Studio: Walt Disney Productions (Silly Symphonies)
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
The animals of the jungle sing and dance, mostly monkeys and apes, with birds and crocodiles taking their own numbers. Two young monkeys are in love and express it in dance, swinging through the trees together, courting on a branch and cavorting with the rest of the troop. A crocodile is the villain: he stalks the lovers, snaps at them from the river, and in the climax catches one of them, and the other and the whole jungle must rescue the captive from his jaws. The crocodile is beaten, and the lovers finish the film in each other's arms, with the jungle in chorus.
Why It Matters
- The monkey lovers and the crocodile are a real plot, which the trade press noticed: Film Daily described "a little love episode in the jungle, with two simians as the sweethearts and an alligator as the menacing villain", and Motion Picture News called the film "foolishly clever", praising the "ridiculous postures and gyrations" of the monkeys, which are indeed Gillett's unit at its most limber.
- The 1930 copyright expired in January 2026, leaving it public domain in the United States. It marks the point where the Silly Symphonies began to tell stories with heroes and villains rather than only dance, a shift that led, within three years, to Three Little Pigs.
Notes and Trivia
- The crocodile villain returned in the 1931 Silly Symphony The Clock Store's cousins and in several Mickey jungle cartoons.
- Jungle settings let the studio use its stock of monkey animation from the Oswald days.
- See also: Jungle Rhythm (1929), Night (1930), Cannibal Capers (1930).