The Old Mill is a 1937 Silly Symphony cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Wilfred Jackson, scored by Leigh Harline, and released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on November 5, 1937. It depicts the natural community of animals populating an abandoned windmill in the country and how they deal with a violent thunderstorm that nearly destroys their habitat.
Like many of the later Silly Symphonies, the short was a testing-ground for advanced animation techniques. Marking the first use of Disney's multiplane camera, the short also incorporates realistic depictions of animal behavior, complex lighting and color effects, depictions of rain, wind, lightning, ripples, splashes, reflections, three-dimensional rotation of detailed objects, and the use of timing to produce specific dramatic and emotional effects. All of the lessons learned from making it would subsequently be incorporated into Disney's feature-length animated films, especially Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The short won the 1937 Academy Award for Best Short Subjects: Cartoons. In 1994, it was voted #14 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. It is ranked at the IMDb top short list as the 17th greatest short film ever.
Plot[]
The short starts off near an old, abandoned windmill somewhere in any European country with many animals living within it. As night sets in, several frogs, grasshoppers and fireflies sing a tone until a sudden storm. Strong winds begin to blow at the windmill making it spin slightly due to a rope lodged in the gear. A mother bird fearing for the life of her eggs stay with her nest as the rope breaks and the windmill spins. The mother is saved from be crushed by the gear due to her nesting spot being line with a broken knot in the gear. As the storm grows the wind strike the windmill causing it to fall apart until a lightning strike hit a blade on the mill which caused it to lean. After the storm the animals emerge from their shelters and the mother bird and her mate tend to their newly hatched chicks.
Voice cast[]
- Clarence Nash - Frogs
Disney Parks[]
The mill from the short appeared in the Storybook Land Canal Boats at Disneyland (as a trio of windmills until they were replaced by the kingdom of Arendelle from Frozen on December 2014) and Disneyland Paris.
The Old Mill was a snack bar and Ferris wheel type attraction at Disneyland Paris, but the attraction component closed in 2000.
Tom Sawyer Island at the Magic Kingdom features an homage to the Old Mill in the Harpers Mill walkthrough, with a animatronic owl in the rafters and a bird nest in a broken cog of the mill wheel.
Footage of the short is also featured in the World of Color presentation at Disney California Adventure.
The footage is also shown at the climax of the Immortals segment of the Wondrous Journeys show at Disneyland where the storm begins to tear apart the background (Sleeping Beauty Castle, Main Street, U.S.A., It's a Small World) like paper.
Releases[]
Television[]
- Disneyland, episode #2.6: "The Story of the Silly Symphony"
- The New Mickey Mouse Club, episode C-001, January 17, 1977
- Walt Disney's Mickey and Donald, episode #5
- A Disney Halloween
- The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.1: "Award Winners"
- The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.29: "Goin' Outside With the Silly Symphonies"
Home video[]
VHS
- Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: More of Disney's Best: 1932-1946
- Disney Storybook Favourites: The Ugly Duckling and Five Other Stories
- Walt Disney's Fables: Volume 2
DVD
- Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies
- Bambi: Platinum Edition
- Bambi: Diamond Edition
- Walt Disney's Fables: Volume 2
Blu-ray
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition
- Bambi: Diamond Edition
- Bambi: Anniversary Signature Edition
Streaming[]
Trivia[]
- One of the projector transition levels in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is based on this short.
- The short was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Bart Has Two Mommies".
- Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki has called The Old Mill his favorite Disney film.
- The first segment of The Wonderful Spring of Mickey Mouse takes place near the old mill itself. Several references to the short were shown when the flower versions of the main characters used the mill to reach the top of the hill.
Gallery[]
