Release Date August 20, 1932

Synopsis

While taking a shipload of musical instruments along the African coast, Mickey and Pluto are captured by cannibals. The savages plan to eat them until Mickey trades the instruments for their freedom, then engages in a wild jam session to "The Darktown Strutters' Ball."

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Pluto

Credits

Director : Dave Hand

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Black and White

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ration : 1.33 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by United Artists Pictures

Comments

This short was made as a spoof of the 1931 MGM film, "Trader Horn."

From Jerry Edwards : Contains some nice animation - the jungle river animals are especially nicely done. Contains some of the strongest black caricatures appearing in Disney shorts. While Disney's racial and ethnic caricatures were generally mild compared to other animation companies of the time - this comes closest to overdoing it, in my opinion.

From Ryan : Mickey and Pluto are going down an African River in this short and get captured by cannibals. This is definitely a strong use of black caricaturing. No wonder Disney banned it from TV. I liked the part where the cannibals were going through Mickey's stuff. One of them took a piece of clothing(I think it was a bra or something like that) and used it to carry her babies in. Another funny scene was where a cannibal is cooking Mickey in soup and dips a saxophone in as a spoon. Mickey grabs it and starts playing "The Darktown Strutter's Ball." Soon all the cannibals are joining in. Two of them pick up violins and blow on them, which causes the strings to break. I noticed that the king cannibal (who swallows a harmonica while playing it) laughed just like Goofy and may have been voiced by Pinto Colvig as well. This short was wonderful and I would give it an A+.

From Bill I. : This was a good short, nice music (all the shorts had good music) but if produced today, the portrayal of the African cannibals would have caused quite a stir. But in Walt's time, this was not the problem it is today. This short had some nice animation, especially in the beginning when Mickey is going down the river the scenes with him going by the hippos was nicely done. I also thought the skulls portrayed during the short were very well drawn. After being captured by the cannibals, poor Mickey was placed in a pot of boiling water and Pluto on a skillet. After the cannibals find all the musical instruments Mickey was going to sell, he saves the day by playing a saxophone the cannibal was stirring him with and gets all the natives dancing and singing. A very lively short.

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