| Birds in the Spring | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | David Hand |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Music by | Darrell Calker |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date | March 11, 1933 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Birds in the Spring is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1933. [1]
Various birds are seen building nests and caring for eggs. One pair anxiously awaits the hatching of three eggs, then joyfully summon all the other birds to see their new hatchlings. Time jumps forward to when the hatchlings are fully fledged, learning to sing and fly. One becomes lost and explores the ground, encountering grasshoppers, humming birds and then a rattlesnake that attempts to eat the baby bird. The bird manages to lead the snake into tying itself into a knot, but the chick takes shelter in a hornet's nest. The parents rescue it from the angry hornets, and the film ends with the father bird spanking the chick.
On March 21, 1933, The Film Daily said: "One of the niftiest little numbers of its kind to come along. Workmanship is the height of color cartoon art, and the idea in back of the action is both clever and highly amusing. It shows birds nesting in the spring, with the mother eventually hatching a trio of youngsters, who are then taught to sing, fly, etc. For kids or grownups, it's a pip." [2]
The short was released on December 19, 2006, on Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two . [1] Prior to that, the featurette also appeared on the Walt Disney Cartoon Classics Limited Gold Edition: Silly Symphonies VHS in the 1980s.
Silly Symphony is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually had independent continuity and did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time. The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck making his first appearance in the Silly Symphony cartoon The Wise Little Hen in 1934. Seven shorts won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The Old Mill is a 1937 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Wilfred Jackson, scored by Leigh Harline, and released theatrically to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on November 5, 1937. The film depicts the natural community of animals populating an old abandoned windmill in the country, and how they deal with a severe summer thunderstorm that nearly destroys their habitat. It incorporates the song "One Day When We Were Young" from Johann Strauss II's operetta The Gypsy Baron.
The Skeleton Dance is a 1929 Silly Symphony animated short subject produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. In the film, four human skeletons dance and make music around a spooky graveyard—a modern film example of medieval European "danse macabre" imagery. It is the first entry in the Silly Symphony series.
Three Little Pigs is an animated short film released on May 25, 1933 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on the fable of the same name, the Silly Symphony won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film of 1933. The short cost $22,000 and grossed $250,000.
Summer is a Walt Disney short film released on January 6, 1930. Directed by Ub Iwerks, it is the sequel to the short Springtime (1929). It is 6 minutes long.
The Practical Pig is a Silly Symphony cartoon. It was released on February 24, 1939, and directed by Dick Rickard. It was the fourth and final cartoon starring The Three Pigs. Like its prequels, The Practical Pig incorporates the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?". Unlike its prequels however, this was labeled as a standalone "Three Little Pigs Cartoon", suggesting that they were to get their own series of cartoons. It is also the second-to-last Silly Symphony cartoon.
The first wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on December 4, 2001. It includes four different DVD sets.
The sixth wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on December 19, 2006. It contains four separate DVD sets.
The Ugly Duckling is an animated film from 1939 by Walt Disney, based on the 1843 fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was directed by Jack Cutting and Clyde Geronimi, and released in theaters on April 7, 1939. Music was composed by Albert Hay Malotte, who was uncredited for the film. The animated short was first distributed by RKO Radio Pictures.
The Ugly Duckling is an animated black-and-white cartoon released by Walt Disney in 1931 as part of the Silly Symphonies series. This cartoon was later remade into a color version released in 1939.
King Neptune is a 1932 cartoon by Walt Disney, the second in the Silly Symphonies series produced in Technicolor. While Flowers and Trees was originally intended as a black and white cartoon, King Neptune was meant to be in colors already from the start, and was able to take full advantage of this.
Mother Pluto is a Silly Symphonies cartoon released on November 14, 1936, directed by David Hand. The cartoon features Pluto.
The Spider and the Fly is a 1931 Silly Symphonies cartoon.
Birds of a Feather is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released on February 10, 1931, by Columbia Pictures.
Springtime is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1929. It was the third Silly Symphonies film to be produced, just five days before the 1929 Stock Market Crash.
Monkey Melodies is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1930 as the 13th film in the Silly Symphony Series.
The Bird Store is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released on January 16, 1932, by Columbia Pictures. The cartoon marks the first recorded voice work of Clarence Nash for Walt Disney Productions, and it was also the final cartoon in the Silly Symphonies series to be released by Columbia Pictures.
Cock o' the Walk is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1935.
Woodland Café is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was filmed in Technicolor and released by United Artists in 1937 and was re-issued by RKO Radio Pictures in 1948. While it contained no on-screen credits, Wilfred Jackson was the director and Leigh Harline was the musical director.
Farmyard Symphony is a 1938 Silly Symphonies animated short film. It can be seen as a precursor to Fantasia due to using various pieces of classical music in one short. The film was directed by Jack Cutting and produced by Walt Disney.
Silly Symphony film series | |
|---|---|
| 1929 | |
| 1930 | |
| 1931 | |
| 1932 | |
| 1933 | |
| 1934 | |
| 1935 | |
| 1936 | |
| 1937 | |
| 1938 | |
| 1939 | |
 | This article about a Disney animated film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
