Toby Tortoise Returns (1936)

Director:

Wilfred Jackson

Writer:

Ward Kimball (writer)

Release Date:

22 August 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Short

Plot:

Max Hare is boxing Toby Tortoise, and beating him severely in round one. Between rounds, a Mae West...

Plot Keywords:

Tortoise | Boxing | Max Hare | Practical Pig | Silly Symphony

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2206)

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Characters from other Silly Symphony cartoons appear in the audience. Jenny Wren from Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935), and Practical Pig from Three Little Pigs (1933) (as the bell ringer) are the most visible. Also appearing are Dirty Bill from The Robber Kitten (1935), Elmer and Tillie from Elmer Elephant (1936), the Harpo Marx bird from Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935), and Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig from Three Little Pigs (1933). Goofy, Donald Duck and Horace Horsecollar also appear.

Movie Connections:

References The Robber Kitten (1935)

Soundtrack:

Stars and Stripes Forever

Disney's Tortoise Versus Hare, Round Two

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

TOBY TORTOISE RETURNS to compete once more with Max Hare, this time in the boxing ring. What's needed now is some fancy footwork, but all Toby has to offer is 'slow and steady'...

This little film, a follow-up to THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE (1935), is enjoyable & entertaining, but not on the same stylistic level as its Oscar-winning predecessor. Several characters from other SILLY SYMPHONIES make cameo appearances, including the Three Little Pigs and Jenny Wren.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.