Donald Pêcheur

Hook, Lion and Sinker (1950)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Donald returns from a fishing trip with a major score, which attracts the attention of a mountain lion and his son. Soon the father lion is trying to steal some fish but Donald isn't going to let it go that easily.

HOOK, LION AND SINKER is a classic Disney short that has plenty of nice laughs, some great action and of course beautiful animation. There are several highlights here but the running gag with the son having to remove buckshot from his father is certainly very funny. Also extremely funny is a site gag on Donald's wall of previous lions that have tried to steal his fish. The action itself is pretty fast and violent just like fans love it.

A mountain lion has been fishing free a tree without much success. The cub has been too obstreperous. So when Donald Donald comes in from a very successful session in the piscatorial arts, they see no reason why they shouldn't just take some of the fish, or all of them. But Mr. Duck has a shotgun.

It's another typically funny Donald Duck cartoon, with the bonus that there's no dialogue, although Donald does mutter to himself occasionally. Disney had begun producing cartoons in the silent era, and his shorts still held by the rule that if you couldn't tell what was going on just by looking, it wasn't working. And this one does.

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

A mangy Mountain Lion and his cub try to scrounge Donald's good looking catch of fish.

It's great to see the Duck win one for a change, and he sure comes out on top in this funny little film, HOOK, LION AND SINKER. This was one of a handful of cartoons to feature the Mountain Lion; here he has his rapacious little son with him. Clarence Nash provided Donald with his unique voice.

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 storm of naysayers, 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.

This short takes a basic premise used often by Disney and others-someone has something another character wants and the rest of the short consists of comical attempts to take away and/or keep said possession. In the hands of Tex Avery, this simple plot can produce The Legend of Rockabye Point, which is a masterpiece. Then there's this cartoon, far more representative of the norm-an average cartoon, humorous in spots, entertaining but not terribly special in and of itself. Which proves the point that it's not the idea that matters, but how it is used. Worth watching at least once.

This is a funny Disney cartoon starring Donald Duck as a fisherman who kept getting his fish taken by a hungry lion and his mischievous cub. But, Donald proves that he was one tough duck with his fiery attitude and his rifle in tow.

There were plenty of funny moments in this cartoon short, from the cub accidentally dragging the lion in the river to Donald getting almost outsmarted by the fish thieves a few times. The cub plucking the rifle pellets from the lion's behind was also funny.

A great cartoon where Donald gets the last laugh!

Grade A