Hugo the Hippo

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Hugo the Hippo
Hugo the Hippo film poster
Directed by	William Feigenbaum József Gémes
Produced by	Robert Halmi Jr.
Written by	Thomas Baum William Feigenbaum József Szalóky
Starring	Burl Ives Robert Morley Paul Lynde Jesse Emmett Ronnie Cox
Music by	Burt Keyes Robert Larimer
Editing by	Sid Cooper Magda Hap Mária Kern
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date(s)	1973
Running time	86 min./USA 75 min.
Country	Hungary / United States
Language	English / Hungarian
IMDb profile

Hugo the Hippo (Hungarian: Hugó, a víziló) is a 1973 animated film originally made by the Pannónia Filmstúdió of Hungary. It was redubbed in English for release in the United States in 1976, and received a G rating from the MPAA.

1 Plot
2 Cast and crew
- 2.1 Hungarian-language cast
- 2.2 English-language cast
3 Home video/DVD releases
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Sultan of Zanzibar has a harbor infested with sharks, which makes it impossible for ships to trade with him. In an attempt to fix the problem, he brings twelve hippos into the harbor to keep the sharks away. His idea works well enough, but once the hippos are no longer a novelty and the people no longer feed them, they begin to starve. After the hungry hippos rampage through the city looking for food, Aban-Khan, the king's adviser, slaughters all the hippos except one, a little hippo named Hugo. Hugo escapes into the city of Zanzibar, trying to survive.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Cast and crew

Directors - William Feigenbaum and József Gémes
Screenplay - Thomas Baum, William Feigenbaum and József Szalóky

[edit] Hungarian-language cast

Ferenc Bessenyei - Narrator (voice)
László Márkus - Sultan (voice)
Tamás Major - Aban-Khan (voice)
Gábor Berkes - Jorma (voice)
István Bujtor - Jorma's Father (voice)
Kati Kovács - (singing voice)
Erzsébet Kútvölgyi - (singing voice)
Péter Máté - (singing voice)

[edit] English-language cast

Burl Ives - Narrator (voice)
Robert Morley - Sultan (voice)
Paul Lynde - Aban-Khan (voice)
Jesse Emmett - Royal Magician (voice)
Ronnie Cox - Jorma (voice)
Percy Rodriguez - Jorma's Father (voice)
Len Maxwell - Judge (voice)
Marie Osmond - (singing voice)
Jimmy Osmond - (singing voice)
Don Marshall - Additional characters (voice)

[edit] Home video/DVD releases

The film was briefly released to the American home video market in the early 1980s. It was released on DVD only in Hungary. Reviewer Phil Hall suggests that Hugo the Hippo may never get a DVD release due to its psychedelic, weird, politically-incorrect and violent content.^[1]