The World of Forgotten Disney

The Hound of Florence Inspector Bones

The Hound of Florence Inspector Bones

Cancelled Disney Films

*Brings out magnifying glass* Lets go under cover!

Based on novel by Felix Salten(who was also the author of Bambi, a Life in the Woods) about a detective who turns into a dog. Tex Avery-style self-referential jokes, and many who see them now think the project was an odd one for Disney of the early 1940s.

After almost 20 years of working on the film, it was released as the live action comedy The Shaggy Dog.

Development as an animated feature seems not to have gone very far, although it also was pushed as a combination feature or even a completely live action film. The idea of a dog detective seems to have inspired Inspector Bones, which was a direct parody of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films which were very popular in the forties. 

The film would have pitted Inspector Bones and Dr. Beagle against either Professor Mongrel ("The Mad Dog of London") or Sir Cyril Sealyham. The story notes feature a lot of Tex Avery style self-referential jokes, and many who see them now think the project an odd one for the Disney of the early forties. Some scenes prefigure the 1986 Disney film The Great Mouse Detective, although the makers of that film were unaware of Inspector Bones.

It was the era of the detectives. I do love a good mystery, even if it's a murder mystery. Whodunnit, James Patterson, Dangonronpa and CSI, darn you for making me love murder mysteries.

Source: Unmade Disney: The 1940's, and List of unproduced Disney animated shorts and features films Wikipedia

Always a D.R.E.A.M. (Disney Rules Everything Around Me)