Alice's Day at Sea | |
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Directed by | Walt Disney |
Produced by | M. J. Winkler |
Starring | Virginia Davis, Spec O'Donnell |
Animation by | Walt Disney |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Winkler Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 11:20 |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Alice's Day at Sea is the first animated short film in the Alice Comedies series that was directed by Walt Disney. [1] It is black and white and silent, and features live action segments paired with animated sequences. It is a historically significant film as it was the first project created by the Disney Brothers Studio. Established by Roy and Walt Disney in Los Angeles on October 16, 1923, they worked from a rented back office of the Holly Vermont Realty located at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. Alice's Day at Sea was delivered to distributor M.J. Winkler on December 26, 1923, but wasn't released in theaters until March 1924.
On a bright, sunny morning, Alice and her pet dog go to the beach. They meet a sailor, and Alice asks if he ever shipwrecked. He tells her a story of his ship being attacked by a giant octopus. Excited by the story, Alice wishes that she were a sailor. She and her dog sit in a small boat, and Alice falls asleep.
In her dream, Alice's ship is caught up in a violent storm, and sinks to the bottom of the sea. She exits the ship and stands on the ocean floor, observing a group of fish playing music and dancing. Next, she sees Julius the Cat with a fish tail, leading three kitten-fish on a walk. She also sees other animals transformed into fish, including a cow and a "sea-lion". Meanwhile, an octopus emerges from his undersea cave, kills a fish, and eats it. Alice is laughing at their finny frolics, but stops when a gigantic fish comes after her, with the intention of eating her. She swims away, and then decides to hop into an undersea taxicab and drive away. The fish catches up, and swallows both Alice and the car. Then it eats a narwhal with a sharp tusk. Alice fights back from the inside, causing so much damage that the fish falls to the floor in a faint. Emerging from its mouth, the narwhal and the car are bandaged and on crutches, but Alice is unharmed. The fish comes after her again, and she hides behind a rock — which turns out to be an octopus. The octopus grabs her with its tentacles... which turns out to be a fishnet that Alice is tangled up with as her dream ends. The sailor helps to extricate Alice from the net, and they both laugh as she tells him about her funny dream.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the poster for this film was sold for $36,534 (£23,100 in the UK) at Christie's auction, the most valuable cartoon poster of all time up until then. Since the publication of that list, the poster for The Mad Doctor (1933), starring Mickey Mouse, has sold for $138,000 at Heritage Auctions (March 2006). [2]
The Alice Comedies are a series of live-action animated shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape. The shorts were the first work by what ultimately became The Walt Disney Company.
Donald's Cousin Gus is a Walt Disney cartoon released on May 19, 1939. Gus Goose debuted as a recurring character in Al Taliaferro's Donald Duck newspaper comic since 9 May 1938.
Margaret J. Winkler Mintz was a key figure in silent animation history, having a crucial role to play in the histories of Max and Dave Fleischer, Pat Sullivan, Otto Messmer, and Walt Disney. She was the first woman to produce and distribute animated films. Winkler was the subject of the feature film Walt Before Mickey.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen, and was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske. With the voices of Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway, Jerry Colonna and Kathryn Beaumont in her film debut, the film follows a young girl, Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole and enters a nonsensical world, Wonderland, which is ruled by the Queen of Hearts, while encountering strange creatures, including the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.
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Aesop's Fables is a series of animated short subjects, created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. Produced from 1921 to 1934, the series includes The Window Washers (1925), Scrambled Eggs (1926), Small Town Sheriff (1927), Dinner Time (1928), and Gypped in Egypt (1930). Dinner Time is the first cartoon with a synchronized soundtrack ever released to the public.
Turtle Talk with Crush is an interactive talk show type attraction that has appeared at several of the Disney theme parks. It first opened on November 16, 2004 at The Living Seas pavilion at Epcot and later at Disney California Adventure in July 2005. The attraction opened in Hong Kong Disneyland from May 24 to August 10, 2008 as part of the "Nonstop Summer Fun" celebration. The attraction also opened in Tokyo DisneySea on October 1, 2009.
Thru the Mirror is a 1936 American animated short film directed by David Hand from a story by William Cottrell and Joe Grant. In this cartoon short, Mickey Mouse has a Through the Looking-Glass-parody-like dream that he travels through his mirror and enters a topsy-turvy world where everything is alive. While there, he engages in a Fred Astaire dance number with a pair of gloves and a pack of cards, until the cards chase him out of the bizarre world. Produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists, it was the 83rd Mickey Mouse short film to be released, the fourth of that year.
Wild Waves is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on December 18, 1929, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the fifteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the twelfth of that year, as well as the last to be released by Celebrity Productions before Columbia Pictures took over distribution.
Alice's Wonderland is a 1923 Walt Disney short silent film, produced in Kansas City, Missouri by Laugh-O-Gram Studio. The black-and-white short was the first in a series of Walt Disney's famous Alice Comedies and had a working title of Alice in Slumberland. The film was never shown theatrically, but was instead shown to prospective film distributors.
The Barn Dance is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on March 15, 1929, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series; it was the first of twelve shorts released during that year. It was directed by Walt Disney with Ub Iwerks as the head animator. The title is written as Barn Dance on the poster, while the full title is used on the title screen.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure is a ride attraction based on the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, located in Paradise Gardens Park at Disney California Adventure and in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Park, where it is titled Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid. The ride opened on June 3, 2011 at Disney California Adventure, and on December 6, 2012 at Magic Kingdom.
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Alice Solves the Puzzle is a 1925 animated short film directed by Walt Disney. It was the 15th film in the Alice Comedies series, and is notable for being the first film to feature Pete, the longest-recurring Disney character. The film is also notable for being one of the first animated films to have been heavily censored.
Boat Builders is an animated short film produced by Walt Disney, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and released on February 25, 1938. The film was directed by Ben Sharpsteen and animated by Frenchy de Trémaudan, Louie Schmitt, Chuck Couch, Eddie Strickland, Clyde Geronimi, Paul Satterfield, Archie Robin, Don Patterson. It was the 99th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the first for that year.
The Whalers is a cartoon produced by Walt Disney Productions, released by RKO Radio Pictures on August 19, 1938, and featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy.
Frolicking Fish is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1930.
The Beach Party is a 1931 Mickey Mouse animated short film directed by Burt Gillett, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was the thirty-fourth short in the Mickey Mouse film series, and the tenth produced that year.
The Picnic is a 1930 American animated short film directed by Burt Gillett and produced by Walt Disney. It was first released on October 9, 1930, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the twenty-third Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the eighth of that year.
The Fire Fighters is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on June 20, 1930, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the nineteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the fourth of that year.