Directed by: Charles A. Nichols, Iwao Takamoto
Starring: Debbie Reynolds, Henry Gibson, Paul Lynde
Oh man, here’s a blast from the past. I don’t think I’ve seen this movie since I was really, really little. Mostly I didn’t remember it being so frank about all the talk about animal slaughter. Why don’t kids movies feature the threat of delicious bacony death as their main plot point anymore?
Wilbur is a pig, and the runt of the litter. The daughter of the farmer saves him, but only long enough for him to be sold to another farm down the road. There, Wilbur makes new friends, including a spider named Charlotte, who comes up with a plan to keep Wilbur from being killed and eaten. Occasionally she’ll write out phrases in her web, like “nice pig” and “terrific”, and everyone praises Wilbur as a miracle pig. He never gets eaten, and instead gets a parade thrown for him. Whatever town this takes place in must be full of the most bored people in history.
So here’s something I never got about this story. Why did people attribute the phrases in the spider webs to Wilbur? I mean, they were about him, but it’s obviously not his doing. I guess a pig making a spider web in the first place would be pretty impressive (just look at Peter Porker, the Amazing Spider-Ham! I am not making that up), but there’s definitely no evidence that this is what they think. I’d say eat the pig and throw a parade for the spider.
Films in Boxes 
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