Heffalumps and Woozles), "In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water" (Chapter IX of Winnie-the-Pooh), and "In which Christopher Robin gives a Pooh Party and we say goodbye" (Chapter X of Winnie-the-Pooh). In A.A. Milne’s original story Pooh shows more initiative during the flood, finding his way to Christopher Robin by riding on one of his floating honey pots, which he names the floating bear, then having the inspiration of using Christopher Robin’s umbrella to carry them both to Piglet’s house.

Summary

On a very windy day, Winnie the Pooh is at his thoughtful spot where he goes and tries to think. His thinking is interrupted by Gopher who tells him that it's Windsday excited, Winnie the Pooh goes around and wishes everyone a happy Windsday, starting with his very best friend, Piglet, a timid scared pig. But when Piglet goes up and away with the wind, Pooh runs after him, and accidentally knocks over Eeyore's House of sticks and disrupts Rabbit’s beautiful garden. They fall into Owl's House with Owl inside. He invites them in. While Owl tells him a story, his house which is in a tree falls over. When the rest of Pooh’s friends see the damage, they conclude that they could never fix his home. Eeyore volunteers to try and get him a new one.

The following night, Pooh is in bed, makes a strange sound outside. When he goes to check it out, Tigger, an exuberant bouncing toy tiger jumps out. He introduces himself and gives him information, like the fact that he’s the only Tigger and that he should stay away from Heffalumps and Woozles. When he leaves, Pooh has a nightmare about them, presented in a song "Heffalumps and Woozles". Upon waking up, he discovers that the whole Hundred Acre Wood was flooded with water.

Every citizen in the Hundred Acre Wood was suffering over the flood, but Christopher Robin’s house wasn’t flooded, so his friends went there, except for Eeyore, who stuck to his task of house-hunting for Owl. But, Pooh and Piglet were still stuck in the flood, so Owl went over to get them. He found them, and they went over to Christopher Robin’s house and everyone said that Pooh was a hero and saved Piglet.

After the flood, a hero party followed. During the party, Eeyore informs everyone that he found a house for Owl. But, the problem was that he stopped at Piglet's house. Piglet has no home, until Pooh graciously offers him to live at his house. Piglet accepts the offer and the party resumes, only this time with two heroes, Pooh saving Piglet, and Piglet for giving Owl his grand birch tree house.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day made it into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh along with Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

Cast

• Sebastian Cabot as Mr. Narrator
• Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh
• John Fiedler as Piglet
• Ralph Wright as Eeyore
• Paul Winchell as Tigger
• Barbara Luddy as Kanga
• Clint Howard as Roo
• Junius Matthews as Rabbit
• Hal Smith as Owl
• Howard Morris as Gopher
• Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin

Gallery

Bounced again by Tigger

WTP and TBD 1-4

WTP and TBD 5-8

Christopher Robin

Trivia

• This story was released on VHS and Disney DVD and was later included in the theatrical compilation film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
• Elements from this story were adapted for material in the Hundred Acre Wood section in P Pals.
• Though Owl is given Piglet’s house in this film and Piglet is invited to stay at Pooh’s, everyone is shown living in their own homes in later P Pals Pooh releases.
• This story has been released in a number of book forms, including some that include either a record or a cassette tape.
• This featurette won the 1968 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.
• The stock footage from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree is used.
• This was also attached to some 1969 theatrical screenings of Peter Pan
• This is the first appearance of Piglet and Tigger in the theatrical featurettes. But Tigger originated in children’s book The House at Pooh Corner. And Piglet originated in the children's book Winnie-the-Pooh.
• Piglet's house has a sign that reads Trespassers Will which he thought was Trespassers William. It's really shown that part of the sign got cut off and used to read Trespassers Will Be Arrested!
• Pooh implies being aware of elephants and weasels during Tigger's first visit to his home. 
• This is the only film not to have Winnie the Pooh (song) as the book turns. 
• There is a deleted scene that has Gopher warning Owl that there's a storm coming and tells him to dig a high hole.
• In this short, when Tigger leaves, he says "Cheerio." instead of the usual "TTFN. Ta-Ta for now."
• In this short, An instrumental version of Little Black Rain Cloud from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree is heard in when Piglet is being flown like a kite