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General Major 
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TITLE |
Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, A
(1995) (TV Film) |
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DISABILITY |
General Multiple Sclerosis |
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NOTES |
The film
starts with Annette Funicello's childhood and runs through her school
performances to her Hollywood appearances. Annette Funicello gives a
running commentary throughout the film.
When she is working for Disney she visits disabled children she
comments "I thought it was a privilege to bring happiness to people."
This captures the sensibility of the film as does the title.
She's a Mouseketeer in the Mickey Mouse Club. She has romance with
Paul Anka, disappointment, more films, more romance, marriage and
babies. Then much later she has dizzy spells and falls over. Meanwhile
she has got a divorce. More tests reveal she has multiple sclerosis.
When she tells her family "There is no cure." Mother says "That I
refuse to accept." She decides to keep her condition secret from work
colleagues. Though she decides not to do a third Beach film (films she
made with Paul Anka) she agrees to a Beach tour. However during the
dancing and singing rehearsals she has problems and tells her
colleagues. It turns out they already knew. Then she makes the "brave"
decision to tell the world. She gets loads of letters which naturally
lift her spirits. She is by now in a wheelchair though she displays
none of the characteristics of m.s.
The whole film is as shucky as the title and for most will be totally
uninteresting and uninformative, made worse by the accompanying
narrative by the real Annette Funicello to a group of young girls. The
film belongs where I saw it on the Hallmark channel. |
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Notes
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