Wild Waves

I have been watching my Mickey Mouse DVDs we got for Christmas and noticed that most of the cartoons before this one in the Disney Treasures DVD (Mickey in Black & White volume 2) consisted of lots of song and dance numbers with little plot. However, this one appeared quite different--with Mickey and Minnie enjoying a day at the beach. Minnie is soon pulled out to sea and Mickey becomes the hero. HOWEVER, after about 4 minutes, the cartoon abruptly turned to what seemed like filler--lots of the same old song and dance as in the other cartoons of the era. Still, it is quite charming and worth seeing--at least for the first portion. Not a great cartoon, but compared to what else was being made at the time, quite good.

We begin with Mickey being introduced as a lifeguard. He performs as seals and other sea creatures applaud. Enter Minnie. She is grabbed by the ocean's undertow and begins to flounder. Mickey risks his skin to save her. After she recovers she begins to cry. Mickey decides that music is the cure for her blues. Many of these early Disney films involved Mickey banging on various parts of animals. There is also a solo by a walrus that is quite entertaining.

This is one of my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoons from 1929. In this cartoon, Mickey is a lifeguard at the beach. And while he was singing with seaside friends (the seals, the gulls, etc.), he spotted Minnie Mouse drowning. Mickey stepped in to help, as it was his duty. As he deposited Minnie on the shore, his seashore pals applauded and shouted.

Confused and upset, Minnie cried out, "Where am I?" as she regained consciousness. But fortunately, Mickey and the seaside critters put on a song-and-dance show to cheer her up. I love this cartoon. I noticed recycled animation in later Disney cartoons. Although I'm sure I've mentioned it a few times, I have nothing else to say about this cartoon. I had assumed it would be another favorite.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Lifeguard Mickey saves Minnie from the ocean's WILD WAVES. Such bravery surely deserves a musical celebration and a little romance.

This enjoyable early black & white film has a plot propelled entirely by its lively soundtrack. Walt Disney supplies Mickey with his squeaky speaking voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

As in other films of this series (the Gorilla Mystery comes to mind), Minnie is a very dumb damsel who dives into danger, and Mickey diverts her from dying. Mickey has a singing voice here which I find awfully unappealing! That's definitely the worst part of this. Apparently it was most likely provided by a random studio employee. The animation is wonderful overall, especially notable are the waves themselves, which are not realistic, but quite comically animated. A number of funny and clever gags throughout with some innuendo. Drawings are quite inconsistent, reminding me of the lookalike mice from Van Beuren cartoons, Milton and Rita. Some shots look like the perfect Ub Iwerks drawings, and others look like weird (though interesting) knockoffs. It is known that at this time, other animators Walt hired really struggled to live up to the standards and consistency of Ub's superb artwork! Some animation errors are apparent (such as elements like Minnie disappearing for a frame). The musical sound effects are pretty interesting and well done, especially using timpani (a.k.a. Kettledrums) for the waves coming in and out, with cymbal crashes for their break. I have to wonder when this language of sound was established for certain effects like this. 1929 was still quite early in the era of sound films, though I know that many of these effects were established in the silent era.

Some of the dancing animal animation was reused in a Silly Symphony I also saw for the first time just earlier today, Arctic Antics, which I would say is not as interesting due to the lack of plot, though I think musically it is better (not that that's a high bar!)

I enjoyed it, though I doubt it's one I'd rewatch often.