Category Archives: Silly Symphony

Silly Symphony

The Ugly Duckling

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Original release date: April 7, 1939

Rating: TV-Y7. “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: nine ugly minutes

Background: Believe it or not, you can count “The Ugly Duckling” as the very first remake in Disney history. This 1939 Silly Symphony followed a 1931 black and white short based on the same story and featuring the same name.

This version won a little more acclaim than the original, winning the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) in 1940. It was also the last short to be released under the Silly Symphony banner. It is based, of course, on the classic fairy tale of the same name.

Review:

We begin today with Father Duck, pacing by the side of his expecting partner that we will name Mother Duck. He’s pacing a trail when he hears the sweet sound of freshly birthed ducks. He spreads kisses around his perfect little ducks and his wife… who suddenly has one more egg crack open.

A white duck pops out, looking different than the four other yellow baby ducks. It isn’t ugly, so I’m lost already. Mama and Daddy Duck argue in duck about the baby with the implications that Mama had an affair. Sure.

Mama and the yellow ducks swim off, followed closely behind by the white baby duck. Being kind of a jerk, Mama quack-yells at the white baby duck, who sees his altered reflection in the ripples of the water. This is the actual only time this duckling has looked ugly, but more alarming is the horrible self esteem his mother has given him by disowning him.

Walking back sadly, white duckling finds a nest of birds chirping in a nest. It joins them, surprising their parental duck who feeds the surprise new addition a worm. This bird, too, is a total jerk and funs white duckling away.

Baby duckling wallows in sadness when suddenly a beautiful swan and some very similar looking white babies appear. They look like the duckling, quack like the duckling, and swim like the duckling. Yep, duckling has found a home.

White baby duckling swims off happily with his new family as his horrible mother and old family look on in jealously.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

Nothing.

Should you watch it?

We will go with watch it, though the messaging might get to some. I know a lot of people have parent issues, and seeing a mother disown her child because they are different might bring out some unwanted emotions for some.

Silly Symphony

Ferdinand the Bull

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Original release date: November 25, 1938

Rating: TV-G. “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.” “Contains tobacco depictions.”

Length: eight bullish minutes

Background: One of the many Silly Symphony shorts, “Ferdinand the Bull” came roaring on screen in 1938. It is based on the book “The Story of Ferdinand.”

“Ferdinand” has a bit of acclaim, winning the Academy Award for “Best Short Subject (Cartoons).” It also is very popular in Sweden and has been shown for many years as part of the Christmas collection “From All of Us to All of You,” shown in many countries. When the short was replaced with “The Ugly Duckling,” there was so much outcry in Sweden that they brought Ferdinand back the following year.

This is the earlier short, as of the date I’m blogging this, to feature the “contains tobacco depictions” disclaimer. Several other shorts have been heavy on cigars already, so this could be interesting.

Review:

We’re introduced to Ferdinand, a little bull who just liked to sit quietly under a tree. The other bulls would run and play, but all Ferdinand wanted to do was sit and smell the flowers.

One thing to note right off hand, which is both funny and clever, is that the narrator throws his voice to do Ferdinand’s voice as well as his mother.

Ferdinand grew and grew over the years into a big, strong bull. While the other bulls wanted to bullfight, Ferdinand just wanted to sit and smell.

Some men came along to look for the toughest bull, including several with cigarettes. While the other bulls tried to show off, Ferdinand didn’t care. He sat to relax but instead sat on a bee, running around crazy and bowling through the other bulls. The men saw and loved it, knowing he was the one. So away they took him (willingly).

A full crowd sat ready to watch the great bull, watching a parade including the matador and finally fierce Ferdinand… who was scared of the crowd.

Ferdinand ran towards the matador, who had been given a bouquet of flowers… to smell the flowers. Everyone was angry, wanting a bullfight. The matador raged while Ferdinand just smelled a flower. Finally they gave up, taking Ferdinand back home.

Ferdinand was taken home, back to his favorite tree, to smell flowers. He was a happy bull.

Cultural depictions… it’s a possibility. You could argue that the matador and especially his sword carrier had a stereotypical Mexican look.

Extras:

Nothing.

Should you watch it?

I’m going to say yes, watch it. There isn’t much hilarity to it, but there is a good message. If you want to just sit and smell the flowers, do it.

Silly Symphony

The Old Mill

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Original release date: November 5, 1937

Rating: TV-Y7 due to spookiness and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: nine thundering minutes

Background: At first glance, you’d think “The Old Mill” was just another Silly Symphony. Maybe it was even one meant for the Halloween season.

You’d be wrong. Geez, do better! “The Old Mill” is majorly significant, being the first short developed using the famed multiplane camera that Disney perfected. Many of the lighting and sound elements would show up in later films, notably “Snow White” which would release not long after.

The short is preserved in the National Film Registry for its historic significance. But is it any good? Let’s find out.

Review:

I know it is shocking, but we begin at an old mill. Inside birds, mice, and even more birds are showing love and affection to the partners while an old cranky looking owl sits aside. Bats hang from the ceiling, yellow eyes glowing in the dark.

Outside the mill, frogs croak and hop on lily pads, making a song out of croaks. Crickets join in with their chirps. I’m sorry, I can’t make this short sound exciting so far.

A storm approaches, causing stress on the mill and the animals within. One bird fights to protect her nesting eggs while the owl flies higher to avoid the chaos. It all looks nice, I’ll give it that.

Eventually the story gets so hectic that the windmill breaks and water pours into the mill… then the storm passes. The bats fly back to their posts, Cranky Owl takes a look outside, the love birds cuddle, and mama bird’s eggs have hatched. Life goes on after a storm.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

Nothing.

Should you watch it?

As much as I want to say “watch it” because of the technical significance of it… I’m saying skip it. It’s a boring short, y’all.

Silly Symphony

Three Blind Mouseketeers

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Original release date: September 26, 1936

Rating: TV-Y7 due to mousey swordplay and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: nine blind minutes

Background: This Silly Symphony, not shockingly, is based on both the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice” and the book “The Three Musketeers.” Knowing both of those will greatly help understand the joke here.

Review:

The Three Blind Mouseketeers sing about being themselves, using their swords to tap on the ground and find their way around. They are very stereotypically after cheese.

Outside of the mouse hole, we meet Captain Katt. Yes, he’s a cat. He seems to be very Pete-like. The Captain has set traps all over in an effort to catch the mice, hiding in a barrel to watch the fun play out.

The mice just happen to find their way out of their hole and miss the first trap, smelling cheese. One taps his way to a mousetrap, a second nears tea kettle with cheese in it, and the third finds cheesecake. They all three find ways to get their cheese and avoid the traps, sneaking pass the sleeping cat.

They find some hot dogs, mustard and buns as well as wine glasses, setting up a victory feast. The cat dreams of the wine being cannons, being jolted awake when the wine corks pop across the room and right in his face. He finds the mice feasting.

Captain Katt and his giant ax begin chasing the mice, who comically scurry across his room. After a back and forth battle, the mice gang send the cat running though the various traps he had earlier set up. Cheese for all!

Well, except for the cat.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

Nothing.

Should you watch it?

It is cute I guess, but it lost me to checking Facebook about halfway through the short. I shouldn’t get bored halfway through a nine minute short. Skip it.

Silly Symphony

Toby Tortoise Returns

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Original release date: August 22, 1936

Rating: TV-Y7 due to comical violence and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: seven fightin’ minutes

Background: “Toby Tortoise Returns,” as the name suggests, is a sequel to an early short starring Toby. In this case, it is the Silly Symphony “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

In addition to Toby and his hare nemesis Max Hare, other Silly Symphony stars such as the three little pigs and Big Bad Wolf appear.

Review:

We start immediately with the beginning of a boxing match between Toby and Max, the crowd cheering Max and laughing at Toby despite their history. They have drawn quite the crowd, so I hope they both pocketed some money from the promoter.

Max takes some early shots at the back of Toby’s head, followed by more to the front as the rabbits running the ambulance wonder if they need to offer help. Max takes a break to flirt with the same trio of bunnies from the first short before continuing to pound poor Toby.

Toby gets thrown out of the ring into the lap of Jenny Wren, a vixen of a sparrow from a Silly Symphony not yet on Disney+.

We take a break in between rounds as Max smokes a cigar and Toby aches. The bell rings and round two begins, Toby retreating inside his shell as Max does some Taz-level spinning. Toby decides to start taunting Max, saying “you’ll never catch me.”

This riles up Max, who reaches in to catch his hand on a mousetrap. He tries pouring water into the shell which, you know, isn’t going to bother a turtle. A bystander gives Max a box of fireworks, which doesn’t seem easy to bring into a sporting event. Max lights one up and throws it in the shell, which blows Toby to the sky and then back down to land some surprise assisted blows on Max. As you’d probably think, the fireworks continue to work for Toby, helping him land a win over Max.

I didn’t see anything culturally crazy. There are several instances of cigar smoking which probably wouldn’t make the cut in 2019.

Extras:

Nothing.

Should you watch it?

Meh. It’s okay but nothing worth really watching. Let’s say skip it.

Silly Symphony

Three Little Wolves

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Original release date: April 18, 1936

Rating: TV-Y7 and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: nine little minutes

Background: “Three Little Wolves,” a Silly Symphony, is the sequel to “The Big Bad Wolf” which is the sequel to “Three Little Pigs.” It’s a bit of Disney going to the well more than they should, something the company would perfect in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

While loosely based on “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” some viewers have noticed much more symbolism than that. To quote a sentence on Wikipedia, “In the opening scene, the Big Bad Wolf is instructing his three rowdy wolf pups in “German”, pointing to a chart of pork cuts and saying ‘Ist das nicht ein Sausage Meat’, etc., reinforcing the interpretation that he is a stand-in for Adolf Hitler.” Yikes.

Review:

We do indeed start at the house of B.B. Wolf, talking German and teaching his three little wolves about he choice cuts of pork. Maybe he just has good taste. He knows both English and German which is quite impressive. The wolves are pesky and even sing the “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” song.

Naturally the little pigs are doing the same, Overalls Pig doing housework and the other two doing obnoxious things. They find a wolf alarm and blow it, causing Overalls Pig to go into panic, grab his gun and head to the alarm site. There was no alarm, just obnoxious pigs instead.

“Some day the wolf will getcha,” Overalls Pig warns. The other two, having never learned a lesson a day in their life despite two previous shorts, just laugh. Meanwhile Big Bad and Little Bads creep in, Big Bad eventually taking on a Bo Peep-style costume. Somehow the two dumb pigs DON’T NOTICE it is the Wolf, I assume at this point because they are idiots, and lead Big Bad Peep to her three missing sheep, all who are very wolf-like.

The sheep wolves lead the pigs directly into their house, the pigs don’t notice and I’m at the point where they deserve to be eaten. They blow their wolf alarm and wrestle with the little wolves. Overalls Pig hears it, prepares… and then waves them off, knowing how they play.

Big Bad prepares a fire for the pigs, having tied them up in a pan, while one of the little wolves blows the horn in celebration. The pigs, having developed brains at some point, challenge the little wolf to blow the horn. He blows and the pigs call it a “sissy blow,” which leads to Big Bad himself blowing it so loud the world hears it.

Overalls Pig comes in a mustache, another clear disguise, and traps Big Bad in his new “wolf pacifier” invention. The wolf pacifier basically beats him up, then tars and feathers him followed by a nice shot out of a cannon. Little wolves go chasing after the wolf as the pigs march out, Overalls Pig carrying the Wolves’ granny bloomers as a flag.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

Nope.

Should you watch it?

Skip it unless you’re intrigued by war symbolism, in which case you should read up on the short on Wikipedia and then watch to compare. There was really no need for a third short in the series.

Silly Symphony

The Golden Touch

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Original release date: March 22, 1935

Rating: TV-Y7 and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: ten golden minutes

Background: “The Golden Touch” is a Disney Silly Symphony take on the story of King Midas.

There’s a bit of a backstory to this one. Walt Disney himself decided to direct this one, having not directed in five years and unhappy with the job other directors were doing. He was disappointed with the result of his own performance here and told his workers they couldn’t talk about it.

Well Walt, here we are talking about it. Sorry, boss.

Review:

We start with King Midas and his cat counting money and singing. Midas sings a song about being rich, his disinterest in women and wine, and his love of money. He does not sing about his creepy mustache.

Goldie the elf appears, offering Midas the golden touch, demonstrating it by turning the cat gold and back. Midas offers his kingdom, gold, and everything else for the golden touch. Goldie offers the rebuttal of the golden touch being a curse and the root of all evil. Midas isn’t listening, of course, and is given the golden touch.

Midas attempts to display the powers of the touch on his cat, running into a tree in the process and turning a tree, apples, and flowers gold in the process. He continues through the kingdom making things gold, like a birdbath, a fountain, and even one of his teeth.

He finds out what a curse this is as he sits down to eat, with first his fruit and then corn, his drink, and a turkey all turning gold. He can’t eat!

Midas goes mad, seeing a gold skeleton of himself and locking himself in his counting room. He begs for Goldie to reappear and rescue him from his golden curse. Goldie comes back and laughs at him, taking all of his gold, his royal outfit, and leaving him with a plain ol’ burger with onions.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

Not a one.

Should you watch it?

I could go either way, but let’s say “watch it.” It’s a good cautionary tale and isn’t as bad as Walt himself apparently thought it was.

Silly Symphony

The Tortoise and the Hare

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Original release date: January 5, 1935

Rating: TV-G and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: eight speedy minutes

Background: “The Tortoise and the Hare” is another Disney Silly Symphony inspired by one of Aesop’s many fables, this one having the same name as the short.

“Tortoise and the Hare” won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) and many think the hare is an early inspiration for Bugs Bunny.

Review:

Unlike many of the earlier Silly Symphony shorts listed as “Mickey Mouse Presents,” this one actually features a headshot of Mickey at the beginning.

We start off with a large crowd and an annoying police dog gathered for a big race: the tortoise vs. the hare. Max Hare enters to thunderous applause and grandstanding while Toby Tortoise gets laughs. Tortoise offers best wishes while Hare acts a fool. There is definitely a Bugs Bunny-style to Hare.

We get the starting whistle and the two take off, one at a much faster speed than the other. Tortoise gets stuck in his shell and laughed off the starting line while Hare races around and blows feathers off animals and leaves off trees. Noticing his lead, he starts to slow down while Tortoise does all he can to keep pace with snails.

Hare takes himself a nap and Tortoise tiptoes by, though Hare catches up and, again, acts a fool. We all know where this story is going, right?

Hare passes a girls’ school full of cute bunnies, which gives him a chance to flirt. The invite both racers in, which I guess means old lookin’ Tortoise appeals to younger women as well. Hare stops to show off, shooting an apple off of his own head via speed and several other tricks. Hare shows off for too long, even too long for me as viewer as I wanted the short to get moving already.

Tortoise hits the finish line first, shocking Hare and delighting the fickle crowd.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

None.

Should you watch it?

Eh, I guess I’ll say watch it. It drags on a bit but it is a good story and Toby reappears in a future short.

Silly Symphony

The Goddess of Spring

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Original release date: November 3, 1934

Rating: TV-Y7 because of I’ll assume Hades. “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: nine springy minutes

Background: Another in the long Silly Symphony line, “The Goddess of Spring” focuses on Persephone and Hades of Greek mythology.

While it didn’t win any awards itself, the short helped lead towards the animation style of the upcoming first Disney animated feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Review:

We begin with dancing flowers and fairies and Persephone dancing through the land, having a good ol’ time with nature. Birds do their Disney best and put a flower crown on her head while actual flowers do ballet and fairies dance around her.

Then all hell breaks loose – literally – as fire erupts from the ground, Pluto (in this case in the classic devil and not the dog we haven’t met yet), appears from the ground and… sings to her. He sing-requests her presence as queen of his underworld kingdom, which not surprisingly she denies. Meanwhile, the woodland creatures get into a fight with little devil creatures. Pluto takes her in his arms and down into the fire, sealing the ground. Well, we’re in hell now.

The little devils celebrate the capture of their new queen, who is awarded a nice throne, a tiara, and is surrounded by jewels as they sing and proclaim her queen of Hades. Fire rages. Devils dance. It’s quite the party. Lots of bright colors happen which is quite impressive.

Meanwhile, the fairies mourn near her flower crown and snow falls as she apparently had reverse Elsa powers, instead being able to keep the snow away. Back in hell, Pluto is still singing. He has quite the operatic voice and I’m not sure it’s punishment, really. He’s good. He awards her a giant diamond and she declines. Pluto is kind of a nice guy minus the kidnapping and bringing her down into a giant fire pit.

He sings, as he does, asking what he can do to make her happy. She responds in song – maybe the only way you can communicate in hell is by song? – and tells him that the only way she’ll be happy is to go back. He sings that he will let her go if she will spend six months above ground and six below, creating the seasons (excluding Georgia, where it is just hot except for three weeks of winter).

She returns above ground, snow melts, animals are happy, and birds bring her the flower crown. Sadly this is how it ends instead of with some humorous depictions of what happens when she returns for her time in hell.

Speaking of depictions, I noticed none of the culturally offensive variety.

Extras:

The devil’s singing was extra enough.

Should you watch it?

I enjoyed it as an oddball short, so I’ll recommend you watch it. Your mileage may vary and, depending on religious nature, the devil and hell imagery might not be what you want to see.

Silly Symphony

The Wise Little Hen

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Original release date: June 9, 1934

Rating: TV-G due to the wholesomeness of Donald Duck. “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: seven smart minutes

Background: Yet another Silly Symphony, “The Wise Little Hen” is very historic in Disney lore. Why? It was the debut of one Donald Duck. Donald of 1934 looks a bit different than Donald of 2019, as he has a small head and long neck, as you’d imagine from a goose, more so than the bigger head and no neck of today.

Review:

We start with a look at the hen’s house, as she heads out with a basket of corn and her baby chicks feeding in the yard. She cluck-sings about finding someone to help her plant her corn. The first victim is Peter Pig, the less famous of the new characters and a less famous version of Porky. He grunts a “no” to her pleading for corn-planting assistance and then laughs mischievously because he’s a jerk.

Henny finds the home of Donald Duck, who is dancing on top of his houseboat. She asks if he’ll help plant her corn and he, too, says nope. He feigns a bellyache and the Donald voice is immediately loveable and everything we’ve needed in cartoons. He too gives that jerk look as she leaves.

Henny and her chicks work together to plant the corn. Did she really even need help? Probably not. The chicks have little white shoes because… um… reasons, I guess.

The corn sprouts and she goes around to beg for help harvesting the corn. She interrupts Peter and Donald’s dance party, both again feigning those bellyaches. Peter is as annoying as Donald is great, but the way Henny sings the word “corn” is the most annoying of all.

The corn gets harvested, I assume by herself, and she makes cornbread, corn muffins, and regular ol’ cobs of corn. As the boys feign corn, she sings a request for others to help her eat her corn. They magically become healed and then are shut out, left with a basket of castor oil for stomachaches while she and the kids have a corn party. That’ll teach them.

I noticed nothing culturally distracting.

Extras:

There are no extra features.

Should you watch it?

Watch it. It’s the first appearance of Donald, who immediately becomes a great character, and is a fun short as well as one that might lead your kids to help around the house..