Babes in the Woods

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

A malignant old witch tricks the BABES IN THE WOODS into entering her house of horrors. Only their new friends, the little woodland dwarfs, can save them now...

A lot of colorful action is packed into this cartoon, which includes elements of stories from the Brothers Grimm. Charming opening, in which the story begins as a sung lullaby. The wicked witch, though now all but forgotten, is the first of Disney's great villainesses.

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.

Babes in the Woods (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Fun and great to look at Disney cartoon has a brother and sister wondering into the woods where they meet some elves but they're tempted by a house made out of candy and once inside they're kidnapped by the evil witch. This here is an alternate take on the Hansel and Gretal tale and for the most part it's highly entertaining. The film has some very charming moments but there's also some rather dark moments that I'm sure scared the heck out of kids back in 1932. There's a lot of great things about this short but the highlight has to be the actual animation and the colors used. I was really shocked at how wonderful the colors looked because you really could pass this off as a film that was made a decade ago let alone back in 1932. I really loved the look of the candy house and the various colors that are on full display. Another great use of color comes towards the end as the witch slowly begins to turn to stone. Speaking of the witch, she's quite creepy here and manages to be very memorable with her wicked spells. One highlight has the boy being turned into a spider and then it hits you that the various other creatures in the room were also children at one time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Silly Symphony. I wouldn't necessarily deem it as a favourite, like I would Flowers and Trees and The Old Mill, but it manages to be both scary and charming. With nice colourful animation, particularly on the outside of the gingerbread house, a beautiful lullaby-like title song and dramatic and whimsical incidental music it is a delight visually and musically. The pace is secure and the cartoon eventful enough to be enjoyable, with some elements of other Grimm fairy tales and sticking to the overall structure of the original Hansel and Gretel tale. The characters are engaging, the two children are likable enough and look cute in the Dutch traditional dress, while the gnomes are friendly and jovial. I remember this though chiefly for the Witch, who is very scary not only how she is animated but how she speaks too. Concluded with a fun climax, in which the Witch is finally turned into stone, this is a lovely, charming Silly Symphony. 10/10 Bethany Cox

An early attempt at the Brothers Grimm world to which Disney would soon lay claim. But more awkward and with much sloppier animation. The Hansel and Gretel stand-ins ("whose names I don't know") are shockingly devoid of personality - they've got weird little blank faces that even I could draw. When the boy is turned into a spider, it's both icky and somewhat of a relief, because at least now he's got some personality. Turned into a spider, not fattened up to be eaten. This witch just imprisons and transforms kids...the standard cannibalism was apparently too edgy.

The whole thing is also dated by the utterly inane song.

Is it just me, or is there something unearthly and horrific about the witch's final moments, after which the ring of laughing children just seems bizarre? And is the fact that the rock's 'arms' seem to have disappeared with the passage of time suppose to be a hint that this is all just the stuff of myth? So many questions.

One of the hallmarks of children's fairy tales is a wicked witch taking children, punishing them and society for moral and ethical issues. They can be looked at deeply or superficially, that's what makes a good fairy-tale. One thing modern kids stories starting in the 1990's has done is gutted the kids story genre into something so politically correct, tame and devoid of life that its a wonder society has not collapsed thus far.

What makes a great kids story is the same as what makes a great story for adults. The threat or danger needs to be there, your emotions go up and down. You win sometimes and you lose other-times, such as life. This short somehow displays that sentiment while still being charming, enduring and entertaining. The kids are left to their own devices to get passed the witch. The story is taken from a few other similar fairy-tales of which get really dark. This one still manages to be scary, but not gory or gruesome, which may affect the deeper meaning kids get from it. It would be interesting to hear what kids and parents thought of this film when it was released in the 1930's.

This is a fun short, that has a lot going on. The music is nice and the songs, but you suffer some listening to the scratchy vocals and often can't hear as sharp as you'd like. If only they could restore audio quality as they do with picture quality. This is an enjoyable short cartoon that's re-watchable, a nice edition to you Halloween lineup.

Best Scene: Turning Kids Into Animals

The end of the film the evil witch turns the boy into a spider and tries to turn the girl into a rat. The action picks up, the elves attack, there is excitement and danger at every turn ending in a thrilling conclusion.

Worst Scene: Opening Scene

The short opens by showing the old witch tree, essentially ruining the end of the film. The kids get lost in the woods somehow, there is a song playing but its almost too hard to hear the words the singer is telling us. I re-watched this segment with captions to see what she was singing.

Best Actor: The Witch

The witch steals the show, she is the only one that has voice lines. The elves make some noises and the kids, as far as I could remember dont say anything. Maybe because they are too in shock the whole time at what they are going through. The witch plays the classic witch style, kidnapping kids, being evil. Great fun.

Worst Actor: Too Many Elves

The kids find a village full of elves that all look the same, almost as if they are one character rather than individual people. The one that helps rescue the kids is nameless. It would've been nice to single out a few elves when the kids first come into town.

Improvements: The elves in the city all look and act the same, as if they are one being or clones. I would like to have seen the tone of the backgrounds get darker as the witch gets more and more evil. We have chase scenes where she's being pelted with harmless looking arrows for some reason and its a bright and colorful day. Color toning would go along way to make the witch seem darker and more evil without adding anything else. It would've been nice to give the two kids names and voices to better grab the audience into caring for them. The witch has a voice, so in some ways you want to cheer for her.

Hits

• Great details in each scene.
• Scary and exciting moments.
• Nice pacing and ending.

Misses

• Hard to hear some of the dialogue.
• Two main kid characters look to simple in design.
• Witches location too bright and colorful.

Final Grade: B