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The Band Concert
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Wikipedia article
'The Band Concert' is a 1935 American animated short film produced in 3-strip Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. It was the 73rd Mickey Mouse short film to be released, and the second of that year.
'The Band Concert' was the first 'Mickey Mouse' film produced in color. Two more 'Mickey Mouse' films were produced in black and white before they were produced in color on a permanent basis: 'Mickey's Service Station' and 'Mickey's Kangaroo'. Mickey had previously appeared in color in a two-minute clip called 'Parade of the Award Nominees' which was made especially for the 1932 Academy Awards ceremony.
'The Band Concert' was directed by Wilfred Jackson and featured adapted music by Leigh Harline. The only speaking character in the film is Donald Duck who is performed by voice actor Clarence Nash.[http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1935/bandconcert.html 'The Band Concert'] at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts The film remains one of the most highly acclaimed of the Disney shorts. The story is about a small music band conducted by Mickey Mouse which struggles through a distraction-filled public performance.
Plot
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Mickey Mouse's concert band is performing a concert in a park. As the film opens, they are being applauded for having just played music from Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hrold's 'Zampa'. They next begin Gioacchino Rossini's 'William Tell' overture.The overture was significantly abridged to account for events in the film. It was also played out of order, starting with the "Finale" (the "Lone Ranger" segment), continuing with the 'Ranz des Vaches' "Daybreak" movement, and ending with the "Prelude" and "Storm" movements.
Mickey's performance is first disrupted by Peter Pig's vibrato trumpet and Paddy Pig's tuba playing 'Prelude: Dawn' from the 'William Tell' overture. Meanwhile, Donald Duck rolls a vendor cart through the audience selling popcorn, lemonade, peanuts, and ice cream, which further causes a distraction to Mickey.
While the band is playing the "Finale" segment, Donald plays 'Turkey in the Straw' at the same tempo as the band. Overhearing Donald, the entire band absent-mindedly find themselves playing Donald's song. Realizing his mistake, Mickey gets mad over his performance being disrupted in this manner and splits Donald's flute in half, only for Donald to get another one out. They play the song once more and Donald is stopped by Mickey, who splits the flute again. The band resumes the segment and Donald pulls out a third flute and plays "Turkey in the Straw" again, but before Mickey can stop him again, Donald breaks the flute himself. An angry trombonist grabs Donald by the neck, shakes out several of his flutes and forces him off the stage, knocking him backwards into the vendor cart.
While Donald tries to play the song again, a hornet harasses him. When the hornet lands on Mickey's hat, Donald throws ice cream at the hornet, but it flies into Peter Pig's trumpet; he shoots it out, accidentally hitting Mickey with it. The ice cream slides under Mickey's uniform, making him shake around, causing the band to briefly play 'The Streets of Cairo' until it falls out and he kicks it away. Mickey has the band play 'Ranz des Vaches' and swats his baton at the hornet, temporarily causing the band to briefly play notes more drastically different than the song. Percussionist Horace Horsecollar tries to kill the hornet by squishing it with his cymbals and with a hammer, but accidentally hits Goofy's head instead, driving his head down into his jacket. He continues playing his clarinet from inside it.
When the band comes to the "Storm" segment of the overture, it summons an actual tornado, prompting the audience and Donald to run away. The benches that the audience members were sitting on come to life (each wearing a hat that fell off an audience member) and also begin running for their lives as well. Donald tries to take shelter in some trees only for the tornado to tie them in knots with Donald in the middle. The tornado sucks up and destroys everything in its path (houses, farms, trees, walls, signs, windmills, fences, power lines, etc.), even the pavilion on which the band is playing, but the band is so used to distractions at this point that they continue to play from inside the tornado (in which Mickey floats through the remains of a wrecked house, Peter Pig gets spanked by a fence, and Clarabelle is hit by a pair of undergarments and an umbrella that turns her flute inside-out). The tornado suddenly freezes when Mickey takes a pause conducting (which seemingly stops time itself briefly) and goes in reverse as the band finishes the last part of the song. As the storm passes, the band (except Horace, Peter Pig, who loses his clothing to tree branches, and Mickey) is thrown into a tree and they finish the overture. By this time, the only remaining audience member is Donald Duck who applauds enthusiastically. Witnessing Donald playing "Turkey in the Straw" as an encore, the angry band members throw their instruments at him. Donald's hands appear out of a tuba's blowpiece and plays a final flutter of notes.
The Band
*Mickey Mouse - Conductor
*Goofy - Clarinet
*Unnamed Dog Appeared as Gideon Goat in promotional materials ([http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/022510_NF_FEAT_BandConcert.html]) - Trombone
*Clarabelle Cow - Flute
*Horace Horsecollar - Percussion
*Peter Pig - Tuba
*Paddy Pig - Trumpet
Cast
*Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
Reception
'The Band Concert' has become one of the most highly acclaimed Disney short films. 'Esquire' magazine cultural critic Gilbert Seldes wrote that "[none of] dozens of works produced in America at the same time in all the other arts can stand comparison with this one." The Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini was such a fan of 'The Band Concert' that he saw it six times in the theater and later invited Walt Disney to his home in Italy.Gabler, Neal. 'Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination'. Vintage: New York. 2007. page 195.
In 'The Disney Films', Leonard Maltin said that 'The Band Concert' is "one of the best cartoons ever made anywhere... There are nuances of expression in Mickey's character throughout this film that had seldom been explored in earlier shorts. The pacing is also entirely different from the standard Mickey Mouse comedies of the early thirties. Instead of trying to pack in a thousand gags a minute, 'The Band Concert' takes its time and builds to a crescendo."
In 1994, 'The Band Concert' was rated third in the book 'The 50 Greatest Cartoons', which rated the greatest cartoons of all time by members of the field of animation.Beck, Jerry (1994), '50 Greatest Cartoons, The.' Atlanta: Turner Publishing Inc., pg 41. 1-878685-49-X As a result, it was the highest-ranked Disney cartoon on the list, and the only one in the top 5 not produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons.
Home media
The short was released on December 4, 2001, on 'Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color'.
Legacy
According to Leonard Maltin, the 1942 'Mickey Mouse' film 'Symphony Hour' was somewhat of a remake of 'The Band Concert'.
In the 1942 wartime cartoon, 'All Together', Mickey and his whole band from the cartoon is seen in the parade.
In the video game 'Kingdom Hearts II', in the Garden area of Disney Castle, there is a topiary sculpture of all characters in the band besides Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
'The Band Concert' serves as the basis for a projector level in the game 'Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two'.
'The Band Concert' was also the basis for, and title of the secret level in the game, 'Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse' (in the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega CD and PlayStation versions only).
'The Band Concert' is one of the parade units that was featured in the Tokyo Disneyland parade 'Disney on Parade: 100 Years of Magic', which depicts a large inflatable rendition of Mickey from the cartoon. It was later reused for Hong Kong Disneyland's 'Disney on Parade'.
This cartoon was also the inspiration for the Walt Disney World Resort Magic Kingdom show Mickey's PhilharMagic.
The short was one of the many featured in 'Donald Duck's 50th Birthday', Donald remembers it in a psychiatric session with Dr. Ludwig Von Drake and says that Mickey "invited" Donald to play with his band.
'The Band Concert' is the theme for the Silly Symphony Swings attraction at Disney California Adventure Park.
This cartoon was featured in 'Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse'.
See also
*Mickey Mouse (film series)
References
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