1930s Animation Movies

A beautiful girl, Snow White, takes refuge in the forest in the house of seven dwarfs to hide from her stepmother, the wicked Queen. The Queen is jealous because she wants to be known as "the fairest in the land," and Snow White's beauty surpasses her own.

"Bartosch showed that animation could be poetic... It was Bartosch who first dared to give animation the dimension of a great art, trusting it to voice his pain, to lay bare his heart, to tell of his hope for a better future - which he never saw." - Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker, 1969

Parabola is a celebration of film’s ability to create new ways of seeing the forms around us. Creating juxtapositions between light/shadow, stasis/motion, and form/music, this black-and-white short invites us to see the parabolic curve, or “nature’s poetry,” as both invigorating and beguiling.

Krazy Kat runs his own lighthouse and when rough seas take over, he has to save a damsel in distress.

A young woman faces several obstacles to sleep.

Warner Bros. cartoon parody of Uncle Tom's Cabin. One of the “Censored 11” banned from TV syndication by United Artists in 1968 for racist stereotyping.

This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.

Mickey is trying to lead a concert of The William Tell Overture, but he's continually disrupted by ice cream vendor Donald, who uses a seemingly endless supply of flutes to play Turkey in the Straw instead. After Donald gives up, a bee comes along and causes his own havoc. The band then reaches the Storm sequence, and the weather also starts to pick up; a tornado comes along, but they keep playing.

Mickey Mouse and his friends stage their own production of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

A film combining live action and stop-motion animation about the adventures of the wooden boy Pinocchio and his friends - Pierrot, Malvina and Artemon the Poodle, about the mysterious golden key that opens the cherished door, about the good Papa Carlo and the evil Karabas-Barabas, Duremar, Basilio the Cat and Alice the Fox.

Gulliver washes ashore on Lilliput and attempts to prevent war between that tiny kingdom and its equally-miniscule rival, Blefiscu, as well as smooth the way for the romance between the Princess and Prince of the opposing lands. In this he is alternately aided and hampered by the Lilliputian town crier and general fussbudget, Gabby. A life-threatening situation develops when the bumbling trio of Blefiscu spies, Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch, manage to steal Gulliver's pistol.

Wildcat Willie, one of Walter Lantz's lesser known characters, is the protagonist here, a mean widdle kid who runs away from home and masquerades as an orphan. Trouble ensues when Wildcat's new family suspects Wildcat is a rat - er, wildcat. Lots of fast action and violence (Wildcat wields a mean axe).

Pirate Pete has kidnapped Mickey and Minnie and has them tied up. As Pete prepares to have his way with Minnie, Mickey escapes and gets a swordfish off the wall; a swordfight with Pete ensues. Mickey gets out of the cabin and on deck; he hoists Minnie up onto the mast. Pete summons his crew, and Mickey fights them off with a cannon, shooting pots and pans, a stove, and ultimately a harpoon before winning Minnie and the ship back for good.

The Tortoise and the Hare is an animated short film 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, The Tortoise and the Hare won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. This cartoon is also believed to be one of the influences for Bugs Bunny.

Experimental collection. It began with a synchronized movie recording of a speech by Anatoly Lunacharsky, former People's Commissar of Education and Director of the Research Institute of Literature and Art, on the importance of sound cinema. Then came an hour-long movie "Five-Year Plan" - a documentary essay about the first five-year plan. Then - a small cartoon with newsreel elements "Tip-Top", the hero of which was making a round-the-world trip. By genre it was a political satire. Then there were recordings of Sergei Prokofiev's march from the play "Love for Three Oranges" and other musical numbers performed by a choir, solo singers, symphony and jazz orchestras, as well as actors from Sergei Obraztsov's puppet theater.

The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

This was a Krazy Kat cartoon made for Charles Mintz and distributed by Columbia. While the studio originally based the character on the comic strip created by George Herriman, by 1931 he was changed in design and personality to be more like Walt Disney's popular Mickey Mouse (whose cartoons, ironically, were also distributed by Columbia at the time).

The Big Bad Wolf torments Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs.

The tale about small forest bird Chiora.

A series of gags at a dog show, including a stage revue. A dog gets into a trunk of roller skates and crashes through the stage show.

An outcast duckling's search for a family to accept him leads to constant rejection before learning his true identity as a swan.

Betty falls asleep doing a jigsaw puzzle and finds herself through the looking glass into a modern, urban wonderland. The shrinking potion comes from a "Shrinkola" dispenser. When most of the characters assemble, Betty sings "How Do You Do" to them. But the jabberwock steals Betty away.

Experimental short film by Oskar Fischinger

Young boy dreams of himself as a version of Gulliver who has landed in Lilliput suffering under capitalist inequality and exploitation.

The animals make an agreement - to work and live in peace. Their "League of Nations" is joined by a fox who, having lulled the vigilance of his neighbors with the sweet melody of the barrel-organ with a picture of a dove of peace on it, insidiously breaks the agreement.

A work of abstract animation

Officer Donald Duck (Officer #13) is assigned to apprehend a criminal named Tiny Tom. Donald assumes by the name that he'll be a pushover but when he reaches Tom's hideout, he discovers "Tiny" Tom is actually a hulking Pete who immediately disposes of Donald. Donald decides to use strategy and is able to reenter Pete's house disguised as a baby who Pete surprisingly warms to. When Pete discovers Donald, he chases him down the street but is finally apprehended by Donald's marching police colleagues who make the arrest.

Daffy Duck causes trouble on a Hollywood film set.

A Terrytoons cartoon released 15 December 1933.

A Flip The Frog cartoon....

Donald and Goofy are trappers in the frozen south (Antarctica) with different approaches. Donald sees a penguin and dresses as one to lure her to the chopping block; Goofy baits a trap with fish (then acts like a walrus to capture one that steals his bait bucket).

Donald continually heckles Mickey's magic act, but Mickey bests him at every turn. Donald shoots off a magic pistol that causes all the stage props to fall down on them at the finish of the act.

Polar bears, walruses and penguins see off the Soviet members of the North Pole-1, the world's first crewed drifting ice station led by Ivan Papanin, as they board the icebreakers Taimyr and Murman to return to Moscow.

Curious penguins investigate an abandoned cabin, heedless of their mother's warning that "curiosity killed the cat."

Santa's little helpers must hurry to finish the toys before Christmas Day.

Flip the Frog is a game hunter in Africa. He has an encounter with some cannibals who take him to their king for dinner ...

Pudgy the pup meets the female pup next door, whose snobbish owner calls him a "little nobody". A pep talk from Betty Boop turns Pudgy into a hero.

Join Donald Duck in his debut in the classic animated short The Wise Little Hen. The Little Hen is planting corn and would like to have help from Peter Pig and Donald Duck, but they refuse stating they each have a "tummy ache." When it comes time to harvest the corn, Peter Pig and Donald still refuse to help the Hen, so she and her chicks do the harvest by themselves. Finally, the hen cooks the corn and offers some to Donald and Peter Pig, but when they look more carefully they discover a surprise.

Farmer Al Falfa runs a rural fitness resort with all the workout gags, involving dumbbells, rowing machines, steam boxes, etc. Kiko the Kangaroo helps expose one of the guests as a criminal in disguise, and a big reward is forthcoming.

Popeye and Bluto are deep sea divers. Popeye has a treasure map; for some reason he cuts Bluto in on the deal, but of course, Bluto's idea of 50-50 isn't exactly fair...