Lion Down

Goofy wants to lie in his new hammock. However, he only has one tree. He goes to the forest, digs up a tree, and plants it. Unfortunately, there is a mountain lion sleeping in it and so he comes home with our frenetic hero. The lion also would like to rest and gets designs on Goofy's hammock. What transpires is a one-upsmanship thing with the two of them doing outrageous things to get to rest in the hammock. The sight gags and the sound effects are quite wonderful.

After a long delay of having it sit on the shelf,I decided to finally take The Complete Goofy DVD set off the shelf,and see the lion.

View on the film:

Laying Goofy down in the hammock to rest, director Jack Kinney (whose brother Dick co-wrote the script with Milt Schaffer) disrupts Goofy's plans with fluid,hand-drawn animation which shines when stepping in time with Paul J. Smith's excellent Jazz score, as rapid-fire sight-gags dart across the screen to the mad-cap fight between Goofy and Louie the Lion.

Goofy, trying to sleep on a hammock suspended from two trees on top of his apartment roof, runs into a mountain lion, which was sleeping in one of the trees that Goofy brought from the forest. Goofy gets his nap disturbed hilariously by the lion, who wants the hammock for himself. What follows are some funny moments and chases, hit and misses - from Goofy getting soaring through the air with his hammock to him tangling with the lion.

I especially liked the sound effect for the doorbell - funny sound to me for some reason, and fun seeing either Goofy or the lion barge through the door in attempts to get access to the hammock. Overall, a pretty good Goofy cartoon.

Grade B

This short has everything you would expect from a Golden Age-period Disney cartoon - beautiful colours, evocative draughtsmanship, awesome fluidity of action, incredibly inventive variations on a minimalist plot, good comic violence. There are also some complex themes, such as the violence necessary just to survive in suburbia, a very Bunuellian notion. The film's great merit, though, is in prefiguring by seven years Hitchcock's 'invention' of Scottie's dolly/reverse shot from the world's greatest film, VERTIGO (you know the one, where he's looking down, and goes all wobbly). You never read THAT in the history books.

Disney and Goofy are always at least fun to watch(I don't think I've seen one that I've disliked). Whether Lion Down is one of the all-time greats I am not sure, but if I were asked if I considered it a great classic short I'd say yes without hesitation. The animation is fluid and colourful, with lots of detail and life in every scene and frame. Both characters are beautifully drawn and the action never comes across as awkwardly movement-wise. The music is orchestrated in a way that is a treat to the ears, it also not only adds to the action but has a bit of humour of its own. The story is simple, but a lot less routine than some of the other Disney shorts of the time, in fact the low and high, town and country concept shows a little complexity, it is crisply paced and it is always easy to follow. The gags are both hilarious and inventive, the humour had a 30s-40s Looney Tunes feel to it which I loved while not feeling too different. Goofy and Louie work very well together, Goofy is always fun and likable(though the scenario does perhaps does feel a little more suited to the personality of Donald's) with the humour playing to his strengths, while Louie contrasts to great effect. In conclusion, classic Golden-Age Disney. 10/10 Bethany Cox