Studio: Walt Disney Studio (Mickey Mouse)
Distributor: Celebrity Productions
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
Mickey and Pete both call at Minnie's house to take her to the barn dance, Mickey in a horse and cart, Pete in a brand-new motor car. Minnie chooses the car, which breaks down at once, and she settles for Mickey's cart, with Mickey using a passing duck as a horn. At the dance Mickey is a clumsy partner who treads on Minnie's feet until she refuses a second dance and takes the floor with Pete, who turns out to be light on his feet. Mickey's solution is to stuff a balloon into his shorts, which makes him float through the next dance to Minnie's surprise and delight. Pete spots the trick and exposes it, and Minnie, disgusted by the cheat, goes back to Pete, leaving Mickey weeping on the floor as the film ends.
Why It Matters
- It is the fourth Mickey Mouse cartoon and the first after Steamboat Willie to be planned from the start for sound, with Carl Stalling's score and the dance rhythms built into the action; it is also a rarity in which Mickey loses the girl and ends in tears, and Pete, later the series' permanent villain, is a fair rival rather than a brute.
- Released in March 1929, it is in the public domain in the United States, one of the early Mickeys whose copyrights have run out since 2024, and Pete's clothes and car in this film were the models for his look in Disney's own 2013 homage Get a Horse!
Notes and Trivia
- Les Clark, who animated with Iwerks, stayed at Disney until 1975, the longest-serving of the Nine Old Men.
- The Disney+ release replaces the original title-card music.
- See also: Steamboat Willie (1928), The Opry House (1929), The Gallopin' Gaucho (1928).