The Fox Hunt (1931)
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.
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Surprisingly incoherent and boring
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This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
This is an early short in the Silly Symphonies series produced by Disney. There will be spoilers ahead:This is a very cute cartoon, if nothing special. It's simply a series of gags with the basic framing device of a fox hunt. The short starts at break of day, with birds singing and a rooster crowing. There's a nicely animated sequence with a blacksmith and a farrier working in perfect unison.We're treated to a quartet in reasonably fine voice and then the main business starts and the rest of the cartoon is gags related to a fox hunt. It's visual gags galore here, with dogs going wild, riders jumping on horses, a nice bit on horses clearing a jump and a fox running to escape. There's one rider whose day is far more interesting than he probably liked or wanted, with him riding more than just a horse. Various animals are less happy than he is, because they're being ridden. The ending of the short is extremely nice, so I won't spoil it here.This short is available on the Disney Treasures More Silly Symphonies DVD set and it's well worth seeking out.
Light on gags and worthwhile character animation, The Fox Hunt (1931) is a lesser Silly Symphony. It certainly does not have the energy or atmosphere of something such as The Skeleton Dance (1929) or The Old Mill (1937)The major compensation is the backgrounds and illusion of depth, which was lovely to see. Then again, Disney has almost always had beautiful backgrounds in their films. Even their most wretched works (sans the ugly Chicken Little film from 2005) has that redeeming factor.Otherwise, this will likely bore most people, save for those who can be entertained by lovely backgrounds alone.
Disney Silly Symphonies always have been a big part of my childhood. The Fox Hunt wasn't one of the ones I grew up with but one I only saw fairly recently. I can't say it is one of their greats though, the characters' personalities are somewhat bland and there are moments when the animation is rather crude by today's standards. That said, in regard to the latter point, I actually did find the dawn breaking sequence very atmospheric in terms of animation with the use of silhouettes and lighting and it was in this scene where the animation was at its most fluid. The music is simple but never repetitive and has the right amount of energy. The cartoon is crisply paced and the gags come by thick and fast and are very funny. I admit though that the second half is better than the first as it is in the second half from when the horn is blown when the fun really starts. Though I didn't find the first half dull either, while not as fun it was still interesting. So in conclusion, I found The Fox Hunt worth watching and thought it did well thanks to the gags making an oft-done idea fresh, but I do think there are better Disney cartoons elsewhere that had more consistent quality in animation and stronger characters. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Although Disney also brought out another short in 1938 by the same name, it was not a remake but a Goofy cartoon. This 1931 example is one of the studio's Silly Symphonies--a cartoon short that consists of lots of music and characters cavorting about all set to this music. Unlike most in the series, this one depicts people and not just animals or anamorphic objects. Now considering that the topic is the politically incorrect fox hunt, my bet is that many will be offended by a film making such 'sport' look fun. My feelings are regardless of the cruelty of the sport, the cartoon just isn't a shining example of the art of Disney. While the backgrounds are nice, the dogs and hunters are drawn very cartoony--much more than in other films in the series. This just makes it all see pretty cheap by comparison with the other Symphonies. Overall, it's not a terrible film but it certainly isn't among their best--but it also has lots of humor that younger audience members will enjoy--making one of the better films in the series for kids.