Three Little Wolves (film)

Last updated
Three Little Wolves
Three Little Wolves.jpg
Directed by David Hand
Produced by Walt Disney
StarringAlice Ardell
Billy Bletcher
Pinto Colvig
Leone Ledoux
Music by Frank Churchill
Animation by Norm Ferguson
Fred Moore
Eric Larson
Bill Roberts [1]
Layouts byFerdinand Horvath
Backgrounds byMique Nelson
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • April 18, 1936 (1936-04-18)
Running time
9 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Three Little Wolves is a Silly Symphony cartoon. Released on April 18, 1936, and directed by Dave Hand. It was the third Silly Symphony cartoon starring the Three Little Pigs. It is loosely based on The Boy Who Cried Wolf . It introduces the Big Bad Wolf's sons, the Three Little Wolves, all of them just as eager for a taste of the pigs as their father. [2]

Contents

Plot

The Big Bad Wolf as Bo Peep The Big Bad Wolf as Bo Peep.jpg
The Big Bad Wolf as Bo Peep

While the Big Bad Wolf is describing to his three sons the edible parts of a pig, Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig discover a wolf alarm, which is in the form of a horn. Then they discover their brother Practical Pig building a contraption called a Wolf Pacifier. Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig play around with the wolf alarm to get Practical's attention, and when he discovers that it was just a trick, he warns his brothers that if they get caught by the Wolf and blow the wolf alarm, he will think it is a trick.

However, the Big Bad Wolf and his three sons are stalking Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig. The Wolf disguises himself as Little Bo Peep and sadly tells the pigs that he/she lost his/her sheep and doesn't know where to find them. Then the pigs discover the Wolf's three sons disguised as sheep, and they all run home to their cave. Then the Wolf locks the door and swallows the key. In the first place, the pigs embarrassedly think that "Bo Peep" has romantic intentions, but the wolves spring their trap and overwhelm the pigs. They try to blow the wolf alarm, but Practical Pig doesn't come to the rescue. Soon Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig are put in a roasting pan by the wolves and they repeatedly blow the wolf alarm. Still hoping for Practical Pig to come to the rescue, the pigs challenge the wolf cub blowing the wolf alarm to blow it really loudly. He tries to, but he can't, and the pigs tell him by that it was just a "sissy blow". So the Big Bad Wolf blows the wolf alarm to prove what the wolf family is made of. This time, it is so loud that Practical Pig hears it and hurries to the rescue, pulling the Wolf Pacifier along behind him.

While the Wolf is about to put the pigs in the oven, he hears a knock at the door. It is Practical Pig disguised as an Italian vegetable peddler. He is giving a free sample on tomatoes, and the Wolf accepts the offer and comes out. He tells him: "Let me have it", but Practical Pig throws a tomato in the Wolf's face instead. The Wolf angrily chases Practical Pig into the Wolf Pacifier. The result is that the Wolf gets assaulted by the contraption's many mechanisms: buzzsawed, smashed the head by rolling pins, kicked by boots, punched by boxing gloves, tarred, feathered, and shot out of a cannon, with his sons following him. Then the pigs emerge from the wolves' den, playing Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? patriotically, with Fifer Pig playing a flute, Fiddler Pig playing a drum, and Practical Pig holding a white flag, which is the Wolf's pair of Bo Peep bloomers.

Voice cast

Symbolism

While Disney produced the sequels in order to capitalize on the success of the Three Little Pigs as characters, this film in particular was also a symbolic message about the threatening danger of European fascism, and can be seen as an indication of the levels of fear and patriotism it aroused in the American populace. In the opening scene, the Big Bad Wolf is instructing his three rowdy wolf pups in "German", pointing to a chart of pork cuts and saying "Ist das nicht ein Sausage Meat", etc., reinforcing the interpretation that he is a stand-in for Adolf Hitler. [3]

While the hapless Fifer and Fiddler have their naval garb, musical instruments, and professed bravado—a possible critique of European military allies who were unable to stop Hitler's advances—their confidence cannot save them from being trussed and on the verge of being deposited in the oven by the time that Practical Pig comes to their rescue. Practical Pig, the industrious "American" brother, in workman's overalls, relies on the "Italian" character for distraction, and while the Wolf is focused on his free sample of tomatoes, he is pulled into an elaborate mechanical contraption, which points to the idea that technological superiority is the secret to winning the impending war. [3] At one point, while receiving the mechanized pummeling from the machine, the Wolf's hair is parted and slicked down the center, producing a brief resemblance to Hitler.

Comic adaptation

The Silly Symphony Sunday comic strip ran a seven-month-long adaptation of Three Little Wolves called "The Further Adventures of the Three Little Pigs" from January 19 to August 23, 1936. [4]

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001 on Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics . [5] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Three Little Pigs</span> Fairy tale

"The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house that is made of bricks. The printed versions of this fable date back to the 1840s, but the story is thought to be much older. The earliest version takes place in Dartmoor with three pixies and a fox before its best known version appears in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, with Jacobs crediting James Halliwell-Phillipps as the source.

<i>Silly Symphony</i> Series of animated short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Bad Wolf</span> Fairy tale character

The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including some of Grimms' Fairy Tales. Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory antagonist.

<i>Mickeys Polo Team</i> 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon

Mickey's Polo Team is a 1936 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The cartoon features a game of polo played between four Disney characters, led by Mickey Mouse, and four cartoon versions of real-life movie stars. It was directed by David Hand and was first released on January 4, 1936. The film was inspired by Walt Disney's personal love of polo. It was the 80th Mickey Mouse short film to be released, and the first of that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpectroMagic</span> Parade

SpectroMagic was a nighttime parade presented in Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. It was introduced in 1991 as part of the park's 20th-anniversary celebrations, replacing the Main Street Electrical Parade. The parade originally ran from 1991 to 1999, then returned from 2001 to 2010.

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

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.

<i>Three Little Bops</i> 1957 animated short film directed by Friz Freleng

Three Little Bops is a 1957 American animated comedy short film directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. A takeoff on The Three Little Pigs told as a hip, jazzy musical, the short features the voice of Stan Freberg, with music provided by jazz composer/trumpeter Shorty Rogers. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on January 5, 1957 as part of the Looney Tunes series.

Dorothy Compton was an American voice actress born in the early 1900s. An early friend of Walt Disney, she made her first acting debut in The Three Little Pigs (1933) as the voice of Fifer Pig. From 1933 onward she made more appearances in the next 3 installments of the Three Little Pigs: The Big Bad Wolf (1934), The Three Little Wolves (1936) and The Practical Pig (1939) along with minor appearances in It's Great to Be Alive (1933) and I Married an Angel (1942).

<i>Toby Tortoise Returns</i> 1936 film

Toby Tortoise Returns is a 1936 animated Technicolor cartoon in Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies series. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson. It is a sequel to the 1935 short The Tortoise and the Hare, and premiered on August 22, 1936.

<i>The Practical Pig</i> 1939 American film

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 predecessors, The Practical Pig incorporates the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?". Unlike its predecessors however, its title cards labeled it 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.

"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is a popular song written by Frank Churchill with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell, which originally featured in the 1933 Disney cartoon Three Little Pigs, where it was sung by Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig as they arrogantly believe the Big Bad Wolf is not a serious threat. The song created a market for future Disney tunes and led to a contract with Irving Berlin Publishing Co. that same year, securing the sheet music rights over Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies. The song's theme made it a huge hit during the second half of 1933, and it remains one of the most well-known Disney songs, being covered by numerous artists and musical groups.

<i>Mother Goose Goes Hollywood</i> 1938 Silly Symphony cartoon

Mother Goose Goes Hollywood is a 1938 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The short was released on December 23, 1938. The film parodies several Mother Goose nursery rhymes using caricatures of popular Hollywood film stars of the 1930s. The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson and was the third-to-last Silly Symphony produced.

<i>The Big Bad Wolf</i> (1934 film) 1934 film

The Big Bad Wolf is an animated short released on April 13, 1934, by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett as part of the Silly Symphony series. Acting partly as a sequel to the wildly successful adaptation of The Three Little Pigs of the previous year, this film also acts as an adaptation of the fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood, with the Big Bad Wolf from 1933's Three Little Pigs acting as the adversary to Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.

<i>Old King Cole</i> (film) 1933 American film

Old King Cole is a 1933 Disney cartoon in the Silly Symphonies series, based on several nursery rhymes and fairy tales, including Old King Cole. It was directed by David Hand and released on July 29, 1933.

<i>Three Blind Mouseketeers</i> 1936 American film

Three Blind Mouseketeers is a Silly Symphonies cartoon based on the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice and the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Directed by Dave Hand and Jack Cutting, it stars Billy Bletcher.

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.

<i>The Thrifty Pig</i> 1941 film by Ford Beebe

The Thrifty Pig is a 1941 four-minute educational short animated film made by the Walt Disney Studios, for the National Film Board of Canada. The film was released theatrically on November 19, 1941, as part of a series of four films directed at the Canadian public to learn about war bonds during the Second World War. The Thrifty Pig was directed by Ford Beebe. It is also a remake of the 1933 film of the same name

Silly Symphony, initially titled Silly Symphonies, is a weekly Disney comic strip that debuted on January 10, 1932 as a topper for the Mickey Mouse strip's Sunday page. The strip featured adaptations of Walt Disney's popular short film series, Silly Symphony, which released 75 cartoons from 1929 to 1939, as well as other cartoons and animated films. The comic strip outlived its parent series by six years, ending on October 7, 1945.

The Rhythmettes were a singing trio who provided the vocals on several 1930s and 1940s Hollywood films, including Disney Silly Symphony shorts and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

References

  1. ↑ Michael Barrier (8 April 1999). Hollywood Cartoons : American Animation in Its Golden Age: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN   978-0-19-802079-0 . Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  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. 172–173. ISBN   978-1-4847-5132-9.
  3. 1 2 Geoffrey Cocks (1 January 2004). The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust. Peter Lang. pp. 34–. ISBN   978-0-8204-7115-0 . Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Taliaferro, Al; Osborne, Ted; De Maris, Merrill (2016). Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics, vol 2. San Diego: IDW Publishing. ISBN   978-1631408045.
  5. ↑ "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.