Steamboat Willie (1928)

I love this movie so much

That was an excellent one.

Just perfect...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

At first I thought this would be one of those things where you say, "The film wasn't much, but we get to see Mickey Mouse for the first time in sound." To the contrary, this is a funny, endearing little film, with our hero turning objects into musical instruments. He is a bad employee, constantly ridden by Pete his boss on the boat. Sometimes these bosses get a bad rap because, after all, their business should be important. Nevertheless, Mickey and Minnie are really cute and steal the show. I have always been impressed with the way the characters move and gyrate to the music. While the drawing is simple, it works wonderfully.

Steamboat Willie (1928) **** (out of 4) I think it's quite fair to say that STEAMBOAT WILLIE is the most important animated film in history. While it wasn't the first Mickey Mouse short (it's the third) it is the one that really turned him into a superstar and it took Walt Disney into a while new level unlike anything we've ever seen. The story is pretty simple as Mickey decides to whistle and dance his way throughout the boat. Yes, whoever would have guessed that by simply whistling this little mouse would become a part of cinematic history? Not only is this film historic but it's also quite excellent in its own right. The film has a certainly charm and good-hearted feel to it that it's impossible not to smile with it and it's even more impossible not to want to join in on the whistling. There are countless highlights here but my favorite has always been the sequence where the cow is too small to get loaded onto the boat so Mickey must do something to put meat on his bones.

Before I review this cartoon, I'd like to make clear that this was neither the first sound cartoon (Max Fleischer did that a few years before) nor the initial one starring Mickey Mouse (that would be Plane Crazy earlier in the year). It was, however, the first audio recorded one by Walt Disney and his associate, Ub Iwerks. Now if you're expecting the good guy/bland Mickey of the later years, you'll either be very disappointed or maybe very glad this Mouse has a more mischievous side. And how bad Mickey could truly be: In playing "Turkey in the Straw", he pulls a cat's tail and throws him off with it, pulls a goose's neck, pulls little piglet's by the tails, and turns their mother upside down and pushes her teats on her body's front! Since this was just a cartoon, I laughed at many of these gags not to mention at Minnie's cranking a goat's tail with music coming out of his mouth after that goat ate her music sheets and her bass. Oh, and I also laughed at a pre-Code gag of a boat pulley lifting Minnie's skirt and lifting her by her panty! What I just described is a loose account of the plot which also involves a large humanized cat as the captain who may have later become Peg Leg Pete in other Mickey Mouse cartoons. Okay, I don't really consider this a great cartoon but it's still a very entertaining one so on that note, Steamboat Willie is still highly worth seeing.

No doubt about it. This is the animated short that put Uncle Walt on the map of success. When Walt's older brother,Roy suggested that the next Mickey Mouse short should include sound, Walt jumped at the chance. The result:Steamboat Willie was a runaway hit for 1928. It was, after all, the first animated short subject with a synchronized sound track (mostly music & sound effects,as dialog was minimal). Not to sound like a wet blanket, but the short is far from perfect. Animation prior to 1935 was creaky & rather herky jerky (but once equipment made improvements,and better artistic techniques came about,the rest was smooth sailing),and the sound was primitive (Disney wanted to use the then well known RCA Sound System,or the Western Electric Noiseless sound system,but was refused by both firms,prompting Disney to use the Photophone system that P.A. Powers was experimenting with at the time). The plot (there's an actual plot line here?)concerns Mickey (as the aforementioned Willie)is the pilot of a steamboat, that is terrorized by Black Pete (Captain Pete to you),and decides to have a jam session on ship, using the various animals on board as musical instruments (ASPCA, take notice). If you don't think too much about the technical shortcomings, Steamboat Willie can be eight minutes of fun (and a piece of history).