Studio: Disney Cartoons
Distributor: Celebrity Productions (sound release, 1929)
Short Synopsis
Inspired by Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, Mickey Mouse builds his own aeroplane with help from the barnyard animals. His first test flight ends in a wreck. He builds a new plane from a car, a turkey's tail feathers and the leftover parts, and invites Minnie to join him; she brings a horseshoe for luck. The plane takes off out of control and careers around the farm, through impossible loops and dives, and at one point Clarabelle Cow ends up riding on it. Once Mickey gets the plane level, he keeps trying to kiss Minnie. She refuses, so he throws the plane into stunts that scare her and grabs a kiss. Minnie slaps him and jumps out, using her bloomers as a parachute. Distracted, Mickey crashes into a tree. When Minnie lands he laughs at her, she storms off, and Mickey angrily throws away the lucky horseshoe, which boomerangs back and knocks him flat.
Why It Matters
- Watch the point-of-view shot from the cockpit as the plane dives at the ground: the farmyard rushes towards the camera, an unusually ambitious shot for a 1928 cartoon. It shows Iwerks thinking about the camera as well as the characters.
- It was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon made. It failed to find a distributor as a silent film, and Disney's response, to gamble on synchronised sound with Steamboat Willie, changed animation. Seen today, Mickey's pushy behaviour with Minnie is a sharp reminder of how rough-edged the character was before Disney turned him into a well-behaved everyman.
Notes and Trivia
- Iwerks animated the film almost single-handedly in about two weeks, reportedly at a rate of more than 700 drawings a day.
- Carl Stalling recorded the score for the sound version on 26 October 1928, about a month before Steamboat Willie opened.
- See also: Steamboat Willie (1928), The Gallopin' Gaucho (1928).