The Flying Mouse Explained

The Flying Mouse
Director:David Hand
Producer:Walt Disney
Starring:Marcellite Garner
Marion Darlington
Billy Sheets
The Three Rhythm Kings
Music:Frank Churchill
Bert Lewis
Animator:Hamilton Luske
Bob Kuwahara
Harry Bailey
Bob Wickersham
Background Artist:Carlos Manríquez
Studio:Walt Disney Productions
Distributor:United Artists Pictures
Color Process:Technicolor
Runtime:9 min
Country:United States
Language:English

The Flying Mouse is a Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by David Hand, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 14, 1934.[1] The use of color here was rather innovative as it is set during the course of a single day.

Plot

To the tune "I Would Like to Be a Bird", a young mouse fashions wings from a pair of leaves, to the great amusement of his brothers. When his attempts to use them fail, the mouse got blown backwards and his rear end crashes into a thorn, he falls into the tub and shrinks his sister's dress and gets spanked by his mother. When a butterfly calls for help, he rescues it from a spider. When the butterfly proves to be a fairy, the mouse wishes for wings. But his bat-like appearance doesn't fit in with either the birds or the other mice, and he finds himself friendless; even the bats make fun of him, making a point that he is "Nothin' But A Nothin'". The butterfly fairy reappears and removes the mouse's wings, telling him: "Be yourself and life will smile on you". Then the boy mouse runs all the way home where he is reunited with his mother and 3 mouse brothers.

Production

The Flying Mouse boy and his mother make an appearance as spectators in the 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Polo Team.

Voice cast

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001, on Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics.[2] [1] Prior to that, the featurette also appeared on the Walt Disney Cartoon Classics Limited Gold Edition: Silly Symphonies VHS in the 1980s.

It was also released as a bonus feature, alongside fellow Silly Symphony short Elmer Elephant, on DVD/Blu-Ray releases of Dumbo.

References

  1. Book: Merritt . Russell . Kaufman . J. B. . 2016 . Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series . Glendale, CA . 2nd . . 146–147 . 978-1-4847-5132-9.
  2. Web site: Silly Symphonies: The Historic Musical Animated Classics DVD Review. DVD Dizzy . 20 February 2021.

External links