Le lièvre et la tortue

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE compete in a foot race. While Max Hare struts & smirks & shows off, Toby Tortoise keeps plodding right along...

Aesop's Fables provided the inspiration for this Academy Award winning cartoon. Max is rather insufferable, but Toby's gentle good nature provides the core of the story. This little film was followed by a sequel, TOBY TORTOISE RETURNS (1936).

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.

Just watched this Oscar-winning animated short on YouTube. Based on the classic Aesop Fable, the obnoxious hare challenges the shy tortoise to a relay race. If you're familiar with the tale, you know how it goes but this being animated, you get the hare causing some wind to blow as well as him stopping to chat up some feminine admirer fans while the tortoise keeps going. There are some amusing gags but nothing hilarious. Still, this was a pretty exciting cartoon from Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and it spawned a sequel-Toby Tortoise Returns-that I did think was hilarious. Oh, and it's easy to see why Frank Tashlin thought the hare-eventually called Max in the sequel-was the inspiration for Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny. So for all that, I highly recommend The Tortoise and the Hare. P.S. I first saw some of these scenes when The Disney Channel presented on their "DTV" program their version of The Doobie Brothers' "It Keeps You Running" with this as well as other Disney cartoon scenes for the music video.

If you are looking for edgy humor, the 1930s are NOT the era to search. Very often, the cartoons of the era featured lots of singing and nice, cute characters. The more irreverent style of Tex Avery with MGM and the Looney Tunes bunch (Bugs, Daffy and the gang) were still to be developed in the 1940s. So, although THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE definitely lacks a comedic edge and is a bit on the cutesy-cutesy side, it's head and shoulders better than the typical product of the age. Why was is Oscar-worthy? Well, it's because the animation quality was simply amazing. The colors were very, very vibrant, the backgrounds were amazing and the character animation was smooth. During the 30s, it's hard to find cartoons that look better than this. My only regret is that the more mainstream cartoons like Mickey Mouse were not seriously considered. Perhaps they lacked the snob appeal, but GULLIVER MICKEY or TWO-GUN MICKEY would have been better choices--having both the great animation and a more enjoyable and less predictable story.

A road race between a tortoise and a hare. Classic early Disney cartoon, although it's rating is probably due more to memories of multiple childhood viewings than quality.

The hare emerges from his tent like a boxing champion, the tortoise more like a lethargic geriatric - and the entire crowd assume this is a fait-accompli. Racing away, the hare even stops for a nap. His opponent politely tip-toes past him, only for him to be easily overtaken again and this time allowing the complacent hare time to flirt with some bunny girls watching from a wall, generally taking his victory as assured. He even plays himself at baseball and tennis and generally just shows off! Meantime, with just yards to go, the tortoise is approaching the finish line so the hare has to get a move on - else the unthinkable might happen! It's quickly paced if a little over-scored this animation, but the cocksureness of the hare and the steadfastness of the tortoise play out well in an engaging tale of never taking anything for granted - however confident you might be.