Bâtissons

BUILDING A BUILDING is a Mickey and Minnie Mouse cartoon and is one of the few Mickey cartoons to have been Oscar nominated. The earliest cartoons in the series were not eligible for the award, as it wasn't created until the 1932 Oscars--several years after the first Mickey cartoon, PLANE CRAZY (1928). And, oddly, the wonderful full-color Mickey cartoons of the mid to late 30s were ignored by the committee in favor of Silly Symponies cartoons by Disney. It's a shame as he was a great character, as were Goofy and Donald. I guess this sort of cartoon for the masses wasn't deemed artsy enough to merit nomination.

BUILDING A BUILDING finds Mickey working at a construction site. When Minnie comes to the place selling box lunches, Mickey goes ga-ga and pays little attention to what he's doing, but being a cartoon he naturally isn't killed. A bit later, the boss, Pegleg Pete, sees Minnie and kidnaps her. So it's up to Mickey to rescue his sweetie. I liked how as Mickey fought this huge bully, Minnie didn't just stand there passively (like you see in so many films)--no wonder Mickey was in love! The cartoon has a bit more singing than usual and because of this, the humor is a bit less pronounced than a typical Mickey Mouse cartoon. Overall, it's pretty ordinary for the franchise--with the typical finely drawn animation and backgrounds as well as very charming characters.

This cartoon kinds of reminds of of a later Disney cartoon, Donald Duck's The Riveter. Mickey tries to save Minnie in this one from Peg Leg Pete at a highrise construction site. Plenty of action, adventures and some slapstick moments. Not a bad earlier Mickey cartoon.

Grade B

This cartoon has the feel of an old-time melodrama in some respects and has one of the least-interesting Disney villains in Pete. The Mickey in the early cartoons is more prone to mischief and is more frenetic, bearing more resemblance to Krazy Kat than to the mouse that most know and love today. The cartoons were more slapstick early on and Mickey evolved over time. Well worth seeing, it runs on the Disney Channel when the spirit moves them. I wish the shorts would come into print in a substantial way.

Mickey Mouse operates a steam shovel; Pegleg Pete is his foreman; Minnie Mouse sells box lunches. Mickey must save the day when Pete makes advances to Minnie.

"Building a Building" is a marvelously inventive film that takes full advantage of its construction-site setting for gags and thrills. Heroic little Mickey is utterly sympathetic as the adversary of the brutish Pete, even though the mouse's careless work habits (he's so focused on Minnie that he accidentally throws dirt and bricks on Pete) give his boss good reason to be angry with him.

Pete's attempts to kiss an unwilling Minnie remind us of how Mickey has changed in a few short years. In "Plane Crazy" (1928), it was Mickey trying to force himself on her. She even had to jump out of his plane to escape him.

"Mickey" is grafting away on the building site when "Minnie" arrives with his lunch box. A series of mishaps get him in trouble with his boss but luckily the hooter goes and he can spend his break with her. Except, well the foreman has designs on her too - and soon the mice are desperate to escape his clutches. I'm not quite sure why it's got this title - there's not really much building going on; indeed quite the reverse as our loved-up pairing engage in some animated slapstick antics with "Pegleg Pete". The animation delivers this quite creatively destructive story quite amiably, imbuing many of the tools with human qualities (and faces) and we've even a kiss at the end. I'm not sure I'll recall it for long, but it's watchable enough for seven minutes.