Silly Symphony

The clock strikes midnight, the bats fly from the belfry, a dog howls at the full moon, and two black cats fight in the cemetery: a perfect time for four skeletons to come out and dance a bit.

A barmaid, a Mexican officer and a terrible toreador form a love triangle, as they dance, skip, kiss, punch and slap to the tune of Bizet’s "Carmen." Later, the barmaid cheers her lover, and the officer razzes him, during the big bullfight. The toreador and the bull are not above clowning, but never doubt they are two fearsome opponents striving toward a gruesome climax.

Flowers, insects, and a crow family all dance to a jaunty tune celebrating spring. After a brief storm, grasshoppers, frogs, and spiders cavort to the Dance of the Hours.

The demons of hell play music for Satan, whose delight turns to wrath when an insubordinate refuses to become food for Cerberus.

A village of dwarfs dance and play through their day. A blacksmith shoes a centipede, a street-cleaner sweeps, a marching-band strikes up and the townsmen roll out beer barrels.

In the logical sequel to Springtime, a new set of insects (mostly) dances to a new set of tunes, while doing summer activities. The insects include dung beetles, dragonflies, butterflies, a walking stick, bees, and various other beetles and flies.

The season series of Silly Symphonies continues, with squirrels storing nuts and corn, crows stealing it, beavers building a dam, ducks migrating, and the like, as the first snows fall.

A group of cannibals gather together for a tribal dance. In the middle of their gala, they are interrupted by a ferocious lion!

The title pretty much says it: fish and other marine life dance and frolic to various tunes. An octopus keeps spoiling the fun in various ways.

A collection of arctic animals (seals, walruses, polar bears, penguins) float by on ice floes and on shore, performing various musical numbers.

A spider seeks shelter inside an old toy store, where he soon discovers that the merchandise comes to life after dark.

The moon and two owls sing to the Blue Danube Waltz, celebrating the night. Moths dance around a candle flame, fireflies glow, frogs chorus, and so forth.

The monkeys are swinging; their song and dance routine has other jungle creatures joining in. And two monkeys in love chase and kiss. But the hungry crocodiles lie in wait (and dance the soft shoe).

In the last of the Silly Symphonies season cycle, bears hibernate (or try to), raccoons sneeze, moose swim, and pretty much everyone ice skates. Everyone gathers around the groundhog to see what happens.

The mythological satyr plays some tunes on his pipes and gets various flora and fauna dancing to them. Two clouds also dance; they bump into each other, causing lightning strikes that start a forest fire. The animals rush to escape the fire. Finally, an animal comes to tell Pan of the fire; he rushes to it, and gets it to dance to his tune, right into the lake.

Swans, peacocks, ducks, and more birds dance.

A book of nursery rhymes plays for Old King Cole.

An old plate tells the tale of the Emperor of China, whose palace was disrupted by some children.

A group of beavers cheerily build a dam.

A cat, being sent out for the night, begins to make trouble for some birds. He later has a nightmare that the birds grow and begin to extract their revenge.

A spider gets lost inside the sphinx.

The various clocks and watches in a clock store dance, ring alarms musically, and otherwise entertain us in an after hours presentation.

A kitchen is filled with houseflies. A spider wakes up and plays his web like a harp, attracting a pair of them; the female is trapped, and the male summons the cavalry, which arrives riding horseflies, riding dragonflies to drop pepper bombs, firing champagne bottles, and ultimately setting the web on fire and catching the spider on flypaper when he falls.

It’s morning in the English countryside and time for the gentry to participate in their favorite sport: the fox hunt. The eccentric gentlemen come in all shapes and sizes, the fat ones putting the greatest strain on the horses. The craziest things happen to the monocled hunters. One even gets knocked off his horse when it jumps over a brick wall. He shoots straight up into the air and, thanks to a parachute hidden in his clothes, makes a gentle landing. But instead of the ground, he lands on a cow. Upset by her unwanted passenger, she takes off at top speed, finally dumping him in a mud puddle, where he lands on a pig and continues his wacky ride. Meanwhile, the poor fox finally gets trapped in a hollow log. Dogs to the left of him, dogs to the right! Luckily, the beleaguered creature gets help from a certain powerful, and pungent, friend.

The film begins with a mother hen sitting on her eggs from which six baby chicks are born. Though initially overjoyed, her mood changes to disgust when the final egg hatches out a duckling. Though the duckling desperately attempts to win his foster family’s acceptance, the mother hen is adamant in her refusal to care for an infant that isn’t even her species, let alone not even hers.

A pet shop specializing in birds. The various caged birds chirp along to the score in their various styles (including a set of birds that looks like the Marx Brothers). A cat eyes the proceedings hungrily and makes his way in through an open transom, causing panic and an organized counterattack.

Two bear cubs tussle harmlessly, then start to munch on a berry bush, until a bigger, meaner bear chases them off. They nibble some flowers and find a bee, which they follow to the hive, which they then proceed to raid. The big bear chases them off, but unknown to him, a bee spotted the raid and has summoned the attack squad. The bees run him off, and the cubs dig in.

Pluto's cage-mate at the dog pound breaks out and lets all the other dogs out as well. In the park, that terrier keeps following Pluto too closely for Pluto's tastes, until he digs up a huge bone and gives it to Pluto (who doesn’t particularly want to share). But soon all the other escaped dogs are chasing after the bone.

A jealous stump threatens two trees that are in love by starting a forest fire. When the rain comes and puts out the fire the forest revives and celebrates the wedding.

After a short introduction, one of Neptune's mermaids is captured by a pirate ship, and their anchor chain entangles King Neptune; the various sea creatures launch a full-on assault on the pirate ship, and eventually the giant King himself gets free and creates major havoc for the ship.

Insects have made a playground/carnival out of castoffs, featuring "ice skating" on mirrors. Two love bugs head off to a more private area. But their fun is interrupted when a crow comes by. He bottles up the male bug and chases the female into her home. The male bug escapes in the nick of time, and another bug notices the battle and rallies the rest of the bugs to attack, which they do, using false teeth, an eggbeater, a mousetrap, castor oil, and other things.

Two children wander the forest and get lured into a witch's house.

Santa is assisted by his elves in preparing for the famous sleigh ride on Christmas Eve. As the toys are finished, they come to life and march into Santa's big bag.

Two birds rejoice over the hatching of their three eggs; as they grow, the hatchlings are taught to sing and fly. One falls from the nest and has adventures with a rattlesnake and a beehive before finding his way home.

Noah, his family (wife, 3 sons, their wives), and various animals all help build the ark. The rains come, and the skunks barely miss the boat (not that anyone was particularly looking for them), but they manage to swim to it. After the rain and many lamentations by the humans, the sun returns, to the great joy of all. The ground appears, and the animals (and many new babies) disembark.

The Three Little Pigs each build a house of different material. The Big Bad Wolf comes along and blows away the straw and stick homes, but is unable to destroy the house of bricks.

Old King Cole throws party and invites all of the Mother Goose characters. He warns them that they must leave at midnight. Another collection of characters puts on a stage show. The Ten Little Indian Boys get everyone dancing along. The Hickory Dickory Dock mice announce midnight, and everyone leaves, back into their books.

A baby is transported to Lullaby Land, where pacifiers grow on trees, diapers, bottles, and potty chairs march on parade, and the gingham dog comes to life. He wanders into the "keep out" cave, full of things like scissors, knives, and fountain pens that are not for baby and begins smashing watches with hammers and playing with giant matches. The matches chase after him; baby escapes by riding a bar of soap across a pond, but the smoke from the matches turns into boogey-men. The benevolent sandman, dressed as a wizard, spots baby hiding and works his magic, bringing us back to the real nursery.

When the Pied Piper is not paid for ridding the town of rats, he then lures the children away to punish the parents.

A narrator sings the opening stanzas of the classic poem while we see the house at rest. Santa lands on the roof, comes down the chimney, and opens his bag. The toys march out and decorate the tree, with the toy soldiers shooting balls from their cannon, a toy airplane stringing a garland like skywriting, and the toy firemen applying snow. A blimp delivers the star to the top. Meanwhile, Santa fills the stockings. His laughter awakens the children, who sneak out. The toys rush to their places, and Santa escapes up the chimney just in time.

The elderly owner of a china shop leaves for the night, and the various figurines and decorated mugs come to life. A demonic figure captures an upper-class lady and does battle with her lord, damaging much of the shop. But the demon proves to have a glass jaw and, literally, a yellow streak, and the happy couple is soon reunited. No dialogue, but some signs are in English, particularly the final punch-line.

When a lazy grasshopper prefers to sing and dance rather than forage like his friends the ants, he learns to regret it when winter approaches.

We see bunny rabbits preparing for Easter, by making chocolate eggs and rabbits, decorating eggs, and weaving and filling baskets.

Red Riding Hood is accompanied by Fiddler Pig and Piper Pig as she takes a shortcut through the forest to deliver food to her sick grandmother.

Join Donald Duck in his debut in the classic animated short The Wise Little Hen. Donald and Peter Pig refuse to help the Wise Little Hen plant her corn or harvest it, but they are plenty anxious to help eat it.

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. When the butterfly he rescues from a spider proves to be a fairy, he 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.

Penguins dance and play in Antarctica.

The lovely goddess of spring, Persephone, is kidnapped by Hades, thus bringing about the winter season.

Big race. Hare, fast and in lead, stops to loaf and show off to girl bunnies. Tortoise, plodding along at steady, slow pace, wins, although hare tries a last minute burst of speed.

A dwarf grants the king's wish that everything he touches will turn to gold. When the king finds that he cannot eat, he is no longer happy with the gift. By giving up his worldly property, he finds happiness going from riches to rags.

A kitten runs off to be a robber with a dog.

A colony of nymph babies bathe and play in a river.

Cookies, pastries, and other desserts have a parade.

A robin is shot so the woodland community holds a trial to investigate.

Musical instruments are the stars of a romantic fable set in the Land of Symphony and the Isle of Jazz, two islands separated by the Sea of Discord. The violin princess and the saxophone prince fall in love, but must meet secretly in order to avoid the wrath of their parents, the Symphony queen and the Jazz king. The queen finds the boy saxophone on her island, attempting to woo her daughter. She has him locked in the metronome, but the young lover manages to send a note - in fact, several musical notes on sheet music - that conveys the message that he has been imprisoned. The Isle of Jazz declares war by blasting musical notes across the sea. The only thing that can bring peace and harmony to the Sea of Discord is love.

Three orphan kittens are entering a society house in winter and ruin the furniture. But when they're caught by the maid, the young daughter of the house "rescues" them from the cold out outside.

The title character comes to town, complete with portable boxing ring. He grabs a local chicken and dances with her, inspiring several other barnyard animals to dance. But her rooster takes offense, and enters the ring to do battle.

A sailor doll, thrown into a toy dump, rallies the demoralized dolls that were already there.

A little elephant is ashamed of his trunk but saves his tiger girlfriend with it by using it as a fire hose when her house burns.

Two frivolous pigs blow the "wolf" horn one too many times and Practical Pig ignores them. The Big Bad Wolf and Three Little Wolves capture the pigs and eventually Practical Pig manages to rescue them in nick of time with "Wolf Pacifier."

A sequel to The Tortoise and the Hare, Max Hare and Toby Tortoise are competing again, this time mismatched in the boxing ring.

The Three Mouseketeers work together must find different ways to evade the traps Katt sets for them.

Morty Citymouse invites his cousin Abner Countrymouse for a visit and shows him the ways of the big city, including traps, eating quietly, and busy traffic.

Pluto accidentally hatches a bunch of chickens and looks after them until the hen returns.

Thrown out of the house into the backyard, the three kittens are sheltered by a giant Saint Bernard and are tormented by a turtle and a bluebird.

Bugs of all kinds convene on a jazz club for an evening of fun.

The "fearless warrior" of the poem is a very small child whose pants keep falling down. He tries to shoot a grasshopper with his arrow, but the grasshopper spits in his eye. He tries to shoot a bunny rabbit, but the rabbit is too cute and pathetic. He tracks a bear, and runs after its cub and right into the mother. But the rest of the animals, thankful for him saving the rabbit, come to his rescue.

As a thunderstorm approaches, birds, mice and other creatures try to stay safe and dry in an old mill.

A group of moths invades a costume shop through a badly plugged hole in a window and makes quick work of the contents. A male moth ignores his lady to chow down on a hat and she’s soon seduced by a candle flame, which rapidly spreads. He notices her trapped in a spider web with the fire attacking and makes some attempts to save her, but pours benzene on the fire by mistake. The rest of the moths are summoned, and they fight the fire with water-filled bagpipes, an air drop with a water-filled funnel, etc., while our hero works to free his lady from the spider web.

An elaborate dream fantasy based on the popular children's poem of three children playing and floating among the stars. The three sleepy children sail in their shoe-boat; they stall briefly on a cloud, then have various troubles with their fishing lines (one lands a fish-like star that ends up squirming in his pants).

The farm comes to life, to various classical tunes. The high point is a rooster serenading a chicken, with all the animals joining in. But then comes the sound that’s even more welcome to the animals: the farmer and his wife with food (the only actual words spoken).

A salt water version of "Water Babies" (1935); adorable redheaded 'merbabies' materialize out of the crashing surf and proceed to the sea floor where they conduct a circus along with a variety of sea creatures.

Various Mother Goose rhymes are portrayed by Hollywood stars for example, Old King Cole's fiddlers three are the Marx Brothers, and Humpty Dumpty is W.C. Fields, who falls while tormenting Charlie McCarthy; Simple Simon and the Pieman are Laurel and Hardy.

After his two brothers are captured, the third little pig invents a machine to capture the big bad wolf.

A baby duckling is shunned by his family because he is different. He is also rejected by all of the other birds and animals. Finally a mother swan adopts him as one of her brood.