The Goddess of Spring

I can't believe I didn't see "The Goddess of Spring" before now. It is truly wonderful and unique, and I would definitely would have liked it as a kid, as I adore animation and classical music. The animation here is stunning, the upper world is so tranquil and like a paradise. Even better are the hell sequences, with dark background contrasts and a somewhat creepy atmosphere. The music is absolutely outstanding, the lyricality of the classical music of the upper world, and the sinister, perhaps even distorted Cab Calloway-inspired jazz music of hell. Then the characters, the secondary characters are sweet and endearing, not with unique personalities like the Seven Dwarfs in "Snow White" but sweet enough. Persephone is so gorgeous and pure, and Hades? In a good way he is truly diabolical, with towering presence, sinister appearance and a resonant Wagnerian-like bass voice. Overall, I loved this Silly Symphony. 10/10 Bethany Cox

There may be no better example of emergence of cinematic genius than to watch this and then see "Snow White."

This is a study in human modelling, in the context of dwarfs and nature. Its after the style of the Betty Boop work that controlled expectations on the animated screen with a little bit more grace. But it still features thin figures with cartoon movements rather than human ones. It was done as a test for Snow White.

Almost nothing here was used in that later project and its a good thing. There is nothing attractive about it at all.

But I can still see a serious attempt at finding that vocabulary of movements that seems human but isn't, looks natural and warm but is abstract and seems to capture a version of womanhood without referencing sex. Its only hinted here and perfected in a way later. I'm not at all sure if we can know whether in Snow White Walt and company touched something we knew, or whether he created something that we grew into with our ideals and imagination. I believe it is the latter, which makes this experiment more interesting.

Suppose he would have stuck with what he had here. Would we have grown around it and adapted a wholly different vision of innocent perfection?

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

PiThis is obviously the story of Hades and Persephone. As the beauty of summer gives way to winter, she is forced to live underground in a sort of hell. There's more to the story, but suffice it to say that this was an explanation for the change of seasons. Spring is a beautiful young woman and Hades is the stereotypical devil (not really the Greek entity). His operatic voice is stunning and his pleasing must be fore eternity. She is always going tor return.

For some reason the animation in this cartoon doesn't make it appear to be a Disney Silly Symphony. Still, it's a pretty good cartoon that tells the story of the goddess Persephone, kidnapped by Hades, causing Spring to prematurely turn into Winter.

It's also a rather exciting cartoon short, as well, and a clever retelling of the Greek mythology. The narration and dialog were all beautifully sung and the characters were delightful to watch.

Grade B

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

Persephone, THE GODDESS OF SPRING, is kidnapped by Hades, the devilish god of the Underworld, leaving the earth in perpetual winter. Will the warmth & joy of Spring ever return?

A vivid, and somewhat bizarre, little film which retells the story from Greek Mythology, while incorporating both operatic & jazz traditions. The animators seem to have confused the character of Hades with that of the Biblical Satan. Years later, Walt would draw comparison between Persephone & Snow White, to illustrate how far his animators evolved in just three short years.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.