<P> Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States military took control of the studio and commissioned Walt Disney Productions to produce training and war propaganda films in which pre-production work on Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland were shelved . However, the Bank of America allowed production to continue during the war . After the war had concluded, work on the film resumed with Jack Kinney as director . At the time, Kinney had considered leaving Walt Disney Productions for the Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer cartoon studio, but wartime restrictions prevented this . Because he did not want Kinney to get out of his contract, Disney appointed Kinney to direct Peter Pan . </P> <P> During this same time, Disney talked to Mary Martin, who was appearing in a stage production of the play, about voicing Peter Pan, although Roy O. Disney complained that her voice was "too heavy, matured, and sophisticated ." Jean Arthur contacted Walt about being considered for the role . Walt had also talked to Cary Grant about voicing Captain Hook, in which the actor replied the "idea intrigued him ." As he was impatient with the delays, Disney asked Kinney to work on sequences consecutively rather than finish the entire script before it was storyboarded so that a scene would be approved at a morning story meeting and then immediately be put into development . Six months later, during a storyboarding meeting, Kinney presented a two - and - a-half presentation, in which Walt sat silently and stated, "You know, I've been thinking about Cinderella ." </P> <P> By 1947, Walt Disney Productions' financial health started to improve again . Around this time, Walt acknowledged the need for sound economic policies, but emphasized to the loaners that slashing production would be suicidal . In order to restore the studio to full financial health, he expressed his desire to return to producing full - length animated films . By then, three animated projects--Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan--were in development . Walt felt the characters in Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan were too cold while Cinderella contained elements similar to Snow White and decided to greenlit the project . Peter Pan was placed back into production in May 1949 . </P> <P> The scene in the nursery went through many alterations . For instance in one version, it was Mrs. Darling who found Peter Pan's shadow and showed it to Mr. Darling as in the original play . In another version of the film, Nana went to Neverland with Pan and the Darling children, and the story was told through her eyes . In other interpretations of the story, John Darling was left behind for being too serious, practical and boring, but story artist Ralph Wright convinced Disney to have John go with the others to Never Land . The film also included Wendy taking her Peter Pan Picture Book" and Peter and the children eating an "Imaginary Dinner". At one point, there was a party in Peter's hideout where Tinker Bell got humiliated and in her rage went and deliberately told Captain Hook the location of Peter Pan's hideout at her own free will . However, Walt felt that this was against Tinker Bell's character and that she had "gone too far" and changed it to Captain Hook kidnapping and persuading Tinker Bell to tell him . There is a point in Barrie's play where Captain Hook puts poison in Peter's dose of medicine and Tinker Bell saves Peter by drinking the poison herself only to be revived by the applause by the theater audience . After much debate Disney discarded this fearing it would be difficult to achieve in a film . In earlier scripts, there were more scenes involving the Pirates and the Mermaids that were similar to what Disney had previously done with the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . Ultimately, these scenes were cut for pacing reasons . The film was also a little bit darker at one point since there were scenes involving Captain Hook being killed by the crocodile, the Darling family mourning over their lost children, and Pan and the children discovering the pirates' treasure which is loaded with booby traps . </P>

When was peter pan made into a movie