The Mechanical Cow

Last updated

The Mechanical Cow
The Mechanical Cow (1927) Title Card.jpg
Title card
Directed by Walt Disney
Produced by Charles Mintz
George Winkler
Animation by Ub Iwerks
Color processBlack and white
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • October 3, 1927 (1927-10-03)
Running time
6 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Mechanical Cow is an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from 1927. [1] It was distributed by Universal Pictures. The cartoon was re-released by Walter Lantz Productions in 1932 with music and sound effects added. [2]

Contents

Plot

Reissued version by Walter Lantz of the short film.

Oswald and his mechanical cow are sleeping in adjacent beds. The alarm clock wakes up Oswald, who has a brief fight with the clock. He attempts to get the cow out of bed but the cow refuses to get up. Finally Oswald coaxes the cow onto a slide which propels him down to a lower floor onto four roller skates. Oswald rides on the cow outside while announcing that he has milk to sell. A mother hippopotamus buys some for her infant hippo, which Oswald dispenses from the cow's udder directly into the baby's mouth. Fanny, Oswald's girlfriend, comes to buy some milk and Oswald flirts with her.

Suddenly, a car containing some dark, unidentified figures appears, and they kidnap Fanny and drive away. Oswald follows, riding on the mechanical cow. The figures shoot at Oswald but he evades their bullets. Oswald causes the cow's neck to elongate in a scissors mechanism, reaching the car. He runs along the neck and extracts Fanny from the car. They ride away on the cow, with the car now pursuing them. Oswald and Fanny fall off a cliff but Oswald grabs a branch to stop their fall. The pursuing car also falls over the cliff, with the nefarious figures falling out of the car into a body of water where they are eaten by fish. Oswald and Fanny ride off on the mechanical cow.

Home media

The short was released on December 11, 2007, on Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oswald the Lucky Rabbit</span> Early animated Disney character

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an animated cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938. Twenty-seven animated Oswald shorts were produced at the Walt Disney Studio. After Universal took control of Oswald's character in 1928, Disney created a new character similar in appearance to Oswald as a replacement: Mickey Mouse, who went on to become one of the most famous cartoon characters in the world.

<i>Alice Comedies</i> Film series by Walt Disney in the 1920s

The Alice Comedies are a series of animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape. The shorts were the first work by what ultimately became The Walt Disney Company.

<i>Plane Crazy</i> 1928 Mickey Mouse short by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks

Plane Crazy is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first appearance of Mickey Mouse and his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test screening to a theater audience on May 15, 1928, and an executive from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saw the film, but failed to pick up a distributor. Later that year, Disney released Mickey's first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, which was an enormous success; Plane Crazy was officially released as a sound cartoon on March 17, 1929. It was the fourth Mickey film to be given a wide release after Steamboat Willie, The Gallopin' Gaucho and The Barn Dance (1929).

<i>Trolley Troubles</i> 1927 film by Walt Disney

Trolley Troubles is a 1927 animated short subject film, produced by Charles Mintz and George Winkler and directed by Walt Disney. The cartoon is the first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character that Disney and Ub Iwerks created for Universal Pictures and Charles B. Mintz.

<i>Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!</i> 1931 animated film

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on September 5, 1931, and features Foxy, an early Merrie Melodies star.

<i>Oh Teacher</i> (film) 1927 film directed by Walt Disney

Oh Teacher is an animated cartoon directed by Walt Disney, starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was reissued in 1932 by Walter Lantz Productions with added music and sound effects and is the only known version to survive. The original version entered the public domain on January 1, 2023.

<i>Great Guns!</i> 1927 film by Walt Disney

Great Guns! is a 1927 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon produced by the Walt Disney Studio and Winkler Productions. It was re-issued by Walter Lantz Productions in 1932. It was originally released on October 17, 1927.

<i>Tall Timber</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

Tall Timber is a 1928 silent animated short film starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and is the 23rd in the series. In terms of production, the film was for many years the last extant Oswald cartoon directed by Walt Disney, until late 2015, when Sleigh Bells, the Oswald cartoon made after Tall Timber, was rediscovered.

<i>Bright Lights</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

Bright Lights is a 1928 silent cartoon short by the Walt Disney Studio and Winkler Productions featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It is among the few short films of the series Walt Disney himself worked on before leaving that same year.

Oil's Well is a 1929 short animated film starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and produced by Walter Lantz Productions. It is the 2nd Lantz Oswald film and the 54th in the entire series.

<i>Alpine Antics</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Alpine Antics is a 1929 animated cartoon by Winkler Productions and features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Mickey's Choo-Choo is a 1929 Mickey Mouse short animated film released by Celebrity Pictures, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. Ub Iwerks was the animator. It was the eleventh Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the eighth of that year, and was one of the series of early Disney cartoons that led Mickey Mouse to become a national fad by the end of 1929. Originally produced in black and white, this cartoon was one of 45 Mickey Mouse cartoons colorized by American Film Technologies in 1991.

<i>Hungry Hoboes</i> 1928 film by Walt Disney

Hungry Hoboes is a silent Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon released by Universal Studios in 1928. It had been lost since before World War II and was rediscovered in 2011.

Grandma's Pet is an animated short film by Walter Lantz Productions and is part of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. It is the 53rd Lantz Oswald cartoon and the 106th cartoon overall.

<i>Oh What a Knight</i> 1928 film

Oh What a Knight is an American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and released in 1928 by Universal Pictures. The film features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit trying to save his girlfriend Ortensia from her strict father, Pete, using unusual fighting skills, including him using his own shadow.

<i>Empty Socks</i> 1927 film

Empty Socks is a 1927 short animated film made by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks that was considered a lost film until its rediscovery in Norway in 2014. The film stars Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Wonderland is a 1931 short animated film by Walter Lantz Productions and part of a long-running short film series featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Contrary to its title, the film is not an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland but that of Jack and the Beanstalk.

<i>Poor Papa</i> 1927 film

Poor Papa is a 1927 animated short subject film, produced and directed by Walt Disney that was released in 1928. The cartoon is the first produced Oswald cartoon, featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character that Disney and Ub Iwerks created for Universal Pictures and Charles B. Mintz. Oswald would later serve as the basis for the Mickey Mouse film series. This was the first Oswald short made but the twenty-first Oswald short to be released.

<i>The Ocean Hop</i> 1927 American film

The Ocean Hop is a 1927 animated short subject film, produced by Charles Mintz and George Winkler and directed by Walt Disney. The film was reissued in 1932 by Walter Lantz Productions with added music and sound effects and is the only known surviving version. The short entered the public domain on January 1, 2023.

<i>All Wet</i> (film) 1927 American film

All Wet is a 1927 animated short subject film, produced by Charles Mintz and George Winkler and directed by Walt Disney. The film was reissued in 1932 by Walter Lantz Productions with added music and sound effects and is the only known version to survive. The short entered the public domain on January 1, 2023.

References

  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 40. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7.
  2. Malone, Patrick. "The Mechanical Cow". The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts. Archived from the original on August 31, 2010. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
  3. "The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved February 14, 2021.