Given that this is a short which was directed by Ub Iwerks and it's an early sound cartoon, it's hardly surprising that this is, first and foremost, a very visually oriented short. It has some excellent animation and some beautifully rendered creatures. Because I want to discuss the short a bit, this is a spoiler warning:
The basic conceit here is simple: a rather comical rendering of Hell, at least for the most part. The beginning is very striking, with sequences showing a dragon and the three-headed dog out of Greek mythology, Cerberus, which shows up on two occasions. They are vividly shown and one of the highlights of the short.
Then Satan and his imps start to throw a rather raucous celebration, which is a good showcase for the musical efforts of Carl Stallings, best known for his work for Warner Brothers on the Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. This is an enjoyable sequence, culminating in imps bringing Satan flaming hot "milk" from a dragon, which he drinks with gusto. As a "reward" for their efforts, Satan proceeds to feed one to one of the heads of Cerberus, with one head getting the imp, the second swallowing and the third licking its chops. Before he can feed a second imp to his hungry guard dog, the imp, perhaps not wishing to go the way of his comrade, suddenly recalls an urgent appointment elsewhere and takes off, with Satan in "hot" pursuit. The imp gets the last laugh by sending Satan tumbling off the end of a cliff.
This short is available on the More Silly Symphonies set fro the Disney Treasures series of DVD releases which saw release in December 2006 and it and the DVD set are highly recommended.
The basic conceit here is simple: a rather comical rendering of Hell, at least for the most part. The beginning is very striking, with sequences showing a dragon and the three-headed dog out of Greek mythology, Cerberus, which shows up on two occasions. They are vividly shown and one of the highlights of the short.
Then Satan and his imps start to throw a rather raucous celebration, which is a good showcase for the musical efforts of Carl Stallings, best known for his work for Warner Brothers on the Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. This is an enjoyable sequence, culminating in imps bringing Satan flaming hot "milk" from a dragon, which he drinks with gusto. As a "reward" for their efforts, Satan proceeds to feed one to one of the heads of Cerberus, with one head getting the imp, the second swallowing and the third licking its chops. Before he can feed a second imp to his hungry guard dog, the imp, perhaps not wishing to go the way of his comrade, suddenly recalls an urgent appointment elsewhere and takes off, with Satan in "hot" pursuit. The imp gets the last laugh by sending Satan tumbling off the end of a cliff.
This short is available on the More Silly Symphonies set fro the Disney Treasures series of DVD releases which saw release in December 2006 and it and the DVD set are highly recommended.