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The Disney Dream Factory: 1933-1938 Limited Gold Edition Cartoon Classics

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IN A NUTSHELL:

'The Disney Dream Factory: 1933-1938 Limited Gold Edition Cartoon Classics by Walt Disney' is essentially 6 'Silly Symphonies' that are preceded by an interesting though brief documentary which focuses on the state of animation with music and/or music with animation. The animated features on this video are examples of music with animation -- a precursor of 'Fantasia'!

WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT: 1 DOCUMENTARY + 6 SILLY SYMPHONIES IN LESS THAN AN HOUR

-----> SILLY SYMPHONY PLAY-LIST & SYNOPSIS - MUSIC + COLOR ANIMATION + STORY = ENCHANTMENT

*- 'OLD KING COLE': [about 8 minutes] Classic story told in a novel way, in color and song.

*- 'PIED PIPER': [7.5 minutes] Another classic story. A medieval town is overrun with rats and the mayor must do something. He does -- he promises a bag of gold to anyone who can get rid of the vermon that have infested the city. The Pied Piper does the trick, and so easily that the mayor reneges on his promise of payment. The Pied Piper, claiming that he doesn't want the children to turn out like their parents leads them away in the same manner as the rats.

*- MUSIC LAND [10 minutes] Can there be peace between the classical strings and the jazzy saxophones? In 'Music land', set in England during the age of castles - knights and kings, the musical instruments are personified into two factions. The classical faction, led by the strings, and the jazz faction, led by the Saxes. What happens is a clash which is fought by organs firing musical cannons at brass instruments that have turned their bells into cannon barrels as well. Peace, ultimately, comes with matrimony between the hostile parties.

*- THREE BLIND MOUSEKETEERS [9 minutes] Here, our 3 blind heros face none other than the infamous 'Captain Cat' - "I fear no mouse and no cat" is his motto. Of course, he speaks in song and his verse generally rhymes. Fortunately for the three blind mouseketeers, their motto of "all for one and one for all" includes the entire mouse population and in this way they are able to marshall enough force to prevail over the sinister Captain Cat.

*- MERBABIES [8.5 minutes] This whimsical animated segment based on a kind of mythology is very Fantasia-esque. Taking place entirely under-the-sea, we have parades featuring a swimming band, Octo-Elephants, Sea Horses, Tiger Fish and even Seal-like Snails that play music on horns. It looks alot like the circus parade from Dumbo, underwater and with fantastic creatures but the theme is really like Fantasia, where the action follows the music. Even Monstro, the whale from Pinocchio is here, looking as menacing as ever and even perfroming his classic sneeze. Bear in mind that this short feature pre-dates both Dumbo and Pinocchio by more than 5 years.

*- WYNKING - BLYKEN & NOD [8.5 minutes] Another Fantasia-esque short animated piece. This time, all three characters 'WYNKING' - 'BLYKEN' & 'NOD', are actually one little toddler dreaming about going fishing with peppermint sticks as bait. The film begins and ends with the same siren's song, which is a hint of the dream-like atmosphere that is to come. A nice tranquil ending to this Silly Symphony Sextet.

ALSO RECOMMENDED: WALT DISNEY'S TREASURES: SILLY SYMPHONIES ON DVD - CAUTION VERY EXPENSIVE