"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Release Date (October 1, 1929)

Running Time 6:55

Synopsis

Mickey's running a small-town railroad. He takes Minnie for a wild ride on a humanized train which eventually rumbles out of control.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Clarabelle Cow

Credits

Director : Walt Disney

Animation

Ben Sharpsteen

Music : Carl Stalling

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #28 : Early Mickey

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 34

Donald's Quack Attack : Episode 63

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

From Joe McDougal : I am normally a big fan of Mickey Mouse (even though my favorite characters are Woodlore and Humphrey), but this cartoon was pretty crappy. I think it would've been better if the train didn't have human characteristics. Another scene is the ending where Mickey and Minnie are riding on the railroad tracks with that little push cart at the end and they go up and down like a seesaw. Minnie moons the audience as she goes up (with her panties still on thank God). Normally I am pretty ticked off when they cut scenes out, but in this case, I'll make an exception.

From Jerry Edwards : After Mickey and Minnie sing and dance, Mickey takes Minnie on a ride atop the boxcar of his anthropomorphic train. The boxcar breaks loose on a hill and crashes into a tree. The boxcar demolishes and transforms into a sidecar, which Mickey and Minnie ride off on. This is one of my favorite early Mickey cartoons, mainly due to the personality of the locomotive. One scene I like is Mickey feeding it coal, which it eats like a dog. Then Mickey is shown feeding an actual dog. This is one of the 47 cartoons that Disney colorized - most of them early black and white Mickey cartoons. I don't generally care for colorization, but I felt the bright colors added a great deal to the personality of the locomotive.

From Ryan : This was a wonderful Mickey short even though I did not care much for the humanized train. I guess I'll have to accept the fact that this was made in 1929 when that type of stuff was typical in cartoons. While Mickey takes a lunch break and opens a can of spaghetti using a dog's teeth, he plucks the noodles and plays "Humoresque." Minnie joins him and plays it on her violin. Later they take a ride on the train. I noticed that some of the animation was quite similar to "Plane Crazy" where a cow is being chased (except this time by a train instead of a plane). I have seen this short on "Ink and Paint Club" in its original black and white version and on "Mickey's Mouse Tracks" in its black and white version as well. However, on the "It's Gotta Be the Shorts" marathon, it was colorized. Usually, if a short has been colorized, it appears that way on kiddie shows like "Mouse Tracks."

From Jeff Wiener : I just love watching the early Mickey cartoons. The animation is crude to say the least but that really is a part of their appeal. These early shorts feature lots of funny gags which consist of Mickey doing strange things to the anatomies of other animals with whom he comes into contact with. The scene where he pulls the dog's teeth out and uses them as a can opener is priceless. I also like the bit where the train belches after eating a mouth full of coal. The ending of the short, where we see a close up of Minnie's underwear as they travel off into the distance is very 'expressive' in my opinion. These types of gags were soon discarded as Disney animation developed and became more refined. However, these elements were retained in other contemporary characters from other studios, such as Bosko and Flip the Frog.

From Bill : Although this is not one of my favorite Mickey shorts, it is still important in the early development of Walt and Ub Iwerk's style and treatment of the early Mickeys. Even though the animation is considered "primitive", it is this type that endears these early shorts to us today. I thought the part where Mickey feeds his anthropomorphic train coal and then shares his lunch with a dog after using the dogs false teeth for a can opener was funny. And the part where the train just can't get up the hill and grabs a tree was another classic gag. I try not to get too critical on the early Mickey shorts. After all, this was done in 1929 but is still as funny today as it was back then. And though the gags used many might consider "crude", remember; it's a cartoon that was meant to entertain.

From Gijs Grob : Mickey drives a very flexible and anthropomorphized locomotive. Minnie comes along, playing the violin. They both ride the train, but on a very steep hill the wagon gets loose and falls backwards with Minnie on it. This sequence contains some nice rollercoaster-like perspective gags. This cartoon contains the first dialogue in a Disney cartoon, but there's hardly any plot.

From Steven : This was a nice Mickey cartoon. There was some ugly animation in some scenes but it's still a good cartoon. It also has a great musical score by Carl Stalling. Warner Bros. slightly remade this cartoon with Bosko in 1930's "Box Car Blues." Overall a great cartoon.

Referenced Comments

Trolley Troubles (1927)