Lambert the Sheepish Lion

In Australia (probably elsewhere, too) this short cartoon was screened just before "The Lion King". For a brief moment I sensed a new golden age, with hand-animated features basking in critical praise and paying their way at the box office, and classic short cartoons once again seeing the light of day (that is to say, the darkness of cinemas). The dream didn't last long, did it? "Lambert" turned out to be the last hand-animated short I ever saw in a cinema; today, Disney doesn't even bother to re-release its old FEATURES any more, and its animation department, which has maintained continuous production for something like seventy-five years and still has the best animators in the world, is fighting for its life in the face of general indifference. We are living in evil times.

I was particularly glad to see this cartoon in the dark, just before "The Lion King": it always brought tears to my eyes, which I managed to keep secret. I gather it was based on a children's book, or was at one point going to be a children's book, or some such, but unless the prose was as perfectly crafted as Hans Christian Andersen's, this is surely the better form. It's a departure for Jack Hannah, who doesn't try to be funny; he just tells a sweet, warm-hearted story as clearly as possible. How can you not love it?

The stork from Dumbo delivers a flock of baby lambs to some sheep on a quiet grass plain (as this is how you explain procreation to children), only a lion cub has gotten mixed in with the rest of them. The cub immediately cuddles up to a lonely ewe and grows up believing that it is a sheep, but finally becoming a lion when the flock is threatened by wolf.

As most of the short is set at night there is a lot of nice, dark animation and background which are quite atmospheric, especially with the glowing full moon beaming down. This short was edited together with The Old Mill (1937) to create a Blueberry Hill music video for the Disney Channel back in the 90s, which is where I was first introduced to it.

Definitely one of my fave Disney toons.

I loved this when I was a kid, and as you have already guessed, I adore Disney and all the Silly Symphonies and shorts they did. Lambert the Sheepish Lion is narrated excellently by Sterling Holloway who also narrated the 1946 classic Peter and the Wolf. The short features an amusing title song, has beautiful animation and tells an Ugly Duckling-like story of a lion who can't fit in with his sheep family, as they tease him for being different. The short also has a wolf, who is very similarly designed to the wolf in Peter and the Wolf, and while not as terrifying, has a roar that made my hair stand up. Thank goodness Lambert saves the day and finally gets accepted. Overall, a wonderful jewel, that deserves a 10/10. Bethany Cox.

When the stork delivers a crop of lambs, one of the ewes is left out. But there is a lion cub who is named Lambert. He was apparently mismarked. So he is inadvertently given to the mother. She decide to keep him and chases the stork away. Of course, the lion cub is rejected by the others, not recognizing his being for what it is. The conclusion is predictable. Still, it is well worth seeing and the song is very memorable.

Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1952)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Delightful Disney short has a stork accidentally dropping off a lion cub to a group of sheep. At first the sheep laugh at the lion who they name Lambert but soon they come to need him when a hungry wolf shows up. This Disney short is probably one of the best remembered films that the studio ever did because from the time it was released to today, it seems like it's been all over the place. I remember watching it at least twice a week when I was a kid and it appears everyone knows the tale of the lion who got dropped off to the sheep. As you'd expect, the animation is extremely good and there's no doubt that the story itself is quite clever. I think one thing that fails to get enough attention is the vocal work of Sterling Holloway who is simply wonderful and adds a lot to the material.