"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Release Date (December 2, 1929)

Running Time 6:36

Synopsis

Mickey weathers a ferocious storm inside an old haunted house where he is compelled to play the organ for the ghost and skeleton dance.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Credits

Director : Walt Disney

Music : Carl Stalling

Videos

Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 3 : Scary Tales

Laserdisc

United States

Scary Tales

Japan

Mickey Mouse : A Star is Born

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #55 : Oooh! Scary!

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode #25

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Black and White

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Cinephone; mono

Aspect ration : 1.33 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by Celebrity Productions, Inc.

Gallery

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

Comments

This short makes a nice companion piece to the earlier Silly Symphony, "The Skeleton Dance." In fact, it appears that some of the animation of the skeletons has been lifted directly from that previous short.

From Jerry Edwards : When Mickey retreats from a storm into a "deserted" house, the skeleton inhabitants, including a Grim Reaper skeleton, force Mickey to play the organ while the skeletons dance. Finally, Mickey escapes by crashing through a window. One fun gag is when Mickey tries to open the door of an outhouse, it is already occupied by a ... skeleton. In an earlier gag, Mickey opens a closet door, only to encounter a fold-up bed, with "husband and wife" skeletons in their bedclothes. Another fun gag is that the door is barred and locked by itself (with no one doing the barring and locking) as soon as Mickey enters the house. One scary scene is soon after Mickey enters the house and is frightened by vampire bats and a huge spider. The special effects of the wind and rain storm are nicely done for such early animation. There is a bit of odd "ethnic" animation of the skeletons doing a "Jewish" dance while wearing "Jewish" hats. At least I perceive this scene as being "Jewish." This is one of my favorite early Mickey cartoons - due to the scary nature of the short and the fact that there is more of a story in this cartoon than most other early shorts.

From Ryan : It's a dark and stormy night. Poor Mickey is trudging through the rain with only an umbrella. He seeks shelter in an abandoned house. We see that the door closes on him and he makes a sick expression on his face (probably from butterflies being in his stomach). The scene where the grim reaper tells him to play was shown on the "Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show." One weird thing is that Mickey answer's "Yes ma'm!" Doesn't he realize that the figure in front of him is male? This is a great short to watch on Halloween or anytime of year. There is also some animation recycled from "The Skeleton Dance."

From Kate : I have to say this is one of my favorite old Mickey Mouse cartoons. My Aunt taped this cartoon for me and my brothers when we were little and have had the video ever since. We used to watch the cartoon and dance around the living room attempting to imitate the skeleton's dance movements and it was great. In this animation, the music is great, and the special effects are also amazing for such an early cartoon. I LOVE IT!

From Nic : A fine cartoon that displays Mickey Mouse at his best.

From Phil S. Nagy : Very nice early short with scary elements. I love the atmosphere and the music. Long live Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney!

From Bill : This is a pretty scary short. The animation is well done, especially the storm scene in the beginning. This is classic Mickey, brave to a point but once in the house you can see he's losing his nerve a bit. The gags were well spaced out, and this short is well suited for a halloween viewing. There were no central villains for Mickey to battle, just a great collection of spooks. One of my favorites!

From Justin Gibson : I really liked this short, "The Haunted House", it reminded me, of course, of a silly symphony that I saw "The Skeleton Dance." Mickey is awesome in this short, playing the organ and ghouls and ghosts dance to his tunes. I just liked it, it's a real fun and entertaining short piece.

From Happy : I haven't seen this animated short in years! I remember it only piece by piece. I remember Mickey running into a long hall and the lights flicker out and you only see his scared face and his gloves as he cries "Mama!" When he lights a match he runs off in fright by the grim reaper ghost and into the room where the organ is. I was totally freaked out when Mickey backs away and the grim reaper approaches the camera and reveals himself to the viewer! EEK! Mickey tries to get away but the reaper stops him and demands him to play. I was also freaked out when Mickey tiptoes to leave and a loud shout startles him, causing him to run. I think that's there way of saying "Thanks now get out!" I liked it as a little girl but once again I haven't seen it in years.

From Chris Perdue : When my sister and I were growing up, (I feel we grew up together even though I am ten years older but matured more slowly), there was one video tape we had to rent each year at around Halloween. This was the Scary Tales video. The two main reasons we enjoyed this video were The Skeleton Dance and Haunted House. Though I am not a big fan of the black and white Mickey cartoons, this one is an exception. It has spiders, bats and skeletons and it is a lot of fun to watch and listen to. What more could you ask for in a classic scary cartoon? I enjoyed it then and still love it now. We have never outgrown our love for this and all the other Disney cartoons. And I hope we never will.

From Debby : When I was little we had a laser disc player and one of the discs I used to watch was "Scary Tales." I remember "The Haunted House" as the one short that scared me almost as much as "The Skeleton Dance." I remember being so scared but loving it at the same time.

Referenced Comments

The Skeleton Dance (1929)