Frolicking Fish

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Frolicking Fish
Directed by Burt Gillett
Produced by Walt Disney
Music by Bert Lewis
Animation byJohnny Cannon
Les Clark
Norman Ferguson
Merle Gilson
David Hand
Wilfred Jackson
Jack King
Tom Palmer
Ben Sharpsteen [1]
Backgrounds byEmil Flohri
Carlos Manríquez
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
May 8, 1930
Running time
6:02
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Frolicking Fish is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1930. [2]

Contents

Summary

The animals dance and make music at the bottom of the sea: at seat, a fish rides on a seahorse, while another fish plays with a huge anchor. A group of fish dance around a chest. An angry octopus comes out of the chest and tries to catch the fish, but they escape. Then the octopus comes out of the chest. Near a boat a fish dance takes place, led by two sea lobsters. In another orchestra, a fish leads three fish, who play bucios and a fish skeleton with its maracas. A lobster plays a harmonica. Starfish and clams (located behind the stars) also dance in a line. A group of fish jump on the stomach of a larger fish, one at a time, causing the fish to expel a bubble for each fish that jumps on it. The fish, once they leave the big fish behind, play with the bubbles. The octopus pops the bubbles. A bubble encloses a fish that was playing with it. The octopus plays with the bubble, but the fish manages to get out of it and the octopus chases it. The fish pushes a boat anchor and it crushes the octopus.

Reception

The Film Daily (September 28, 1930): "An undersea exhibition that keeps the patrons chuckling all the way. All sorts of fantastic fish are put through a dizzy series of dances, drills and whatnot, in tune to some unusually fitting music. The chief amusement is provided by a villainous octopus chasing a fish, but the wicked one is given the k.o. in the end when the smart little fish drops an anchor on him from a sunken vessel. One of the best in the Silly Symphonies series". [3]

Motion Picture News (September 27, 1930): "This Walt Disney cartoon packs all the stuff you've seen time after time with fishes instead of delirium tremens animals, dancing, talking, singing and cavorting about. Didn't get a chuckle out of a New York audience. The public is fed up on this type of stuff". [4]

Variety (September 24, 1930): "Entertaining musical cartoon comedy. Scenes are all under water, with the cartoon characters all fish. Fish dance and sing and are given comedy musical synchronization. Octopus is the villain and gets his at the end, when he chases a fish through a sunken ship. Anchor falls and squashes him". [5]

Home media

The short was released on December 19, 2006, on Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two . [2]

Related Research Articles

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Burton F. Gillett was a director of animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Disney, particularly the 1932 short film Flowers and Trees and the 1933 short film Three Little Pigs, both of which were awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and both of which were selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry.

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References

  1. ↑ "Disney's "Frolicking Fish" (1930) |".
  2. 1 2 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. 74–75. ISBN   978-1-4847-5132-9.
  3. ↑ "Reviews of Sound Shorts". The Film Daily : 11. September 28, 1930. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Short Subjects". Motion Picture News: 43. September 27, 1930. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Talking Shorts". Variety : 23. September 24, 1930. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
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