Clock Cleaners

Though it is yet another 'everything goes wrong' cartoon (pretty much EVERY Disney short) this one has enough imagination to keep you amused. I remember watching it as a kid and being impressed with the set-pieces and hijinks even then.

Basically Mickey, Donald and Goofy are cleaning a huge clock tower, taller than all the little skyscrapers (surely no one would be able to tell the time from down on the street) at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It's a risky dangerous job but they seem to all know what they're doing and never loose their footholds. But a big stork, an angry spring and a sleepwalking Goofy all make it end in disaster. Funny!

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey, Donald & Goofy are the CLOCK CLEANERS atop a very tall tower.

The three buddies have their work cut out for them in this classic little film from Disney's Golden Age. The animation is first-rate and the laughs keep coming as Mickey deals with a stubborn stork, Donald falls foul of the mechanism's mainspring and Goofy, in a nod to Harold Lloyd, teeters about the deadly brink. 'Asleep In The Deep' is the tune of which the Goof keeps singing the first line ('Loudly the bell in the old tower rings.') Walt Disney provides Mickey with his squeaky voice; Clarence Nash does the honors for Donald.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Classic Disney short teaming their three stars of the time: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. This time the trio are supposed to clean a clock at the top of a high tower in the middle of a big city (presumably New York City since one of the mechanical figures that rings the clock bell is the Statue of Liberty). They each run into some difficulty and even danger, as you might expect, but it's all light and fun. Goofy's near-falls had my head spinning, though. The animation is gorgeous! Well-drawn characters and backgrounds, exciting action, and jaw-droppingly beautiful Technicolor. Great voice work from Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig, and Walt Disney himself. Lively, bouncy music from Paul Smith and Oliver Wallace. It's a fantastic cartoon, imaginative and funny. It's totally deserving of its reputation as one of the best shorts these three starred in together.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy share the stage in what is one of the most memorable short films of this trio. It is a classic animated comedy of the time in which the three characters must clean a clock in what seems like something inspired by Charles Chaplin's Safty Last. One of the things that can be remembered most from this short film is Donald dealing with a metal band that seems to emit words through sounds. This is a clear reminder of how fantastic the use of sound effects can be in the world of animation. Without the need to argue much, Clock Cleaners is another of Disney's small works of art in its golden age. My final rating for this short film is an 8/10.

This is a truly magnificent cartoon, with the real star being the clock, with a strong supporting effort from a sleeping stork. Mickey, Donald and Goofy are fine, but the detail work on the backgrounds and the design of the clock are exceptional. The gags are hilarious, if somewhat familiar (probably because they've spurred frequent imitation by others) and the ending is priceless. Various bits are reminiscent of some great silent comics like Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, particularly the opening shot and an extended bit featuring Goofy on walkabout. Well worth having. Most highly recommended.