Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies, vintage cartoons from the 1930s

With the exception of the first short reviewed, the rest are all from Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies series. Disney won five straight Oscars for his shorts that are mostly taken from fables or well-known children's stories. These are all available on Youtube.com.

11/10/15 Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase, Best Animated Short, 1991

This should have been in the last posting on animation, but I lost track of where I was. So here it is. The short takes the viewer through a history of art, although not necessarily in chronological order. We watch as a Da Vinci morphs into a Van Gogh into a Gaughin into a Picasso. It was fun to see if I recognized the art and the artist.

Silly Symphonies
Flowers and Trees, Best Animated Short, 1931/1932 - Something about this short reminded me of the scene in Fantasia with the alligators and ostriches dancing, except with plant life. I really enjoyed this as the flora in the forest came alive. Disney perfected anthropomorphic characters and you can see that here with mushrooms and lilies and trees stretching and dancing. There were some flowers that might have been black-eyed Susans, but they seemed like they were flowers in black face; I don't know if I made that up or not. That was the only moment of pause for me, otherwise, it's a fun short.

Three Little Pigs, Best Animated Short, 1932/1933, National Film Registry - No need to explain the plot here, pretty straightforward, it shows the three little pigs building their houses of hay, sticks and bricks, which results in the big bad wolf being very disappointed. One thing I noticed that made me laugh were the pictures of 'mom' and 'dad'; the picture of mom was a sow with piglets, but poor dad was a sausage link. That's the kind of humor that you may or may not notice, but when you do, it's funny.

The Tortoise and the Hare, Best Animated Short, 1933/1934 - This re-telling of Aesop's fable holds no surprises, but it was still fun to watch; and even though you know the hare is going to lose, you still root for the tortoise and cheer when he wins.

Three Orphan Kittens, Best Animated Short, 1935 - This could have been a Tom & Jerry cartoon (as could The Country Cousin) with the feline shenanigans. Three little kittens are dumped outside a home in a snowstorm and make their way inside. They start to explore and play. They make quite a fuss and are discovered by the housekeeper/maid, who in the style of the times (which were less enlightened than we might admit) is a a black woman with a 'Mammy' outfit and accent. I was disappointed (and more than a little naive) because I thought when she came on in the very beginning that it was her house, but it was not. Like I said, in 1935, that was acceptable, it's really not acceptable now and it took any fun or enjoyment away. Almost as annoying was the little girl of the house who dressed the kittens up as babies. This is one I could do without.

The Country Cousin, Best Animated Short, 1936- Sometimes the grass is not always greener, but we have to find that out for ourselves, don't we? In this animated version of the country mouse and town mouse, Abner, the country mouse, receives a telegram from his town cousin, Monty, telling him to come and live the high life with him (this is Tom & Jerry without Tom). Abner is very impressed with the set up, an incredible spread of food that would make Old Country Buffet blush, and he goes about trying to taste it, but he's too loud for Monty's liking, and eventually, too drunk. So, while Monty may have a never-ending buffet, he can't really enjoy it. Abner winds up heading back to the country where he can be loud, uncouth and happy.

The Ugly Duckling, Best Animated Short, 1938 - This is an animated version of Hans Christian Andersen's story. Aesop and Andersen created stories that still hold the for generations. The story of the ugly duckling, which at one very simply level is to not judge a book by its cover, is relevant today, and it's told with a little bit of a raspberry at the end. A mother duck and her drake are waiting for their ducklings to hatch; they all hatch except one, and then, when it does, the baby does not look anything like its parents. Instead of accepting this addition, the ducks make the ugly duckling very uncomfortable and he eventually swims away. He happens upon some other swimming birds, who instead of turning away or shunning him, they welcome him to the family (bevy). It turns out, he's just like them, a baby swan (cygnet). As the bevy swims past the ducks, the former ugly duckling looks proud and happy and gives a virtual finger to his first family (that's how I choose to interpret it).