Screen Shots
Click on thumbnail for full-sized picture
Title Cards
"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"
Synopsis
- An opera starring Donald Duck and Clara Cluck? Mickey conducts and Pluto steals the show.
Characters
- Mickey Mouse
- Pluto
- Clarabelle Cow (cameo in orchestra)
- Horace Horsecollar (cameo in orchestra)
- Clara Cluck
- Donald Duck
- Goofy (cameo in orchestra)
Credits
- Director : Wilfred Jackson
- Animation
- Title sign : Cy Young
Videos
- United States
- Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions : Mickey
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Gold Editions : Topolino
- Video Parade 8
- Papaerino & C. Professione Buonomore
Laserdiscs
- Japan
- Mickey Mouse : A Star is Born
- Mickey and Company
- Donald Duck and His Duckling Gang
- Mickey : Limited Gold Edition
- Disney Cartoon Festival 3
DVD
- Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Living Color
- Region 1 : United States
- Region 2 : France
- Region 2 : Germany
- Region 2 : Italy
- Region 2 : Sweden
- Region 2 : United Kingdom
- Region 1 : United States
- Cartoon Classic Favorites : Extreme Music Fun
Television
- The Ink and Paint Club : #59 : Clarabelle and Horace
Technical Specifications
- Color Type Technicolor
- Animation type Standard
- Sound mix Mono
- Aspect ratio 1.37 : 1
- Negative format 35mm
- Print format 35mm
- Cinematographic process Spherical
- Original language English
Released by United Artists Pictures
Click here to submit a comment of your own.
From Jerry Edwards : An entertaining, fun short. Clarence "Ducky" Nash (as Donald Duck) and Florence Gill (Clara Cluck) are shown rehearsing their parts in the 1941 "The Reluctant Dragon" ... five years after the short was released!
From Ryan : This short is quite similar to other shorts such as "Mickey's Amateurs" and "Orphan's Benefit" (only the orphans don't appear in it thank God)." I liked the scene where Pluto kept going after the magic hat and his encounter with the rabbit.
From Kjersti : This one is just amazing! I love the finale with Donald with the frog inside and how everything falls down and that last note they all sing so "beautifully" together. Great entertainment!
From Baruch Weiss : I own this classic cartoon on the Limited Gold Edition video Mickey (a gem that's very hard to find nowadays) without it's original title cards. One viewing this short on that video for the first time would think the cartoon is "Symphony Hour" which I think would have been better off being titled Silly Symphony Hour. I also have this cartoon fully restored with its original title cards on two DVD's; Mickey Mouse in Living Color: Volume 1 and Extreme Music Fun. It's a fun cartoon and I enjoyed the "Grand Finale" with Clara Cluck, Donald Duck, Pluto and the frog singing one final note. I wonder if that frog was the inspiration for Michigan J. Frog who is best known today as the mascot for Warner Brother's Television. I doubt he's still used today!
To be fair, Mickey is the conductor in this short, so he is the one controlling the action. But, in any good Disney short, the person in control is always the one who gets disrupted. Such is the case here, as Pluto’s antics end up destroying the opera, with some interesting results.
Pluto is the character with the most going on in this short. Even though his screen time is limited, he does have the most characterization and the audience feels the most for him. The beginning of the short shows Pluto coming up to show some affection to Mickey, who rebuffs him, and sends Pluto away. Mickey’s repeated shouts of “Go home!” are probably the harshest words he has spoken since his earliest appearances.
Pluto’s story really kicks into gear when he encounters a “magic hat” stored backstage. The hat reveals rabbits popping out as well as taking on a life of its own. The hat is the best part of the short, spurring on the conflict and the climax.
The opera itself is carried out by Mickey’s orchestra, with performances by Clara Cluck and Donald Duck. The two of them singing to each other was a stroke of comic genius. Clara’s high pitched clucks and Donald’s guttural quacks volley back and forth, with increasing frequency and hilarity.
The finale comes as Pluto chases the hat on stage, and all the orchestra and Mickey again tell him to go home. This is the most resonant moment of the short to me, as the viewer feels sympathy for Pluto right before he trashes everything. It’s a subtle touch, but it’s that kind of emotional connection that sets the Disney shorts apart.
In the end, we have the same gag as there was in Orphan’s Picnic, as a frog escapes from the hat, then jumps down Donald’s throat. Then, we see Donald being dragged all around as the frog jumps around. It seems very odd to see the same gag back to back. As the set crashes down around them, though, Clara, Donald, the frog and Pluto sing the finale. It makes for a fun ending to a decent, if not outstanding short.
From Mac : A very nice Disney cartoon and one that's features very nice colours again. The colours in recent cartoons with outdoor settings seem slightly drab to me (e.g. Orphan's Picnic). I'm not sure if it's due to the age of the cartoon making the skies and greenery looking duller than they once were or if its the colours that the artists chose themselves (perhaps it's a little of both), but it's great to see the lovely colours in this one. There's great use of light and dark in the warm theatre and the characters really pop out.
The climax of this cartoon is my favourite – once the hat falls in the tuba it's non-stop fun. I love the musical croak-bark-quack as Clara determinedly continues singing the opera amongst the chaos! This is also another of those cartoons that feature a very brief and tricky to spot cameo from Horace.