Cartoon a Day: El Terrible Toreador

El Terrible Toreador
1929
Directed by Walt Disney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - More Silly Symphonies

Many of the early Silly Symphonies cartoons used different cultures as the inspiration for many of the visuals. Not all of these depictions are what we would now consider politically correct, so they are often regulated to the "from the vault" sections of the Walt Disney Treasures releases. "El Terrible Toreador," however, I think was sent to the vault section because the characters drink beer.

Like most Silly Symphonies, there is not much story here. The gags are pretty simple, though you can see a progression taking place here as the sight gags are not repeated over and over as they are in many early cartoons. A few gags seem quite imaginative for this time period, especially when we think the bull and the toreador are fighting but when the smoke clears we see that they are playing patty cake.

The bullfight arena is a classic setting for golden age cartoons. Almost every major character has been a toreador at some point, so it is interesting to see what is probably one of the earliest examples of a bullfight cartoon.

Cartoon a Day: Night

Night
1930
Directed by Walt Disney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies

"Night" is an early entry in the Silly Symphonies series. It's simple and without a story (as are many of the shorts in this series) but it features some great animation and is another great hint at what was to come when Disney created "Fantasia."

The short begins by using bits of "The Blue Danube," which sets the tone as being a lot like "Fantasia" right from the start. However, this is still the early days of animation, so there is still a lot of silliness.

The animators focus on creatures of the night...owls, bugs, and frogs being the main characters. A great sequence involves a lightning bug dancing with the flame from a candle. It's fun to watch the shadow of the bug and then realize that cartoon characters don't cast their own shadows. That all had to be drawn and it's masterfully done. This is a great example of the simple genius of much of Disney's early work.

Cartoon a Day: The Wise Little Hen

The Wise Little Hen
1934
Directed by Wilfred Jackson
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Chronological Donald Vol. 1

If we're going to look at famous first appearances then we can't neglect "The Wise Little Hen," Donald Duck's first cartoon and one of his best.

This cartoon was part of the Silly Symphonies series and told the classic tale of a hen who tries to get her friends to help plant and harvest her corn. In this version the friends are Peter Pig and (ta-da) Donald Duck. They both fake belly aches to get out of the work, but are eager when she asks them to help eat the corn. But in the end, she presents them with a bottle of castor oil instead of corn on the cop, muffins and corn bread.


This short is significant not only because of the first appearance of Donald, but it's also a great animation milestone. It does have some moments where the animation is repetitive, as many early cartoons are, but other moments display some great artistry. The animation of Peter Pig and Donald Duck both show great attention to detail. The choreography of the animation to the music is also expertly done.

The short is more cute than funny but I never tire of this one. 74 years old and still a classic!

Cartoon a Day: The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas
1933
Directed by Wilfred Jackson (uncredited)
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies

Sorry for the lag in "Cartoon a Day" blog posts lately. It's been crazy the last few weeks and I've been too exhausted to blog. Though I have been watching my cartoons, I hope to do a catch up report soon. Well, the Disney Silly Symphony "The Night Before Christmas" seemed like the best choice of cartoon for this Christmas Eve.



In this short, Santa Claus visits a home on Christmas Eve and with the help of a bunch of toys come to life he decorates the house. This depiction of Santa Claus is really a classic, not just from an animation standpoint. This is a jolly, plump, funny St. Nick and I'm sure that many other film depictions of Santa have drawn on this cartoon for inspiration. His design is similar to other plump characters that have appeared in other Silly Symphonies such as King Midas and Noah, but this is probably the best use of that character style in this series of shorts.


Sure this is that sort of cutesy style of animation that is often associated with Disney, but it is the appropriate style for this film. Santa Claus and a bunch of toys setting up a Christmas tree is supposed to be cute! The fun of Christmas is alive and well in this classic short! Merry Christmas everybody!

Cartoon a Day: Cock O' The Walk

Cock O' The Walk
1935
Directed by Ben Sharpsteen (uncredited)
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - More Silly Symphonies

You may have noticed that I missed yesterdays "Cartoon a Day" entry. I did watch a cartoon but had trouble getting the images, so I waited to post until today.


Years ago, I reviewed this short on the Internet Movie Database. I described it as "Busby Berkeley meets Colonel Sanders." In this short, the "Cock O' the Walk" comes to town and woos a chicken away from another rooster. All the other adoring fans of the cock launch into a big musical number and eventually a fight between the two roosters occurs.


This short is a lot of fun. Very colorful and detailed. It is especially worth noting the great range in design of the various chickens and other birds. Just a few years earlier, the black and white Silly Symphonies tended to feature animals that all looked alike. But here we see great advances in character design being made. This is another example of the great achievements made in the Silly Symphonies series.

Cartoon a Day: Arctic Antics

Arctic Antics
1930
Directed by Ub Iwerks
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - More Silly Symphonies

With the weather we had here in Denver today, "Arctic Antics" seemed like an appropriate choice of cartoon.

It's a Silly Symphony, so as is often the case there is no real plot to speak of. This one features a bunch of arctic creatures playing and dancing about. The animation is good, it is directed by Ub Iwerks after all, but it is a bit uneven.



I guess it was hard to think up a bunch of fun situations that take place in sub zero temperatures. The first half of the film is just kind of there, and unfortunately features one of the most annoying sound effects trax ever. Who knew that baby polar bears squeaked like doggie toys?!?



The second half of the film is a lot more fun, featuring a troop of military marching penguins. A bit of comic touch is added by a short penguin who can't quite keep up with the group that seems somewhat like an early version of the little mushroom that can't keep up with others in the Nutcracker Suite section of "Fantasia."

Cartoon a Day: Monkey Melodies

Monkey Melodies
1930
Directed by Burt Gillett
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - More Silly Symphonies


Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Today's cartoon has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but it's got the next best thing...monkeys.


"Monkey Melodies," like most Silly Symphonies, has no real plot, but a lot of interesting animation and visuals. While there are some great moments, this short does have one big problem. The backgrounds, while beautifully drawn, are too busy. In many sequences, the monkey characters seem to be lost in the business of the background art.



There is still a lot to enjoy here, though. One sequence involving dancing crocodiles is interesting to watch considering what would be done with the same sort of characters just ten years later in "Fantasia."



The Silly Symphonies were such a great animation lab, new things were being tried all the time. This one is still fun, despite a few miscalculations.

Cartoon a Day: Music Land

Music Land
1935
Directed by Wilfred Jackson (uncredited)
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies


"Music Land" may very well be one of the best of the Silly Symphonies. This short, written by Pinto Colvig (the voice of Goofy), has absolutely no spoken words, but is highly original and completely off the chart visually.



The story concerns two islands, the Land of Symphony and the Isle of Jazz, separated by a sea of "disharmony." However, the young prince of the Isle of Jazz, a saxophone, has eyes for the princess, a violin, of the Land of Symphony. He sneaks over to court the princess and ends up being captured by the queen's forces. This sparks a war of epic proportions which blazes away until true love wins out.


To start, the design of the characters is great! The look of these instruments turned into semi-human form is as good as what we would seem from the same studio when they brought clocks and candelabras to life in "Beauty and the Beast" almost 6o years later.



The design of the sets and props is also amazingly inventive. Beyond the castles made of organ pipes and brass instruments, we have a raft made of a xylophone, soldiers with violin bows as spears, and a jail which is a giant metronome. But it goes even further when the pipes and bells of the castles turn into cannons for the battle. The imagery is closer to what you might see in Disney's "Victory Through Air Power."

Of course, probably the best aspect of "Music Land" is the music itself, which serves not just as the score but as the dialogue track as well. The timing of the visuals to the music is perfect and represents a huge step forward for the studio on the path to making "Fantasia."

Can you tell this is one of my favorites?

Cartoon a Day: Father Noah's Ark

Father Noah's Ark
1933
Directed by Wilfred Jackson (uncredited)
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies

Time for a deep theological study! Well, not exactly. It's pretty rare to find a Bible story as the basis for an major studio animated short. This entry in Disney's Silly Symphonies series is one of at least three film's from that studio to use the story of Noah (the others being the 1959 stop motion short "Noah's Ark" and a segment of "Fantasia 2000"). This certainly isn't going to be the springboard for any Sunday School curriculum, but it's a great little short.



The animators really seem to have a field day with coming up with unique ways to have the animals assist with preparing the ark for it's voyage. My favorite sequence involves the wives of Noah's sons loading the food on the ship. They send a bunch of fruits and vegetables heading down a chute, at the bottom the food is impaled on the backs on porcupines which create a conveyor belt that loads the food onto the ark. The visual gags are fun, but there is also a lot of really beautiful artwork. The opening wide shot of the animals working on a half-finished ark is amazing, as is a shot toward the end of the ark with the rainbow overhead.

The Silly Symphonies were very much a workshop of sorts for Disney's artists. The animators were clearly trying new things with this short. There are a lot of advances in the design of some of the animal characters, and the design of Noah and his sons have some good aspects, but they aren't quite there yet on the female characters. The wives of Noah's sons don't exactly have a wide range of expression, but the Disney crew would improve female designs as the series continued.

Cartoon a Day: The Skeleton Dance

The Skeleton Dance
1929
Directed by Walt Disney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies
Also: Walt Disney Treasures - The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

For Halloween there was just no other cartoon as appropriate to review than "The Skeleton Dance." This short remains one of the greatest animated films of all time. It is amazingly creative, using images both funny and scary to create an important animation milestone.



One of the reasons this cartoon is so great is the marriage of the visuals and the music. Ub Iwerks animated the film, we talked about his great contribution to animation before, but we mustn't overlook maestro Carl Stalling. His music works right along with the animation, bringing out the humor in some pretty gruesome images. Stalling would later go on to music for the Looney Tunes.

In animation anything is possible! A skeleton can jump out of it's grave, throw his head at an owl, and then start dancing around a graveyard before playing another skeleton like a xylophone...where else but in a cartoon! Filmmakers were still figuring that out in 1929, this film was a huge step forward. One reviewer over at the Internet Movie Database called this "six of the most important minutes in film history," I'd have to agree.

Cartoon a Day: Hell's Bells

Hell's Bells
1929
Directed by Ub Iwerks
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - More Silly Symphonies

There is no denying the contribution of Walt Disney to the art of animation. But really there was another person right alongside Walt who was just as influential, Ub Iwerks. With Halloween coming up this weekend, it seemed appropriate to look at one of their great collaborations, "Hell's Bells."


Like so many of the Silly Symphonies, there isn't really a plot, just a bunch of devils having a party. This is more of an animation exercise. This is Disney and Iwerks exploring the possibilities of their art. The characters in this short are very flexible, with skinny, rubber-band like arms and legs which Iwerks takes full advantage of.

One sequence that is especially fun involves a little devil dancing as nearby flames cast his large shadow on the wall behind him. It's easy to not take notice of the the skill involved in this sequence. You almost need to remind yourself that cartoons don't cast their own shadows, that all needed to be drawn.

Shorts from this time period are such a treat to watch. As you watch you can see the animators discovering new techniques along the way. We see the art of animation progress right before our eyes.

Cartoon a Day: Water Babies

Water Babies
1935
Directed by Wilfred Jackson
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies


And the award for most bare butts in a Disney movie goes to...you guessed it, the 1935 Silly Symphony "Water Babies."

"Water Babies" is a beautiful color cartoon that still shows some hints of the repetitious, looped style of early animation. However, there are some real advances on display here too, especially in some of the designs used in the boat sequence.


Like many of the Silly Symphonies, this isn't laugh-out-loud funny. It's more cutesy, Anne Geddes has nothing on Walt. A few of the sequences get a little busy, but that doesn't detract from enjoying some beautiful animation.