A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.
Mickey's pal finds himself becoming MOTHER PLUTO when he attracts the affections of a brood of neglected chicks.
Pluto is in very sophisticated surroundings indeed with his starring role in a SILLY SYMPHONY short, an accomplishment even The Mouse never achieved. The film is fun to watch and the animation is excellent. No dialogue is needed, as the plot is driven along by the visuals & the soundtrack (music mavens will recognize `Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?' and `John Brown's Body'). Florence Gill, hilarious as always, vocalizes the hen's clucks.
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.