Arctic Antics

Arctic Antics
Directed by	Burt Gillett or Ub Iwerks
Produced by	Walt Disney
Music by	Bert Lewis
Animation by	Wilfred Jackson Gilles de Trémaudan David Hand Les Clark Norman Ferguson Ben Sharpsteen Dick Lundy Johnny Cannon Jack King
Backgrounds by	Emil Flohri Carlos Manríquez
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	June 26, 1930 (1930-06-26)
Running time	7:00
Country	United States
Language	English

Arctic Antics is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released on June 26, 1930. ^[1]

The director of the short is uncertain. Ub Iwerks' name is on the draft, but Iwerks had left the Walt Disney Studio four months before the animators started producing the cartoon. In Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series, Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman say that it is "likely, but uncertain" that Burt Gillett directed the short. After Iwerks left, Gillett directed all but one of the subsequent 1930 Silly Symphonies. Further, the scenes of the singing walrus and the applauding seals are lifted directly from Wild Waves , a Mickey Mouse short directed by Gillett in late 1929. ^[1]

Plot

The title card shows. After that, it fades to a polar landscape, the camera cuts to a mother polar bear letting its cub play around, which then she kicks it off while the cub is surfing with a piece of ice. We then see some polar bears, seals and walruses dancing ang swimming. Cut back to that cub using its tail to motor an ice block. We then see the mother bear dancing (possibly twerking). The camera cuts to a walrus chasing a mischievous fish (maybe an arctic char) before the walrus lets out its anger when the fish escapes. Then, four seals are seen dancing until, they jump into the water. We then see even more seals back on land surrounding another seal seemingly playing with its food before eating it. Yet again, we see another seal using the before mentioned walrus as an instrument, before the walrus scares the seal away before singing. The walrus ends up winding himself but gets a fish (maybe THE fish) as a prize. The camera pans away towards some penguins, a gag of this section is that the tiny penguin cannot pay attention to the large penguin. After a bit of parading and stuff, the penguins whistle the ending and fade into darkness, as the short ends.

Reception

The Film Daily (September 21, 1930): "Swell cartoon entertainment is this Walt Disney subject, one of the Silly Symphony series. Delightfully goofy stuff. Against an Arctic background, cartooned native animals go through the gestures of singing and dancing. The characters move in synchronism with the music. It is packed with laughs for everybody from six to sixty, and then some". ^[2]

Variety (June 30, 1931): "As good as any in this series, which is pretty good. Drawing and synchronization carefully done with none of the hackneyed tricks which spoil so many cartoon shorts. Parade of penguins to the tune of "The Wooden Soldier" is a sure laugh anywhere with a dance by the seals not far behind". ^[3]

Home media

The short was released on December 19, 2006, on Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two . ^[1]

References

1. Merritt, Russell; Kaufman, J. B. (2016). Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Disney Editions. pp. 76–77. ISBN   978-1-4847-5132-9.
2. "Appraisals of New Short Subjects". The Film Daily . September 21, 1930. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
3. "Talking Shorts". Variety : 15. June 30, 1931. Retrieved February 23, 2020.

External links

• Arctic Antics at IMDb