"The Skeleton Dance" 1929
The first animation of the Silly Simphonies produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. This was one of my favourite cartoons. I remember watching it on an old video player, which could be atributed to antiques. I've searched for this animation for years and stumbled upon it only by accident. The movie seemed scary enough back in the childhood days but even now it still looks disturbing.
The action takes place in the cemetery with a rumbling lightning opening the scene.Closing in on an owl which hoots are timed with music as the wind blows through and a branch descends onto the owl, in the shape of a hand. When the clock strikes twelve bats come flying form the tower, cat's tug on each other's noses the first skeleton makes appearance, later joined by other. The cartoon is accompanied by Carl.W.Stalling's and Edvard Grieg's music.
The skeletons dance in various and ridiculous ways and play makeshift musical instruments. Which also shows a great example of squash and stretch. It's hard not to notice that there's quite a lot of repeating going on and most of the scenes inherent symmetry and sometimes you know what's going to happen next.
The cartoon ends with the rooster crowing at dawn, which scares the living daylights out of the four skeletons as they scatter back to their coffins.
''The Skeleton Dance" series is one of the most unique Disney's films which stand out from the mass of his works. This cartoon is definitely one of my top favourite movies.
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