Poster

Pluto's Dream House

A Mickey Mouse Cartoon

Release Date : August 30, 1940

Running Time : 7:55

Synopsis

"Does you mean a kennel for a canine beast?" An invisible genie with a Rochester voice partially emerges from a lamp and creates a deluxe home for Pluto, nearly driving Mickey to distraction in the process.

Characters

Mickey Mouse
Pluto
Lamp

Credits

Director
Gerry "Clyde" Geronomi

Cut Scenes

Unshown in the 1980s - probably due to to the black-dialect Rochester voice, although no actual black character is shown. Censored today - a short moment in which a painted Pluto appears to be in blackface is removed.

Video

Germany
Swinging Micky
Pluto Ein Schlappohr Hetzt die Meute
France
Les Nouvelles Aventures de Pluto
Italy
Video Parade 12
Le Nuove Avventure di Pluto

Laserdiscs

Japan
More Tales of Pluto

DVD

United States
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : Mickey Mouse in Living Color (Volume 2)
Escape to Witch Mountain
Germany
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : Mickey Mouse in Living Color (Volume 2)
Italy
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : Mickey Mouse in Living Color (Volume 2)
Sweden
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : Mickey Mouse in Living Color (Volume 2)
United Kingdom
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : Mickey Mouse in Living Color (Volume 2)

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 50: Storyteller Mickey
The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 46: Disney Dreams
Mickey's Mouse Tracks: Episode 44
Donald's Quack Attack: Episode 43

Technical Specification

Color Type: Technicolor
Animation Type: Standard animation
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Negative Format: 35mm
Print Format: 35mm
Cinematographic Process: Spherical
Original Language: English

Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Comments

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : We haven’t seen our friend Mickey Mouse in quite some time, as most of the focus has been on Donald and Pluto in 1940. That changes with Pluto’s Dream House, which is billed as a Mickey short, but features Pluto in a prominent role as well. It’s a chance for us to get a glimpse of Mickey before his main reappearance in Fantasia.

The Pluto rules still apply, here, though, and the canine star takes over the short, as he does in most any short he is in. It’s not that odd, though, since the subject of this short is Pluto and the new dog house that Mickey is building for him. After all, his old drab house, as shown in this short, is looking run down.

The straw that stirs the drink (h/t Reggie Jackson) in this short, though, is a lamp that Pluto digs up when Mickey suggests that they “break ground” on the new dog house. Pluto sprays the lamp up along with other things that are buried in the yard, right into Mickey’s arms. Once Mickey rubs the lamp up, things get interesting.

A Rochester-style voice comes out of the lamp and offers Mickey and Pluto some wishes. In case you don’t know who Rochester is, go check out The Jack Benny Show, but it’s basically a gruff African-American voice. Since Mickey doesn’t want to spend the afternoon working on the dog house, he asks the genie to build it.

That’s where the gags begin, as the tools and lumber start flying around Mickey and Pluto as the house is being built around them. Lumber flies out from under Mickey, Pluto gets painted as he crouches behind the foundation and soon enough, there is a dream house built and gleaming in front of them.

That’s not enough for Mickey, though, who asks the genie then to start bathing Pluto. The magic erupts and drags Pluto into the house to start scrubbing him. It’s an odd scene, because Mickey doesn’t even watch, and just goes in the other room. It’s somewhat strange to me, but still kind of funny.

Where it gets even weirder is when Mickey’s radio breaks, and the genie starts taking instructions from the various stations. That’s the funniest part of the short, as the genie starts preparing Pluto in a pie, boxing him, then putting him in a Jell-O mold. It’s rapid fire gags, each one more ridiculous than the next.

That’s when we get the big reveal that the whole thing was a dream by Pluto, as he jumps up from Mickey’s bedside and into the bed. That actually explains the weirdness of some of the short. The problem with the short is that it’s just a bit off. The early gags move a little slow, then the final ones are so fast. There’s not a continuous flow through the short, and that makes it sort of flat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s funny, but not the best example of Mickey and Pluto together.

From Ryan : Mickey is building a brand new doghouse for Pluto. In another shot, we see the old one all dilapidated (note that there is a sign that says 1926 on it before Mickey and Pluto were even created). I liked the genie's voice (sure it ain't Robin Williams, but who the H-E- double hockey sticks cares). I enjoyed the scene where Mickey was listening to the radio and ordered the genie to give Pluto a bath. As he changed the station, there was a cooking show and the announcer said to add two eggs. Well you can guess what the genie did. It isn't until the end of the short that you find out that it was all a dream, which was kind of disappointing to me when I first saw this cartoon.
From Dino Cencia : I like the image of Pluto with curly hair.
From Baruch Weiss : Mickey builds a doghouse for Pluto. Soon they discover a magic lamp that grants Mickey's wish and builds a dream dog house for Pluto, but it all turned out to be a dream. A fun cartoon with nice music.
From j.p.hope : I like this Mickey Mouse short because of the part where Pluto digs up a magic lamp, Mickey calls it a "DIRTY OLD TEAPOT". the lamp shouts "fool! ain't no dang old teapot!" Mickey asks "who said that?" the lamp answers "I did." Mickey is then startled and he and Pluto think the lamp is a ghost.

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