User Reviews

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey's musicians swing a real BLUE RHYTHM as they perform a wacky version of "St. Louis Blues."

There's no dialogue in this black & white film...and hardly any plot. We do learn a bit more about the musical talents of the gang: Mickey plays clarinet; Horace Horsecollar, the saxophone; Clarabelle Cow, the bass; and even Pluto plays a mean trombone.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Granted Blue Rhythm is not laugh-a-minute and it doesn't have the strongest story in the world(with the middle act not that much different from other Disney concert shorts, except being in a different setting), but none of that matters- plus neither are always bad points- because Blue Rhythm is a joy everywhere else. The obvious high point is the music, which is in all fairness though always one of the consistent best things about the Disney shorts, it was nice to hear a style that was different from popular songs and pieces that is usually heard. It was a very jazz and swing style which gave the short so much lively energy and is so catchy it makes you want to get up and dance. The animation is the other big high-point, the black and white is remarkably crisp and Mickey and the other characters have much fluidity in their movements. Mickey's facial expressions from having the time of his life to irritation is so well done we actually feel his emotions with him. But the visual standout was at the very beginning with the large silhouette of Mickey that later scaled down, a very clever piece of animation and one of the most effective openings to a Disney short in my view. As said, Blue Rhythm is not exactly laugh-a-minute but it is still immensely entertaining, a standout being Mickey's interaction with the piano with his expressions even funnier and the use of seeing everybody in the band and having short close-up sequences was a clever move. All the characters work well individually and together, particularly Mickey(not surprising considering that he's the lead and has shown that he is the perfect lead character for a concert short), but it was also really interesting to see Pluto in a more human-like role to how he usually is. In conclusion, lots of fun and looks and sounds wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I've decided to look at these musical pieces individually and ignore the fact that so many the Silly Symphony pieces feature a sameness. This one is in color and I don't know where it fits in the Disney canon in respect to that. Disney obviously chose Mickey to be a master musician, performer, and conductor. Here we have the usual suspects playing and performing to some classic blues. It is well done, involving little plot and portraying its jazzy rhythms nicely.

Absolutely delightful and even hilarious in parts! Actually got some laughs out of me! Minnie and Mickey's singing was so bizarre it was really funny! Like many of these Cinephone films, they sound quite rough, especially to start, but my enjoyment was really not hampered by it! I love seeing the iconic classic Disney characters and having their mysteries and idiosyncrasies gradually revealed to me. The old goat man (here with a clone), Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, that little tiny creature at the end who also featured in The Birthday Party, and I think most interestingly of all, Pluto, Mickey's dog, who at this stage had become somewhat anthropomorphic, bothering his master by playing a trombone, and wearing white gloves while doing it! Definitely some weirdness and continuity errors (like with the long shot of Minnie and the slide of the trombone after Mickey breaks and shortens it restoring in the next cut) but overall great classical *and* jazz music, great animation, iconic characters, and a delight to see and hear! Mickey's performance on the piano was more enjoyable than usual (wonderfully "gagged up", as Walt would say). Just so much better than earlier concert cartoons like "The Opry House", and the chewing gum gag was a nice new surprise (despite the fact that it took me some time to figure out what it was supposed to be)

Despite the weirdness, uneven (terrible to poor) sound recording quality (even for its time) and animation errors, I will bump this to a solid 8/10 for the fascinating historical value alone.