Agents in Disney Film Led to FBI Inquiry, Paper Says : Hoover’s FBI Scrutinized 2 Disney Films, Paper Says

PHOENIX — Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered agents to scrutinize Walt Disney Productions because he felt that a 1962 Disney film portrayed his agents as inept and inane, the Arizona Republic reported today.

The late director was upset that bumbling characters in the Disney movie “Moon Pilot” were identified as FBI agents, and Disney, a friend, reluctantly changed the reference to them to “federal security agents,” the Republic said.

An FBI file on Disney, obtained by the newspaper through a Freedom of Information request, contained a copy of a review of the movie with a handwritten note in the margin that said: “I am amazed Disney would do this. He probably has been infiltrated.”

There is no proof who wrote the comment but other information in the file indicates that it was Hoover, the Republic said.

After reading a summary of the script of “Moon Pilot,” Hoover directed his chief Los Angeles agent to meet with Disney and tell him that “the bureau will strongly object to any portrayal of the FBI in this film,” the report said.

Disney said he would change the reference to the officials from FBI agents to “federal security” agents, although he thought the change “unrealistic,” another file memo said.

“He (Disney) stated that he would never portray the FBI other than in a favorable light due to his esteem for the director and the bureau,” a memo to Hoover said.

Movie reviewers commented that the film leveled a “humorous rifle” at the FBI, depicting the agency “as a mass of dolts.”

Another Disney movie, “That Darn Cat,” produced in 1964, also caused grumbling among FBI agents.

The bureau closely monitored the film’s progress and an August, 1964, memo to Hoover said, “an established source at the Disney studios” revealed that the screenplay “depicts the FBI in a most complimentary manner.”