Steamboat Willie

This era was not just the dawn of sound in cartoons, but of a cartoon character which would go down in history as the world's most famous mouse. Yes, Mickey makes his debut here, in this cheery tale of life on board a steamboat. The animation is good for it's time, and the plot - though a little simple - is quite jolly. A true classic, and if you ever manage to get it on video, you won't regret it.

"Steamboat Willie" is Mickey`s first movie, and was released way back in 1928. It is an atmospheric piece of movie history, and is a must see for every Disney-fan out there. If you don`t like Disney, you probably won`t like this movie.

A great debut for Mickey Mouse and it`s the first cartoon. As an old Disney-fan, I think that this is a brilliant movie. 10/10

Seeing again, after a very long time, this short seems real - real creepy. So, the recent version by Nick Lives can be defined as wise one comparing with original.

Cruelty , sexism and sexual jokes, bad treatment to animals and horror in pure form.

A strange work from beginnings of Walter Disney , so funny in childhood for many from us , frighting today because the permisity about taboo themes seems just the rule.

In short, a form of revenge, reminding children sadism or teens teribilism , of Mickey against Captain Pete . And its forms are not so amusing, in fact.

But, sure, a classic. Served by a sort of a controversy answer at start of 2024 year.

... the end of Buster Keaton's career? This cartoon was released at the end of 1928, eight months after the release of Buster Keaton's final independent film - Steamboat Bill, Jr. Why should somebody shell out money for Keaton to take a chance with life and limb with his wonderful acrobatics when Walt could draw a mouse that could do all of those antics, not show up late to the set, not require lunch breaks, and come back for the next film/cartoon fresh as a daisy and uninjured?

I don't know if the similarity between the title of this cartoon and Buster's last independent creation is anything but coincidence, but I wonder. Always worth a look to see the wonderfully creative Walt at work in the beginning. He would shake his head at what his company is outputting as product today. But I digress.

Highly recommended for the film history angle.

While in France as Germaine Dulac created a benchmark of short-subject, cinematic surrealism with The Seashell and the Clergyman, Walt Disney and his collaborator Ub Iwerks in America worked on Steamboat Willie, the most prominent of the early synchronized sound cartoons (it was revealed that this was not the first, contrary to other reports). It's also one of the more successfully simplistic and funny of the Mickey Mouse shorts (still in a silent-film way- the only sounds are little irks and bleeps from the Mickey and the animals). It also goes by fairly quickly for its less-than-ten minute run, if only by how quick and dopey the gags are.

But in these minutes one gets the immediate sense of how much fun Disney has with his characters, and how the newfound use of sound changes how his creation uses the animals as musical tools. There's no story to speak of, just random things that happens and occurs because of Mickey (err, Steamboat Willie) on this boat on a river. And like the better Mickey Mouse shorts, his lack of speaking acts as an advantage. It's a must-see if you haven't seen it as a kid, but if you have it might still be worth another look.