''The Devil and Daniel Mouse'' is a 1978 Canadian

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

, based on the 1936 short tale ''

The Devil and Daniel Webster "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by a fictionalized Daniel Webster, a noted 19th-century A ...

'' by

Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét ( ; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He wrote a book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, '' John Brown's Body'', published in 1928, for which he receive ...

. ''The Devil and Daniel Mouse'' is the second television special co-produced by the Canadian animation firm

Nelvana Ltd. Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

Nelvana's iconic polar bear logo made its first appearance at the end of the special. The polar bear was eventually used as an in-credit logo later in their specials from 1979 to 1980 and from after 1980 to 1988.

Plot

The story is about two struggling

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

folk musicians, Daniel and Jan, who are fired from their latest gig because their music is deemed too old-fashioned and not with the times. They worry about their future; Daniel encourages Jan not to give up and goes to pawn his guitar in order to buy groceries. Jan wanders off on her own and in despair says she would give anything to be a big star. At once she encounters a shifty reptilian character in a white suit who introduces himself as "B.L. Zebub", a

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. He and his

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...

assistant, Weez Weezel, offer her fame and fortune in exchange for signing a contract in her own blood. Jan does not read the fine print and trusts B.L., signing herself over to his record production company. Little does she know that B.L. is none other than

the devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

himself, and at midnight at the height of her fame, he will return to collect her

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

. To assist her, Weez conjures three band members from thin air, a

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

(Rabbit Delight), a

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

(Boom Boom Beaver), and a

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

(Pray Mantis). As the lead singer of "Funky Jan and the Animal Kingdom", Jan is soon the most popular

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

star on the planet, while Daniel is left out in the cold. But when B.L. comes for her soul and she realizes what she has done, a distraught Jan goes to Daniel for help. A trial is held in the woods over Jan's soul, with Weez as the judge, a jury of ghosts of shady music industry creatures, and Daniel acting as Jan's attorney. As an additional stipulation, the Devil states that should Daniel lose the trial, his soul, as well as Jan's, will be taken as payment. At first, the trial seems hopeless, considering Daniel has no education as a lawyer and cannot present even the beginnings of a reasonable argument to release Jan. Having nothing else to offer, Daniel begins to sing a heartfelt song. Jan joins in, as do her three heretofore unhelpful band members. The other animals watching the trial begin to sing and clap along to the tune along with Weez and the jury of three lost souls (whom were multiplied three times into 12 by B.L. himself). Enraged, the Devil attempts to summon forth demons to stop the heroes, but the spirits he conjures also fall prey to the sway of Daniel's music. Weez declares that Dan and Jan have won their case and the ghostly jury agrees. A frustrated Devil finally leaves, returning to Hell and taking Weez and all of his other minions with him. The two mice embrace one another as the film ends. The final frame repeats the story's moral: "A song from the heart beats the Devil every time."

Cast

*Annabel Kershaw as Jan Mouse **

Valerie Carter Valerie Gail Zakian Carter (February 5, 1953 – March 4, 2017) was an American singer. Biography Carter began her career singing in coffeehouses as a teenager, and eventually became one-third of the country-folk band Howdy Moon. They debuted ...

, credited as "Lauren Runn", provides Jan's singing voice. *

Jim Henshaw Jim Henshaw (born September 28, 1949) is a Canadian actor, screenwriter and film and television producer. Early life and education Henshaw was born in Bassano, Alberta, Canada. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan. Career A mai ...

as Daniel Mouse **

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...

provides Daniel's singing voice and voices a rock emcee. *

Chris Wiggins Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was a Canadian actor. Career Wiggins was born January 13, 1931, in Blackpool, England. He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada ...

as B.L. Zebub *

Martin Lavut Martin Lavut (December 18, 1934 – January 26, 2016) was a Canadian filmmaker born in Montreal, Quebec. He wrote and directed numerous theatrical and television dramas, and documentary films. Among his dramas are the films '' Certain Practices'', ...

as Weez Weezel and a pawnbroker *Dianne Lawrence as an interviewer

Songs

*''Look Where the Music Can Take You'' performed by

(credited as Laurel Runn) *''I've Got a Song to Sing'' performed by

(credited as Laurel Runn) *''Roxy Marathon Concert Medley'' performed by

(credited as Laurel Runn) *''Can You Help Me Find My Song?'' performed by

(credited as Laurel Runn) *''Look Where the Music Can Take You'' performed by

(credited as Laurel Runn) *''Look Where the Music Can Take You (Finale)'' performed by

(credited as Laurel Runn)

Merchandising

Nelvana story album

A tie-in story

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

was released by Nelvana Records in 1978.' Narrated by

, the album features dialog lifted straight from the film's soundtrack as well as songs performed by Sebastian,

(credited as Laurel Runn) and the Reggie Knighton Band. As in the film, the dialogue is interspersed with several of the songs.

Full-colour storybook

First published by Avon/Camelot in 1979, the storybook was written by screenwriter Ken Sobol and features music and lyrics for three

penned songs (''I've Got a Song'', ''Can You Help Me Find My Song?'' and ''Look Where the Music Can Take You''). Simplified for younger readers, many of the visual gags and a few scenes were omitted from the book.

Home video

''The Devil and Daniel Mouse'' was simultaneously issued as a stand-alone title on

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

and

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

as well as featured on several compilations of

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

's TV specials.

''Nelvanamation (Volume 1)''

The first and more widely available compilation to feature the film was ''Nelvanamation (Volume 1)''. Also featured on this video are ''

Romie-0 and Julie-8 ''Romie-0 and Julie-8'' is a 1979 Canadian animated television special, inspired by William Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet''. Set in the future, the two romantic leads in this version are androids who fall in love despite a taboo against their ...

'', ''

Intergalactic Thanksgiving ''Intergalactic Thanksgiving'', sometimes known as ''Please Don't Eat The Planet'', is a 1979 Canadian Thanksgiving animated television special that premiered on CBC and in the United States in syndication on November 22, 1979. ''Intergalactic Tha ...

'' and ''

A Cosmic Christmas ''A Cosmic Christmas'' is a 1977 American-Canadian Christmas animated television special, premiering on CBC Television, CBC in Canada and in syndication in the United States on 4 December 1977. A Cosmic Christmas is the first special in the 1977 ...

''.

''The Devil and Daniel Mouse and Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction''

Headlining a collection similar to ''Nelvanamation'', this

CED Videodisc The Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) is an analog video disc playback system developed by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in which video and audio could be played back on a TV set using a special stylus and high-density groove system sim ...

also includes ''

'', ''Easter Fever'', ''

'' and ''

''.

''Rock & Rule''

''The Devil and Daniel Mouse'' became the inspiration for Nelvana's first feature film, ''

Rock & Rule ''Rock & Rule'' (known as ''Ring of Power'' outside North America) is a 1983 Canadian animated musical science fantasy film featuring the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata, and Susan Roman. It was produced by Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loub ...

''. The film and ''How We Made the Devil and Daniel Mouse'', a vintage "making of" documentary, were both included on the two-

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

versions of that film in a slightly edited form of 22 minutes from its original 25-minute running time.

In popular culture

Dialogue from this film was used by the rock band

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

in the song "Party of the First Part", found on some versions of ''

The Sky's Gone Out ''The Sky's Gone Out'' is the third studio album by English gothic rock band Bauhaus, released in 1982 by record label Beggars Banquet. Music ''NME'' said about the music: " inger Peter Murphy comes across like David Bowie imitating Jacques Bre ...

'' and 1989's '' Swing the Heartache: The BBC Sessions''.Bauhaus - Party Of The First Part-YouTube
/ref> A dialogue sample from the film was also used by

Black Dresses Black Dresses was a Canadian noise pop duo consisting of Ada Rook and Devi McCallion, formed in 2017. Their debut album, ''Wasteisolation'', was released independently in 2018. The duo released three additional albums, ''Thank You'' (2019), ''Lo ...

at the end of their song "Maybe This World Is Another Planet's Hell?", from the album '' Peaceful as Hell''.

References

External links

*
The 1978 special in its entirety on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil and Daniel Mouse, The 1978 television specials 1970s animated television specials Anthropomorphic mice and rats 1970s Canadian television specials Films directed by Clive A. Smith Animated films about mice The Devil in film Halloween television specials Daniel Mouse Nelvana television specials Television shows based on short fiction