Poster

Baggage Buster

A Goofy Cartoon

Release Date : April 18, 1941

Running Time : 7:31

Synopsis

Goofy is given a deceptively simple job : put a magicians trunk on an incoming train. Unfortunately for him, the trunk seems to have a mind (and a life!) of its own.

Characters

Goofy

Credits

Director

Jack Kinney

Animation

Art Babbitt

Art Fitzpatrick

Video

Laserdiscs

United States

The Goofy World of Sports / Fun on the Job / Happy Summer Days

Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions II : The World According to Goofy

Japan

Donald Duck and his Duckling Gang

DVD

United States

Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy

Classic Cartoon Favorites : Volume 3 : Starring Goofy

Germany

Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy

Alle Lieben Goofy

France

Tout le Monde aime Goofy

Italy

Il Mio Eroe Pippo

Canada

Classic Cartoon Favorites : Volume 3 : Starring Goofy

Sweden

Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy

Alla Alskar Langben

United Kingdom

Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy

Everybody Loves Goofy

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 25: Goofy Goofs Around

Mickey's Mouse Tracks: Episode 39

The Mickey Mouse Club : October 9, 1956

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 : Goofy has only had two shorts of his own to this point in 1941, Goofy and Wilbur and Goofy’s Glider. Each one took very different ways to approach the character. In Goofy and Wilbur, he was played as he normally was in the shorts, whereas Goofy’s Glider was a “How To…” short, where a narrator read off the correct way to do things while Goofy demonstrated the opposite. Which style would Baggage Busters take?

It would be the first one, in a short that reminded me a great deal of Donald’s Ostrich. Just like in that short, this one takes place on a train platform. In fact, many of the Disney shorts take place on a train platform, now that I think about it. One or two of the Alice shorts did, and one of the first talking Mickey shorts did. But I digress.

Just like Donald’s Ostrich, where Donald was confronted by an unexpected situation at the platform, here Goofy meets his match with a magician’s trunk. The trunk is supposed to be loaded onto the next train, but Goofy, in classic form, accidentally drops it, and the trunk opens.

This short is one that takes the device of the magician’s trunk and uses it to its fullest. The idea is established early on that pretty much anything we can think of will and can come out of the trunk, and from there, it’s open season on Goofy. It starts with a traditional rabbit popping out of a hat, which is fun enough, but goes way further.

That’s something I respect about the animators here, is that this could have been a simple case of taking the rabbit and mixing it up with Goofy. Instead, they worked this short a little more, and took the character to heart. Goofy is not someone who’s going to work well with one thing bothering him and causing frustration, like Donald. He is a character that is easily distracted, so you have to provide him with those distractions to keep him funny.

There are so many gags that come one after the other in this short. A bull pops up out of a handkerchief, a kangaroo appears to start punching Goofy, and a menagerie shows up out of nowhere, disappears back into the trunk then reappears. It all moves quickly, but is very, very funny.

Goofy’s shorts are my favorite of the main Disney characters, and the reason is that I think they are the funniest. Donald’s are quite good, and Mickey’s may be better artistically, but Goofy shorts are just fun. Baggage Busters is a good example of how to use the character without the “How To…” set up. It’s a fun, quickly paced romp that leaves you wanting more.

From Ryan : While I found parts of this short to be funny, it was also somewhat boring to me. The scenes where Goofy kept continuously tries to get the animals back into the magician's trunk and more and more appear gets rather tiring for me. I didn't really dislike this short, but I wouldn't call it one of my favorites. Nevertheless, I still enjoy watching it once in awhile.

From Nikki : This seemed to be quite slow going and tended to lose my interest. However it still maintained a liking as poor Goofy dealt with the bunny rabbit and the sawed in half woman.

From Gijs Grob : A rare early short by Jack Kinney in which Goofy is still the character he used to be in the thirties instead of the sportsman/everyman he soon would become.

In this short it's already clear that the fresh director tries to keep up with the zaniness of the competing Warner Bros. and MGM studio's. Unfortunately, he's still hampered by the slow, extended character animation that characterized Goofy in the late thirties. Furthermore, the impossible still has to be explained by 'magic', as was the case in Magician Mickey.. Notice that Warner Bros. and MGM characters, like the magician's box, could materialize objects from nowhere without obvious reference to magic. Jack Kinney would soon adopt part of the WB/MGM style, producing the fastest and zaniest cartoons released by Disney in the forties and fifties. Unfortunately, Baggage Buster is not one of them.

From Baruch Weiss : This short is ok, but it is not one of my favorites. However I enjoyed the ending where after Goofy gets the trunk on the train it falls off of the other side and then Goofy chases after the train and says "Hey come back ya forgot somethin!"

From Mike : This cartoon is not one of my favorite Goofy. I do agree it is an enjoyable one, and the scenes of him trying to get the animals in the trunk are tiring at times but the end scene does bring on a laugh. When I would watch with family I was the only who caught the dinosaur at the end.

From Al Galen : I saw this short in "The Roots of Goofy" during the early 1990s. Gary Owens hosted this television special and the summer-themed "A Disney Vacation" which had the song "Let's Get Away From It All". I recommend this Goofy short to audiences who are fans of classic Disney cartoons.

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A Good Time for a Dime