Father Noah's Ark

I loved this when I was a kid, and still do. It is everything I love in a Silly Symphony, lively, colourful and entertaining. The animation is fantastic, considering when it was made, and still holds up even after 70 plus years. The music is also beautiful, and all the characters are wonderful, particularly Noah, and the animals are both adorable and hilarious. It is constantly entertaining, and there is never a dull moment. This is definitely one of my all time favourite Silly Symphonies, right up there with The Band Concert, Flowers and Trees, Ugly Duckling, Skeleton Dance and The Old Mill. Everything about this is memorable, I loved it when I was little, and after all this time, not only it brings back so many fond memories, but I love it even more than I did when I first saw it.

A definite 10/10. Bethany Cox

Father Noah, a Santa Claus lookalike is carrying out the ark-building task that God gave him and plans to have 2 of every land animal shelter from the forthcoming flood on it (without resorting to eating each other, which is the most obvious flaw in this fable - and it is a fable). The animals are only too happy to help out with its construction, including birds of flight, which is kinda odd as they don't really need the ark.

The animation is colorful, and the animals are cute, but as usual with early Disney cartoons, the humans are quite ugly. The song they sing is forgettable, much like the entire cartoon overall.

Underlying message of the cartoon: don't believe everything the Bible tells you.

This short was Disney's first visit to Noah-it was followed up 26 years later by Noah's Ark. Of the two, this one is much closer to the typical Disney animated short and this one is very good. The other is more unusual in style and format, but both are fairly successful in what they try to do. Good to see this in-print. Beautifully executed. Recommended.

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

Work is proceeding at a hectic pace to complete the building of FATHER NOAH'S ARK. Each of the eight humans, and all of the animals, have specific chores to do. The immense task is no sooner finished than the storm clouds start rolling in...

A lively retelling of the Biblical story. The large menagerie of animals are fun to look at and must have kept the animators very busy. Most Sunday School lessons would not include the rabbit & dog gags with which Disney ends the cartoon.

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.

I appreciated the building of the ark. There were many creative touches. I don't know if the helpful animals all made it on board (there seemed to be several elephants). The singing was spiritual style. God was supposedly around but we didn't hear much from him/she/it. Anyway, it was very colorful and joyful. The skunks almost got left behind. As good as such a far fetched story can be portrayed.