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Frolicking Fish

A Silly Symphony

Release Date : May 8, 1930

Running Time : 6:02

Synopsis

Title tells all here, until the festivities are interrupted by a "scary" octopus.

Credits

Director
Bert Gillett
Animation
Johnny Cannon
Norm Ferguson
Les Clark
Ben Sharpsteen
Frenchy de Tremaudan
Dave Hand
Wilfred Jackson
Jack King
Tom Palmer
Merle Gibson
Backgrounds
Carlos Manriquez
Emil Flohri
Music
Bert Lewis

DVD

United States
Disney Treasures : More Silly Symphonies

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 13: Silly Symphonies Get Wet
The Mickey Mouse Club : February 24, 1956

Technical Specification

Color Type: Black & White
Animation Type: Standard animation
Sound Mix: Mono : Cinephone
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Negative Format: 35mm
Print Format: 35mm
Cinematographic Process: Spherical
Original Language: English

Released by Columbia Pictures, Inc.

Comments

  • Copyright Date : June 11, 1930
  • Frolicking Fish marks a turning point in animation style. Beforehand, characters would start and stop almost mechanically. Norm Ferguson developed a style where the characters never completely stopped, but when one part would stop another part would start moving, making the whole movement much more fluid. Disney liked the effect so much he made all the other animators study Ferguson's style.
From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : At first glance, the Silly Symphony entitled Frolicking Fish is not all that remarkable. It’s merely a peek at some fish dancing underneath the waves, being menaced occasionally by an octopus. But when you look closer, you can see a real breakthrough in animation for the Disney artists.

Norm Ferguson, a former New York animator who joined the Disney team fresh off of the Aesop’s Fables cartoons produced by Paul Terry, had the task of animating a trio of fish. This was an easy task for someone of Ferguson’s skill, and there was a tried and true method of doing motion or dancing in the shorts to this point.

Under Ub’s tutelage, the Disney animators were taught to draw motion in poses. The animator would draw movement up to a pose, then hold the pose for a few frames before moving again. This led to some very dynamic images, with the “poses” being held in the audience’s sight. That left a definite impression on the audience.

However, Ferguson chose to do something different. He made the decision to skip the poses and keep the motion flowing, which was definitely a risky call. It worked beautifully, however, and his trio of fish have a very fluid motion and smooth movement that Walt was enamored of immediately. Walt ordered the other animators to study Ferguson’s style.

The other notable aspect of Frolicking Fish is the main villain, the octopus. His movement in this short is also remarkable. The octopus pops out of an old treasure chest, and begins menacing the fish. But his tentacles are rapidly spiraling in and out, backwards and forwards, in a flurry of motion that is very well done.

The octopus continues in a tradition of Silly Symphony villains that have come before, like Satan in Hell’s Bells or the lion in Cannibal Capers. The octopus is an equal to those, menacing the fish in several ways before a fish manages to escape and drop an anchor on its head. The resulting ink excretion from the octopus provides the fade to black at the end of the short.

Other than the octopus and Ferguson’s motion, there’s not much to discuss. Frolicking Fish, like most other Silly Symphonies, lacks much of a narrative. Not that having a story is always necessary, but there are no characters to latch onto, like there are in the Mickey shorts. Without a main character or a narrative flow, it’s difficult to really get into this short, although it is entertaining for what it is.

From Mac : There's some some good stuff going on in this short, but overall it leaves me cold. I agree with all the comments you made, but also think that some of the dances are a bit uninspired and a lot of the fishy character designs are disappointing, which doesn't help.

Still this cartoon does have an impressive intro, with the visual and sound effects and music drawing us into this underwater world. There is a constant special effect in this short to keep the underwater feel – a layer of 'murk' slowly drifting across the action. I'm not sure how this was achieved, but I would guess that it's simply a painted cel placed over the others. I learned from Merritt and Kaufman's 'Silly Symphony Companion' that this cartoon originally had a green tint effect, achieved by printing the film on green stock. I wish this effect had be recreated for the DVD.

One odd thing about this cartoon is the end title. It's a reissue for sure, but I've never seen one quite like this.

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : I agree that it is not the best short. The motion aspects are interesting, as is the "murk" that you described, but there are no characters that stand out.
From Tom Wilkins : Can't really expect much from this cartoon, because the Silly Symphony was only in its second year when this came out. The fish were the centerpiece here, but the octopus showed early on that it was going to be around before the cartoon was over. Add some lobster and starfish and you have an early lunch buffet at Red Lobster on screen. But I wonder... why such a dark, bad-quality screening?
From Jerry Edwards : All types of sea creatures amuse themselves by singing and dancing. A fish escapes a pursuing octopus by dropping an anchor on its head. In a common animation goof, the fish earlier escapes, after being swallowed, through a gap in the octopus's teeth. Of course, before and after, the octopus is shown with no gaps. Generally a rather boring cartoon with nothing really special. The prints shown on the Disney Channel don't help due to the poor picture and sound quality of the print.

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