This is an early Disney cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse. There will be spoilers:
It is said that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. With regard to the development of both Mickey Mouse specifically and Disney cartoons generally, the early Mickey Mouse shorts show the evolution of Disney animation. The early shorts, while certainly fun to watch to a greater or lesser degree, are the baby steps which had to happen for shorts like The Band Concert to be as good as they are. Disney animators learned their craft in the early days.
I selected this short because it's all but impossible to avoid comparing it to The Band Concert. This short suffers in comparison, somewhat unfairly, because five years is a long time and you progress rapidly if you study what you do long enough.
The gags here are typical of the types of gags being used in the late 1920s-early 1930s. The gags are cute enough, but they aren't as sharp and the timing isn't always as good as it could be. The best gag is the concluding one, where The Law of Unintended Consequences bites Mickey. There's an outhouse gag and Mickey gets music from animals, both staples of animation in this period. These shorts were a training ground and the payoff is the quality of the average short just four or five years later. The same holds for the Silly Symphonies series, where more experimentation was done. A hairpiece being sucked in by a tuba is nice training for an animator on the road to even better work.
This short is available on the Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two Disney Treasures DVD set and is well worth tracking down.
It is said that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. With regard to the development of both Mickey Mouse specifically and Disney cartoons generally, the early Mickey Mouse shorts show the evolution of Disney animation. The early shorts, while certainly fun to watch to a greater or lesser degree, are the baby steps which had to happen for shorts like The Band Concert to be as good as they are. Disney animators learned their craft in the early days.
I selected this short because it's all but impossible to avoid comparing it to The Band Concert. This short suffers in comparison, somewhat unfairly, because five years is a long time and you progress rapidly if you study what you do long enough.
The gags here are typical of the types of gags being used in the late 1920s-early 1930s. The gags are cute enough, but they aren't as sharp and the timing isn't always as good as it could be. The best gag is the concluding one, where The Law of Unintended Consequences bites Mickey. There's an outhouse gag and Mickey gets music from animals, both staples of animation in this period. These shorts were a training ground and the payoff is the quality of the average short just four or five years later. The same holds for the Silly Symphonies series, where more experimentation was done. A hairpiece being sucked in by a tuba is nice training for an animator on the road to even better work.
This short is available on the Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two Disney Treasures DVD set and is well worth tracking down.