Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

The film's plot is based primarily on seven A. A. Milne stories: "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 Pooh & 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 Christopher Robin gives a Pooh Party and we say goodbye" (Chapter X of Winnie-the-Pooh) and "In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water" (Chapter IX of Winnie-the-Pooh), with elements taken from "In which Piglet meets a Heffalump" (Chapter V from Winnie-the-Pooh: Winnie the Pooh's nightmare of Heffalumps and Woozles). 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.[3]

On a very windy day, Winnie the Pooh visits his "thoughtful spot". As Pooh sits thinking, Gopher pops out of the ground and advises him to leave as it is a "Winds-day". Misunderstanding the warning, Pooh goes across the Hundred Acre Wood to wish everyone a happy Winds-day. He arrives at the beech tree home of his friend Piglet, who is nearly blown away while trying to rake leaves, but Pooh grabs him by his scarf, like the string of a kite. They pass by Kanga and Roo; Eeyore, whose stick house Pooh breaks as he passes; and Rabbit, whose carrots Pooh inadvertently helps harvest as he slides by.

The wind blows Pooh and Piglet to Owl's treehouse, where he invites them in. Pooh wishes Owl a happy Winds-day, as he has everyone else, but Owl informs them that the wind is due to "a mild spring zephyr". As Owl recounts the adventures of various relatives, the strong wind causes his house to sway and eventually collapse, for which he initially blames Pooh. Christopher Robin and the others arrive; as the wrecked house cannot be repaired, Eeyore volunteers to seek out a new house for Owl, who proceeds to tell more stories for quite some time; talking from page 41 to page 62.

On page 63, the wind is still blowing as night falls, and Pooh is kept awake by noises outside and opens his door for a visitor: Tigger, who introduces himself with his signature song ("The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers") and informs Pooh that he has come looking for something to eat. Disgusted by the taste of Pooh's honey, Tigger tells him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest that steal honey, and departs. Frightened, Pooh stays up to guard his honey but falls asleep as a thunderstorm brews up. After a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles stealing his honey and chasing him around, he wakes up in a flood caused by the storm.

In the flood, Piglet is washed away from his home, writing a message in a bottle for help just before the waters carry him off in a floating chair. Pooh manages to reach higher ground with only ten honey pots, but the rising waters carry him away. Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Tigger gather at Christopher Robin's house on the highest ground, while Eeyore continues house hunting for Owl. Roo finds Piglet's bottle, and Owl flies off to tell Piglet that help is on the way.

Owl reaches Piglet and Pooh, but before he can inform them of the impending rescue – and tell another boring story – a waterfall threatens to carry them all over the side. Pooh switches places with Piglet as they take the plunge, and the waterfall washes them right into Christopher Robin's yard. Thinking that Pooh has rescued Piglet, Christopher Robin throws a party to celebrate Pooh's heroic deed, where Eeyore announces he has found a new home for Owl. He leads everyone to his discovery which, known to everyone except Owl and Eeyore, is Piglet's beech tree. Owl is impressed, and Piglet generously decides that Owl should have the house. Pooh invites Piglet to move into his home and, impressed by Piglet’s selflessness, asks Christopher Robin to make the party for two heroes instead of one.

• Sebastian Cabot as the Narrator.
• Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, a bear who loves eating honey.
• Paul Winchell as Tigger, a tiger who loves to bounce on his tail.
• John Fiedler as Piglet, a small pig and Pooh's best friend who fears nearly everything.
• Clint Howard as Roo, Kanga's energetic young joey.
• Barbara Luddy as Kanga, a kangaroo and Roo's mother.
• Ralph Wright as Eeyore, an old grey donkey who is always losing his tail and talks in a slow and deep depressing voice.
• Hal Smith as Owl, an owl who loves to talk about his family.
• Junius Matthews as Rabbit, a rabbit who is obsessive-compulsive and loves planting his vegetables in his garden.
• Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin, a seven-year-old boy and Pooh's human best friend.
• Howard Morris as Gopher, a hardworking gopher who lives underground and often falls into his hole.
• The Mellomen as the Singers.

Shortly before Walt Disney's death in December 1966, the animation department was finishing work on The Jungle Book and preparing for The Aristocats. In late summer 1967, before The Aristocats went into production, it was decided to go ahead with a featurette-length sequel to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.[4] Because The Honey Tree was popular with American audiences, it was decided Blustery Day would be the first animation project without Walt. Under the circumstances, "Nine Old Men" animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Milt Kahl were brought onto the project. Wolfgang Reitherman remained as director, but he decided to feel more faithful to the source material.[5]

During a story meeting for the short, Walt Disney considered Wally Boag to be perfect for the role of Tigger, who was added to the short.[6] However, after Walt's death, Boag's performance of the character was considered to be "too zany for a children's film", and he was replaced by ventriloquist Paul Winchell.[6] Following a British backlash to The Honey Tree led by film critic Felix Barker, Piglet was added to the short.[7] For the part, Walt had heard John Fiedler's voice on television and selected him to voice the character. Although Fiedler's natural speaking voice was higher than most men's, he still had to raise it considerably to achieve the character's high pitch.[8]

All songs were written by Robert and Richard Sherman, who wrote most of the music for the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise over the years, subsequently incorporated into the 1977 musical film, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which is an amalgamation of the three previous Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes.

In advance of the featurette's release, Disneyland Records released several LP albums accompanied with a read-along book. The first one was titled Walt Disney's Story of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was released in 1968. Sterling Holloway served as both the narrator and the voice of Pooh on the album. Distinctively from the featurette, Sam Edwards sang as Tigger.[9]

The film was released on VHS and Betamax in 1986. It was re-released in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1997, and was also re-released again on July 11, 2000 as part of the Storybook Classics Collection. This short also shows up as a bonus feature on the 2006 DVD release of Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin.[10]

It was also released on the Super 8mm film format by Derann in the early 2000s, making it one of the company's final and rarest films released, with only twelve copies made.[11]

• Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
• Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
• Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974)
• Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983)

• List of American films of 1968

• Finch, Christopher (2000). Disney's Winnie the Pooh: A Celebration of the Silly Old Bear. Disney Editions. ISBN 978-0786863525.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

• Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day on IMDb