Stromboli (Pinocchio)

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Stromboli and his new employee
Stromboli and his new employee

Stromboli is a villain from the Disney film Pinocchio. He is a fat gypsy showman with a black beard. He talks with an Italian accent. Stromboli was voiced by Charles Judels and animated by Bill Tytla.

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[edit] Pinocchio (the Disney film)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

He buys Pinocchio from Honest John, for a living puppet is a great attraction. Stromboli earnes a great deal of money by showing Pinocchio on stage, but all Pinocchio earns is a fake coin Stromboli finds. When Pinocchio attempts to go home to his father to show him the coin he's earned (which he doesn't know is fake), Stromboli stops him and shows him his new home: a bird cage. Stromboli tells him that he will be working for him until he becomes too old. Then he will become firewood. Pinocchio escapes eventually, with the help of the Blue Fairy. Stromboli isn't seen again in the movie, save from one comment by Pinocchio that "Stromboli was horrible".

[edit] Geppetto

A quite different Stromboli appears in the live-action film Geppetto. In this film Stromboli tricks Pinocchio into writing a contract which says "Pinocchio will work for me the next 100 years, or until I die". Since Stromboli is about as nice to Pinocchio as he was in the previous movie, Pinocchio runs away into a wagon on its way to Pleasure Island. When Geppetto arrives, looking for his son, Stromboli tells him that Pinocchio only wrote a contract for one evening and tells him he went to the opposite direction of where he really went. Stromboli is seen again in Pleasure Island, where both he and Geppetto are trying to get Pinocchio, but are pushed away by the workers of Pleasure Island, who state that no adults are allowed at Pleasure Island. In the end of the movie, where Pinocchio and Geppetto are returning home, Stromboli reappeares and reminds Geppetto that Pinocchio legally belongs to him for the next hundred years. Unfortunately for Stromboli, the Blue Fairy appears and turns Pinocchio into a real boy, making him useless to Stromboli. The Fairy then chases Stromboli away, claiming that "even if you have a contract I don't have to like you".

[edit] Comparisons to Book

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • Walt Disney's Stromboli is a much more sinister character than the original character written by Italian author Carlo Collodi. In the book, though described as hideous, "Fire Eater" (Mangiafuoco in Italian), as he is called, actually takes pity on Pinocchio and kindly sets him free, even granting him five gold pieces to bring home to Geppetto.
  • He has no connection with the Fox and the Cat.
  • In the original story, a live marionette is apparently nothing special, as Fire Eater already seems to have at least three in his employ and is even prepared to feed one to the fire that is cooking his dinner before being persuaded to spare the puppet. Also, no one expresses any surprise at the existence of a live puppet.

[edit] External links