Masterpieces of Animation: The Old Mill

Along with music, one of my greatest loves is animation and puppetry. I enjoy the medium for its story telling abilities as well as the great technical details that go into animation that create the illusion of reality. Animation is fascinating when you stop and try to grasp how certain scenes were done, the amount of work and ingenuity that goes into even a short 10 minute cartoon is absolutely mind blowing. Periodically I would like to introduce and talk about some of my favorite pieces of animation and today I decided to start with what might be the most beautiful short (meaning less then 15 minutes) cartoon ever created: Disney's The Old Mill. Made in 1937 this cartoon confounds all the typical stereotypes of early cartoons. It is in color, there are no dancing animals (there are animals though) and most importantly no repetition of scenes. Instead it is a realistic depiction of an abandoned countryside mill, and the animals that live there, through a dark and stormy night.
Truth be told, The Old Mill was more of a developmental exercise to prove a concept then a deliberate masterpiece (kind of like Chopin's etudes). The short was created to develop and perfect the animation tools that would be used on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" but as can be seen the animators at Disney already had the skills down pat. What is most amazing about this cartoon are the little details. The glistening spiderweb at the beginning, the ripples in the water, the sunlight dancing on the bat's wings and the bats' reflections in the water as they fly away. It all works together perfectly, the movements of the animals are smooth and very realistic in a stylistic way (they still tend to be (deliberately) a little anthropomorphic especially the owl). Thanks to Disney's newly developed multiplane camera (not the first one used in animation, but certainly the most advanced) a feeling of depth and the ability to have independently moving backgrounds (like the cows moving behind the mill) was used to great effect.
Great animation by itself however does not a masterpiece make. Both the music and the story boarding in this short are top notch. The composer really nailed the essence of a warm summer evening and the buildup to a short summer thunderstorm. When the sun comes up after the storm and the morning music kicks in, it instantly takes you back to mornings after a thunder storm, the music conveys the experience perfectly. Like the music the story bounces from animal to animal as they start their nightly activities staying long enough to be interesting without staying to long and becoming boring. When the storm finally hits, the tension rises (wonderfully accomplished in tandem with the music) and as the audience you can feel the worry of the little bird family caught in tough situation trying to weather the storm. Then finally the last lightening strike hits and the storm is over. Throughout the whole piece their are little bits of soft humor, more bemusing then laugh-out loud funny and an air of lightness that helps to contrast with the moments of grand tension (I feel it really speaks to a human "fear" or "uneasiness" that powerful storms cause, even on screen and the humor helps to ease that uncomfortable feeling.) Finally the whole cartoon is done without a single word or narration relying totally on the music, sound and visuals to convey the emotions of the piece.
The Old Mill really represents an apex of what animation can achieve and if you have never had the pleasure of experiencing the cartoon I really recommend it, it will change how you look at cartoons and animation.