Peter Pan first saw his name up in lights on 27 December 1904 in a London theatre production. Ever since, the play has been performed countless times, not just in professional productions, but in schools, community centres, and outdoors. In America, the original version of the play has been replaced in popularity by musicals, whereas in the United Kingdom, Peter Pan is mostly shown as pantomime.
It was only a matter of time and technology before the transition from stage to screen was made. After all, filmmakers and screenwriters are as vulnerable to being ‘Hook’ed as the rest of us! Numerous films, sequels, and TV productions have been made. Here are some of the most popular:
© Paramount Pictures
In 1924, when films were silent and shot in black and white, Peter Pan made his screen debut courtesy of Paramount Pictures. As was customary in stage productions at the time (and still is in pantomime today), Peter was played by a woman, Betty Bronson, who had been selected for the role by J.M. Barrie.
© Disney
Nearly 30 years later, in 1953, maybe the most well known version of Peter Pan was produced by Disney’s animation studios. Now in colour and sound, Peter’s voice actor was male – the first one to play the title role in a commercial production. Off the big stage, however, this had happened before; Walt Disney had played Peter at a school function when he was a child.
© Lucasfilm
In 1991, Peter Pan grew up – but only for a moment, to help Steven Spielberg shoot Hook. For this film, the screenwriters imagined a few things to have gone differently to the original tale. This made it possible for Captain Hook to come to London and abduct Peter’s children to the Neverland, forcing Peter to return to the Neverland – as an adult. As J.M. Barrie was fond of tinkering with the story, he may just have approved the changes and along with movie-goers, shivered in frightened delight at Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of Captain Hook.
© Universal Pictures
In 2003, Peter Pan returned to the big screen and was back to his usual self – as reluctant to grow up as ever. This film stayed very true to the original story. Jeremy Sumpter, the actor who played Peter in the 2003 version has kindly contributed a foreword to our centenary book edition of Peter and Wendy.
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