Tuesday 7 November 2023

Pied Piper Pan

Playful Pan starts out like any Disney cartoon of 1930—there are animals dancing and music played from makeshift instruments.

Who can watch that for seven minutes? Even in 1930?

The cartoon gets a plot about half-way through. Clouds dancing to the tunes smash their butts together to create lightning that begins burning down the forest.

A fox with a squeak-toy voice runs to Playful Pan to get his help to put out the fire. After all, his music started the whole thing.



He gets an idea. He plays a tune that gets the flames (with little legs) to dance their way into a lake and commit suicide.



We cut to a little flame bringing up the rear; Friz Freleng used the same concept for gags in later cartoons at Warners. Pan’s music still can’t get the flame to jump in the lake, so the little goat-boy smashes him into pieces and uses his flute as a fire extinguisher to put out each piece.



A lot of good it does. The forest has been burned down. Pan fades out to end the cartoon.

Disney appears to be trying for something a little more elaborate by filling the screen with characters. The action is animated on ones.

2 comments:

  1. Eric O. Costello7 November 2023 at 14:45

    Given the rings on the tail, and the mask around the eyes, I think that's a raccoon asking Pan for help, not a fox, though we see a fox with its brush on fire a little bit earlier.

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    1. Yeah, E.O. I see what you mean. The mask is really hard to see, and the snout and ears don't remind me of a raccoon, but you're right.

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