8mm Forum: Mickey's Fire Brigade

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Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on January 08, 2007, 11:34 AM:

Walt Disney’s “Mickey’s Fire Brigade” was made in 1935, only seven years after “Steamboat Willie”, yet the differences are stunning. The early sound and black and white of the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon have been replaced by brilliant color and full lip-sync sound. There is a scene where Mickey winds up at the top of a very tall ladder which looks like it was shot with a multiplane camera, since the feeling of height is very tangible, however this short pre-dates “The Old Mill”, so it just comes down to excellent animation. Apparently those seven years and all the money the Mickey Mouse series brought into the Disney Studio made a big difference in terms of both technique and technology.

Here Mickey, Donald and Goofy are firemen on their way to a burning boarding house in their patched-up hook and ladder. Mickey (still voiced by Walt Disney himself) is the chief. Donald is irritable and belligerent, and apparently in an early stage of his development: he doesn’t look exactly as we expect. Goofy is…well… goofy! Their firefighting methods are unique, focusing less on actually trying to save the house than the furniture, although it keeps winding up falling into the stack of the fire engine’s boiler and burning up there anyway. The fire itself is a living character and is often seen as little fire-figures running around with Donald in hot pursuit swinging his axe. In the last act of the cartoon, the boys discover Clarabelle in her bathtub and rescue her…and the filled tub as well, despite the fact that they can’t get it through her thick cow head that the house is on fire. Ignoring their fire hats and all the smoke and flames, she thinks they are just “mashers” (…when was the last time somebody used that word?) and fights them every step of the way. The cartoon ends here, but I can’t imagine there being anything more than a smoldering pile of ashes the next day!

When I recently did a show for a gaggle of little kids, this was my opening reel. It is colorful, fast paced, and action packed. I figured I wanted to put something up there that would grab their attention before their little television-age brains felt the urge to change the channel. From the fact that it was the beginning of almost an hour of a room full of small children sitting quietly and paying attention, I’d say it worked. (Someone notify the "Guinness Book" folks, this may be a World’s record!)

Derann’s 200 footer is excellent by any measure: bright, sharp with great sound. There isn’t really more to say about it than just that. It’s simply a great print of a great cartoon.

Through the kindness(?) of our local cable TV provider, we have present-day Mickey Mouse cartoons pumped into our house in a semi-continuous stream. They are computer animated of course, resemble a software based game more than a real cartoon (“pop up windows” and all…), and have a habit of being annoyingly educational (In other words: don’t go there if you can already count above twenty!).

-Do a kid a favor: show ‘em one like “Mickey’s Fire Brigade”!

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on January 09, 2007, 04:37 AM:

I agree with the comments. Derann have quite a number of the Disney shorts and they are all extremely good from what I have seen.
Another one I particularly like is the Three Little Pigs. Again great picture and sound quality.

Kev.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on January 11, 2007, 02:19 AM:

Steve
A good review of a timeless film. I also have a Derann print and considering the film is just over 70yrs old the print is of amazing quality. A friend of mine who is also a volunteer fireman regularly shows it at the local fire station its certainly Super8 at its best.

Graham.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on January 12, 2007, 08:39 PM:

Thanks Graham!

It goes nicely with "Fire over London". Of course with all those beehive hairdos, dial telephones and teletypes, "Fire over London" somehow looks older than the Disney film!

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on January 13, 2007, 08:54 PM:

Steve,

Great review, well stated.
and it's good to hear that
the Kiddies remained well
poised and attentive.

Mick's Fire Brigade and
The Three Little Pigs
are absolutely wonderful as both
you and Kev have attested to.

By the way, Derann's print of
Three Little Pigs is unaltered
and uncut. The scene with
the Big Bad Wolf disguising himself
as the beggar had been re-shot by
Disney years later, with the Wolf
knocking on the door requesting
a donation from the pigs
to be sent to college.
[Confused]

Somehow it's just not the same.

Michael

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