Music Land

Last updated
Music Land
Directed by Wilfred Jackson
Written by Pinto Colvig
Produced by Walt Disney
Music by Leigh Harline
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
October 5, 1935 (1935-10-05)
Running time
10 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Music Land is a Silly Symphony animated Disney short released in 1935. [1]

Contents

Plot

The short begins by showing a map of Music Land, before zooming in to show the Land of Symphony, a massive classical-themed kingdom where the princess (an anthropomorphized violin) grows bored with the slow ballroom dancing and sneaks out.

Across the Sea of Discord is the Isle of Jazz, a giant jazz-themed kingdom alive with hot jazz music and dancing, but the prince (an alto saxophone) takes little interest in it. Sneaking out, he spots the princess across the sea with the aid of a clarinet-telescope, and instantly falls in love with her. He quickly travels across the sea on a xylophone boat to meet her.

Their flirting is interrupted, however, when the princess' mother (a cello) sends her guards to lock the prince in a metronome prison tower. To escape this predicament, he writes a note for help (the melody of "The Prisoner's Song") and passes it to a bird, which brings it to his father (a baritone saxophone), who raises the battle cry - a jazz version of the military tune "Assembly".

The Isle of Jazz deploys its multi-piece band as artillery, bombarding a quarter of the Land of Symphony with explosive musical notes to a jazz/swing number. The Land of Symphony returns fire via organ pipes that rotate into cannons, launching and roaring extremely loud and furious musical interceptors to the refrains of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries".

The princess intervenes to stop the war by waving the flag of surrender, but falls into the sea when a symphony note hits her boat. The prince struggles to escape his cell, but an explosive note helps him by landing next to it and blowing it up, and he rushes to save her, but ends up struggling as well. Both parents see what is happening and quickly cease fire to rescue their children. When they finally save their children, separate them from each other, and start to glare at each other, the king starts taking a liking to the queen, and they decide to make peace via handshake. The story ends on a happy note with a double wedding, between the prince and princess, and the king and queen, presided over by a double bass minister, as the citizens of both lands dance on the newly built Bridge of Harmony and a rainbow with musical notes all over it appears in the sky as the Land of Symphony rebuilds itself.

Production

In an attempt to bridge the gap between classical music and jazz, the short features music from Beethoven's Eroica and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", as well as various popular classical, jazz, and miscellaneous tunes. [2] The film contains no actual speech, but has the characters instead communicate with musical tones, with each 'speaking' through use of the sound of the particular instrument upon which they are based. [2] [3]

According to Leonard Maltin, the film's story originated in the genuine musical dilemma of American society; some people in the 1930s viewed jazz as the end of civilization, similar to how some parents today tend to be perplexed by their children's music interests. Incidentally, the saxophone prince's father is a caricature of the "King of Jazz", Paul Whiteman.

The film was edited into a Walt Disney Presents episode titled "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" (after the 1953 short) in 1959 with reorchestrated music and narration by Professor Owl (Bill Thompson), and was featured in Walt Disney Cartoon Classics Limited Gold Edition II: The Disney Dream Factory (1985), The Best of Disney: 50 Years of Magic (1991), Songs of the Silly Symphonies (2001), and The Making of 'Pinocchio': No Strings Attached (2009). Since then, the Walt Disney Presents episode, "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" and its reorchesrated version of the cartoon, Music Land, had been long forgotten.

In an exhibition of "some of the most inspired and memorable uses of classical music in animation", [4] the film was screened in its entirety at 'What's Opera, Doc? – Animation and Classical Music' as part of the 'Marc Davis Celebration of Animation' hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills in May 2010. [5]

Recognition

The Austin Chronicle writes that as one of the earliest of the Silly Symphonies, "Music Land is a place fraught with tension, with the Sea of Discord lying between the Isle of Jazz and the Land of Symphony", and that the action is hardly as dramatic as Saving Private Ryan . It is noted that "it is the first glimpse, as well, of a critical aspect of animating inanimates: how to use an object's structural particulars -- the tuning peg on a cello, the mouthpiece on a saxophone -- to best effect." [1]

In Dictionary of Films by Georges Sadoul and Peter Morris, it is offered that the film has "an extraordinary range of graphic design and an imaginative use of sound." [5] [6]

Home media

The short has been released several times on VHS, the first time in 1985 on Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Limited Gold Edition II - The Disney Dream Factory: 1933-1938 and 1991's Walt Disney Mini-Classics: Peter and the Wolf.

It was later released three times on DVD. The first time in 2000 as a bonus feature on Make Mine Music , on December 4, 2001 on Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics [7] and in 2005 on Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites: Volume 6 - Extreme Music Fun .

Related Research Articles

<i>The Wise Little Hen</i> 1934 Silly Symphony cartoon

The Wise Little Hen is a 1934 Walt Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon, based on the fable The Little Red Hen. The cartoon features the debut of Donald Duck, dancing to "The Sailor's Hornpipe". Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoid work by faking stomach aches until Mrs. Hen teaches them the value of labor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl W. Stalling</span> American composer (1891–1972)

Carl William Stalling was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.

The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928, began to decline around 1957, and ended by 1969, when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the Golden Age were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited animation techniques by companies such as Terrytoons, UPA, Famous Studios, Jay Ward Productions, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, Rankin/Bass and Filmation. In artefact, the history of animation became very important in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ward Kimball</span> American animator and jazz trombonist

Ward Walrath Kimball was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honored with two Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.

<i>Flowers and Trees</i> 1932 Silly Symphony cartoon

Flowers and Trees is a Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932. It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-color three-strip Technicolor process after several years of two-color Technicolor films. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning the first Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject.

<i>Melody Time</i> 1948 animated film by Walt Disney

Melody Time is a 1948 American live-action and animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney. It was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular music and folk music, the film is, like Make Mine Music before it, the popular music version of Fantasia. Melody Time, while not meeting the artistic accomplishments of Fantasia, was mildly successful.

<i>The Skeleton Dance</i> 1929 film

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. In 1993, to coincide with the opening of Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, a shortened cover of the cartoon's music was arranged to be featured in the land's background ambiance. The short's copyright was renewed in 1957, and as a published work from 1929 it will enter the US public domain on January 1, 2025.

<i>Three Little Pigs</i> (film) 1933 short animated film directed by Burt Gillett

Three Little Pigs is a 1933 animated short film released 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. The short cost $22,000 and grossed $250,000.

<i>Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom</i> 1953 film directed by Ward Kimball and Charles August Nichols

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom is an American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Ward Kimball and Charles A. Nichols. A sequel to the first Adventures in Music cartoon, the 3-D short Melody, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom is a stylized presentation of the evolution of the four orchestra sections over the ages with: the brass ("toot"), the woodwind ("whistle"), the strings ("plunk"), and the percussion ("boom").

<i>The Tortoise and the Hare</i> (film) 1935 film

The Tortoise and the Hare is an American animated short film part of the Silly Symphony series, released on January 5, 1935, by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Wilfred Jackson. Based on an Aesop's fable of the same name, it won the 1934 Oscar for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. This cartoon is also believed to be one of the inspirations for Bugs Bunny by Warner Bros., who first appeared in 1940.

<i>The Pied Piper</i> (1933 film) 1933 American film

The Pied Piper is an American Pre-Code animated short film based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The short was produced by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Wilfred Jackson, and released on September 16, 1933, as a part of the Silly Symphonies series.

<i>Wynken, Blynken and Nod</i> (film) 1938 American film

Wynken, Blynken & Nod is a 1938 Silly Symphonies cartoon, adapted from Eugene Field's poem of the same name. Like other Symphonies at the time, it utilized the multiplane camera. It was directed by Graham Heid, produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The three children bore similarities to Michael Darling in the 1953 Disney feature film, Peter Pan.

<i>The Robber Kitten</i> 1935 film

The Robber Kitten is a 1935 Walt Disney Silly Symphonies cartoon, directed by David Hand.

Mother Goose Melodies is a 1931 Silly Symphonies animated film, directed by Burt Gillett. Two years later it was semi remade in Technicolor as Old King Cole.

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. The short's copyright was renewed in 1957, so it will enter the US public domain on January 1, 2025.

The Busy Beavers is a 1931 Silly Symphonies animated film, directed by Burt Gillett.

<i>Father Noahs Ark</i> 1933 film

Father Noah's Ark is a Walt Disney Silly Symphonies animated film. It is based on the story of Noah's Ark. The short's musical score is an adaptation of the first dance in Ludwig van Beethoven's 12 Contredanses. The cartoon was released on April 8, 1933.

<i>The Goddess of Spring</i> 1934 American film

The Goddess of Spring is a 9-minute Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. The Symphony is imbued with operatic themes and is often cited as melodramatic. It was released in 1934, and its production was important to the future development of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs animation. Each Silly Symphony was a technological marvel at the time and proceeded to further advancements in the animation industry.

<i>Woodland Café</i> 1937 American film

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.

<i>Farmyard Symphony</i> 1938 American film

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Disney Dream Factory". Austin Chronicle . September 14, 1998. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  2. 1 2 Marcus, Kenneth H. Musical metropolis: Los Angeles and the creation of a music culture, 1880-1940 . illustrated ed. Macmillan; 2004 [cited June 8, 2010]. ISBN   1-4039-6419-X. p. 182.
  3. ↑ Dinerstein, Joel (2003). Swinging the machine: modernity, technology, and African American culture between the World Wars (illustrated ed.). University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN   1-55849-383-2.
  4. ↑ BWW Newsdesk (April 27, 2010). "AMPAS Hosts 'What's Opera, Doc? Animation and Classical Music". Broadway World. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  5. 1 2 "What's Opera, Doc? – Animation and Classical Music". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  6. ↑ Georges Sadoul and Peter Morris (1972). Peter Morris (ed.). Dictionary of films (illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 342. ISBN   0-520-02152-5.
  7. ↑ "Silly Symphonies: The Historic Musical Animated Classics DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.