"Symphony Hour" is right up there with "The Little Whirlwind" on my list of favourite Disney shorts. With a soundtrack reminiscent of the way Spike Jones would humourously handle the classics, as well as terrific visual gags involving the characters carrying on with their mangled instruments, this is a very well crafted cartoon. The only criticism I would have is that it is somewhat of a rehash of "The Band Concert", but I still believe it is very entertaining in its own right.
I knew that Les Clark was primarily responsible for the great Mickey animation but I was always curious about who handled Donald in this cartoon. The interplay between Donald getting progressively more fed up with the situation and Mickey's desperation in trying to keep him there until the performance is over makes for great comedy. Especially the way it climaxes with the Duck about to escape out the door, only to be faced with a crazed, gun-toting Mickey threatening him back to the stage! I was very happy to see that these scenes were mostly handled by Bernie Wolf, who recently passed away and whom you showcased on this blog at that time. Bernie Wolf's work was unknown to me before and I appreciate that you've brought his name to the attention of we animation fans.
Notice signs of Thomson casting the same animators as the same characters as elsewhere... Berny Wolf animates Donald, and Jim Moore animates Goofy, as in Mickey's Birthday Party. Marvin Woodward seems to have often been given scenes with several characters on screen at once.
"Symphony Hour" is right up there with "The Little Whirlwind" on my list of favourite Disney shorts. With a soundtrack reminiscent of the way Spike Jones would humourously handle the classics, as well as terrific visual gags involving the characters carrying on with their mangled instruments, this is a very well crafted cartoon. The only criticism I would have is that it is somewhat of a rehash of "The Band Concert", but I still believe it is very entertaining in its own right.
ReplyDeleteI knew that Les Clark was primarily responsible for the great Mickey animation but I was always curious about who handled Donald in this cartoon. The interplay between Donald getting progressively more fed up with the situation and Mickey's desperation in trying to keep him there until the performance is over makes for great comedy. Especially the way it climaxes with the Duck about to escape out the door, only to be faced with a crazed, gun-toting Mickey threatening him back to the stage! I was very happy to see that these scenes were mostly handled by Bernie Wolf, who recently passed away and whom you showcased on this blog at that time. Bernie Wolf's work was unknown to me before and I appreciate that you've brought his name to the attention of we animation fans.
Notice signs of Thomson casting the same animators as the same characters as elsewhere... Berny Wolf animates Donald, and Jim Moore animates Goofy, as in Mickey's Birthday Party. Marvin Woodward seems to have often been given scenes with several characters on screen at once.
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