Mickey's Fire Brigade

Just about every studio has seen the visual possibilities inherent in doing cartoons involving firemen and fires. This is one of the early ones and it works exceedingly well. While I don't know that they started here, a number of the standard gags are here and they work to perfection. Disney was basically firing on all cylinders during this period and was more or less the only studio on top of the mountain in 1935, given that Fleischer was starting a slow fade, though still doing good work, as the new Code's requirements began taking its toll on the Betty Boop series. Warner Brothers and MGM were not yet as good as Disney or Fleischer and Lantz didn't really hit his stride until Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker came along. Disney was king and precise, very technically excellent shorts like Mickey's Fire Brigade were the result. Disney spent more time and effort on a seven-eight minute cartoon than some studios took with their feature films! Great cartoon (and very funny) well worth watching. Most highly recommended.

I love the 1920s and 30s Mickey Mouse cartoons. Compared to the films of rival studios, they were head and shoulders over them all thanks to great quality animation, a wonderful sense of humor and nice characters. This one stars the wonderful trio of Mickey, Donald and Goofy and is in glorious Technicolor.

It begins with the three working as firemen. They respond to a fire with rather predictable results--though the weird scenes with an unusually dumb Clarabelle Cow are pretty strange. Despite the fire all around her, Clarabelle insists on taking her bath--and fights all attempts by these do-gooders to help. Again and again, she beats the snot out of the three heroes but they do not relent--they are determined to save this dopey bovine.

High quality throughout and quite entertaining. This is not the best film the trio made, but is still quite good and worth seeing--and, more importantly, the film has withstood the test of time. Try watching some of the incredibly insipid and saccharine films of rival studios of 1935--you'll no doubt see what I'm talking about when it comes to the outstanding quality of this Disney film.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

It's MICKEY'S FIRE BRIGADE (Mickey, Donald & Goofy) to the rescue when Clarabelle Cow's boarding house goes up in flames.

It is unthinkable that something as horrific as a house fire could ever be humorous, but the Disney animators have wrung every possible laugh out of a frightful situation. Clarabelle gives conclusive proof at one point that the 'udder problem' which plagued her earlier career is now no longer a consideration. Walt Disney provides the voice for Mickey; Clarence Nash does the honors for Donald.

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 storm 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.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are firefighters who are given the task of putting out the fire in a big house. They are undaunted as they incompetently battle the flames. Clarabell the cow is taking a bath and refuses to listen. It is doubtful that there is anything left of the house in the end, but it's an action packed, constantly moving feature that never wavers.

This is a rare cartoon that features all three of Disney's biggest stars: Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Here, they are fire fighters trying to save a boarding house and rescue the singing Clarabelle Cow.

But of course, as with any Disney cartoon with slapstick comedy, fighting the fires weren't a piece of cake and the flames literally fight back, which I thought was a little too incredible and silly as you want our heroes to win. But, it's still pretty entertaining. I especially liked Donald Duck, in his earlier roles, shouting and swinging at the live flames using his hot-fiery temper! Goofy was as goofy as ever, being the first to spot the oblivious Clarabelle Cow, and Mickey Mouse just tried too hard to control the fire engine!

One of the funniest earlier Mickey, Donald, Goofy cartoons.

Grade B