Sinos do Inferno

For anyone who thinks that films were very bland and avoided dark topics in the 'good old days', then try watching "Hell's Bells". I'll say it's a dark film! In fact, what can be darker than setting it in Hell! Yes, a children's cartoon in Hell--and many, many decades before the South Park movie!!

It's a cartoon from Disney marketed under the Silly Symphonies umbrella--a series of cartoons that featured lost of singing and dancing and not the familiar Disney characters like Mickey or Goofy. In this case, various demons and animals cavort about--having a pretty good time in jolly old Hell!

The cartoon is black & white (the norm for 1929) and has some very nice classical music. While audiences of today probably won't be bowled over by the film (aside from its locale), for the time it was quite the achievement. Worth seeing if you love old cartoons--for others it might be a bit of a chore.

Only Disney could create a cartoon sequence depicting Hell to look story-intriguing, with its catchy music, interesting characters, and whimsical plot. Here, the demons play music for Satan, but one becomes insubordinate and, as a result, literally all hell breaks loose.

There's some laughable moments, especially the title that somehow just rings well with the cartoon. And, as with older Disney cartoons, the animators and storytellers don't shy away from political incorrectness, over-protection, and over sensitivity. Overall, not a bad cartoon.

Grade B

My guess: this is teaching kids and adults that if you end up in Hell then the devil will still get you for not obeying him but if you are good you can still overcome the devil. Really I have no idea of the message of this cartoon - lol - but it's really cute! Short and sweet, just under 6 minutes long but some great Halloween/Gothic imagery as eye-candy.

I love these old styled cartoons - nothing like them anymore. And I would love to have a DVD full of these old Gothic/Halloween creepy cartoons like this to watch anytime of the year. Disney's stuff today can't compare to their stuff of yesteryear - this is the real Walt Disney stuff you see in this cartoon! It comes straight off his comics, when he first got started good. Awesome stuff! 10/10

Disney teams up with weirdo animator Ub Iwerks to make an effective 6-minute opener for any flick you may decide to watch on Halloween. It's musical, as most of these "earlies" are, but you can take it... FREE ONLINE.

The Disney Silly Symphonies were part of my childhood, and I still love a lot of them to this day. Hell's Bells is not quite one of my favourites, the story is slight and one of the characters is a mix of a cow and a dragon and although maybe deliberate it was nonetheless weird to watch. However, it is wonderfully animated, the black and white is stylish and atmospheric, while the characters are generally well-proportioned. The music is outstanding, dynamic and and sometimes devilish-sounding. The obvious standout is Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King, though Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette(originally written for piano and best remembered as the theme of Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and a small excerpt of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. And the dancing is niftily choreographed and fits so well rhythmically with the music, especially in the Gounod. The characters are engaging too, none of them are developed well but this is not that kind of cartoons, besides they are a nice mix of the charming and satanic. All in all, fun and weird indeed, second only perhaps to The Goddess of Spring as the most compellingly weird of their cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox