Pioneer Days

The benign pioneers make their way West. The savage wolves wear headdresses and represent Native Americans defending their land. So eventually we have the circling of the wagons as the Indians ride around them. The settlers have an arsenal of weapons that can't hit anything. The Indians shoot bows and arrows. I suppose if there is fun, it is the improvisation necessary to dissuade the "enemy."

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey & Minnie are headed West in a wagon train in old PIONEER DAYS when they are attacked by Indians.

There are some moments of excitement in this admittedly funny little film. Unfortunately, in a severe lapse of good taste, the cartoon depicts Native Americans as monstrous & bestial, and, to make matters even worse, has them perform an unnecessary Jewish parody for a few seconds. Look closely during the campfire sequence for glimpses of Horace Horsecollar & Clarabelle Cow. Walt Disney supplies Mickey with his squeaky voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

I've always loved Disney and Mickey Mouse, and while Pioneer Days is interesting especially for when it was made I've never exactly loved it. It has impressive things sure, it is very well animated, fluid and the black and white is atmospherically used. The music is rousing and enhances the action very well, and I enjoyed the use of O Susannah and the love ballad which had a very subtle use of play-on-words. Mickey and Minnie are endearing too, and I liked that Minnie stands up for herself and saves Mickey. I liked also the brief appearances of what looked of Clarabelle and Horace, the dancing of the Indians is well-choreographed and the conflict between the Indians and Pioneers is thrilling. On the other hand, while the story is nice on the whole and I did find the contrast from the peaceful life of the Pioneers to the war-like one of the Indians interesting, it doesn't really get going until the invasion of the waggon camp which is halfway through the cartoon. Mickey's voice sounds a tad different at times as well, sounding slightly lower in pitch than it usually does in the Silly Symphony cartoons. But what strikes me as controversial is the portrayal of the Indians, not everybody will find this but they are stereotypical(like other cartoons of the times, especially Cannibal Capers) and some may take offence at their rather bestial personalities. So overall, interesting and I think good cartoon, but depending on your perception the Indians may not be to your tastes. 7/10 Bethany Cox