The Overture to 'William Tell' (1947) User Reviews

Fun With The Classics

[Ted-5 · 8/10 · 17 September 2003]

Seems to combine the Fleisher Brothers ("A Car-tune Portrait"), Walt Disney ("The Band Concert"), Milt Britton (whose comedy band destroyed all instruments by the end of their concert), and, of course, Spike Jones. It's interesting to note that Spike used the gag of the dwarf playing the bass fiddle from the inside (!) AFTER this 1947 cartoon was made. After a while you lose track of who might be copying who, and just enjoy the good fun. The advantage of musical cartoons (and Lantz made many!) is that they hold up well after repeated viewing.

As anyone forced to play in an orchestra . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 7/10 · 7 August 2023]

. . . for at least six years well knows, orchestral music is the sort of thing to drive a person nuts. THE OVERTURE TO WILLIAM TELL does a good job of illustrating some of the many pitfalls that will be familiar to anyone who has labored down in the pit. First chair violinists put the VI in vile, fancying themselves to be some sort of "concert masters." Their highfalutin ways often involve rich relatives springing for their "private lessons"--usually a payola scheme cooked up by the very miscreants who appointed them to be "First Chair" in the first place! And percussionists--don't get me started. Throw in some honking horns, squeaky reeds and bumbling basses--you've got the total recipe for disaster!

Lantz, like Disney and other studios, made music the starting point for a series of cartoons

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 30 October 2006]

This short was one of a series of shorts Walter Lantz made which were built around either a musical piece or a musical style, with classical and jazz predominating. Here, a very familiar piece of classical music was used to show the "workings" of an orchestra. I plan on discussing some details, so there will be spoilers:

In a fairly rare short featuring Wally Walrus without Woody Woodpecker around to give him problems (I can't think of another one at the moment, so this may be the only one) Wally conducts an orchestra in a performance of "The William Tell Overture". Much of the orchestra appears to be either dozing or disinterested, even while they're playing! There are various sight gags having to do with rather odd playing styles and with musicians startled from slumber. Some are actually playing while they're asleep.

Then comes a "dramatic" effect-a stagehand actually creates the conditions of a thunderstorm in the concert hall. Lightning strikes one horn player with a nice visual gag as the payoff, various musicians take shelter from the rain in different (usually very humorous) ways and the climax comes when the stagehand pulls the plug (literally) to drain the water out.

You now see musicians drying out their instruments and sheet music. The end of the short comes, rather incongruously, when a horse is struck by a musical instrument and a rather indignant horsefly comes out and starts annoying Wally Walrus. Wally's efforts to get the horsefly result in the destruction of the performance and the orchestra.

Excellent use of classical music to time the movement of animation. Well worth watching. Recommended.

Rossini would be proud!

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 27 May 2023]

A vast majority of Walter Lantz's work ranges between well worth seeing and must watches, even if some theatrical series are better than others (not unexpected as that is true of pretty much every animation director). He was responsible for some misses, but on the whole he hit more than he missed. Absolutely loved the premise, it is one that has been used by every prolific animation studio and most prolific directors but it's a timeless one also. Wally has always been fun to me though he is better as co-lead to Woody Woodpecker or in support.

He does however fare very well in the lead role in one of Lantz's best cartoons in my view. 'The Overture to William Tell' may not be one of the all time great cartoons centered around music (most classical), am thinking of 'The Cat Concerto', 'Tom and Jerry at the Hollywood Bowl', 'The Band Concert', 'What's Opera Doc', 'The Rabbit of Seville', 'A Corny Concerto' and 'Rhapsody Rabbit' at the top of my head, but it is still great and does a great job with a timeless concept and shows near-perfectly why this reviewer loves it so much.

It is slight story wise and doesn't immediately find momentum straightaway.

However, everything else is wonderful. The best aspect is the music, which is outstanding. Well it is Rossini and one of the most iconic overtures in all opera that has been very popular in popular culture for decades. It is wonderfully arranged, with clever ways of odd mistakes playing that plays a big part in the humour. Also standing out massively is the climax, which is a laugh and wonderfully chaotic filled riot equal to the climax of 'Tom and Jerry at the Hollywood Bowl' in impact.

Really liked the animation, which is at its best excellent. Very rich and vibrant in colour with clever nuanced details whether big and small. 'The Overture to William Tell' is very funny to hilarious throughout, loved the way the music was played and the orchestral players' reactions and behaviours but as said the climax is where the cartoon is at its funniest.

Despite the story being slight it doesn't in any way affect the energy, which bursts with life. Wally proves that he can work well on his own and he does a strong amusing personality that isn't hard to sympathise with in this situation.

Concluding, excellent. 9/10.