"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"
Release Date August 31, 1935
Running Date 8:13
Synopsis
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Pluto chases one cat too many and in his dreams is made to stand on trial
before a jury ... composed completely of cats!
Characters
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Mickey Mouse
-
Pluto
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Uncle Tom
Credits
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Director : Dave Hand
-
Animation
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Fred Moore
-
Hamilton Luske
-
Bill Roberts
-
Ward Kimball
Cut Scenes
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An "Uncle Tom" type cat has been cut from this short.
Videos
-
United States
-
Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 3 :
Scary Tales
-
Disney's Halloween Treat
-
Cartoon Classics : Second Series : Volume 14 :
Halloween Haunts
-
Italy
-
Paperino e i Racconti
Misteriosi
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Video Parade 14
Laserdisc
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United States
-
Scary Tales
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Donald's Scary Tales
/ Halloween Haunts
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Japan
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Mickey Mouse : A Star
is Born
-
-
Scary Tales
DVD
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Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Living Color
- Region 1 : United States
- Region 2 : France
- Region 2 : Germany
- Region 2 : Italy
- Region 2 : Sweden
- Region 2 : United Kingdom
Television
-
The Ink and Paint Club : #27 :
Meow! The Disney Cats
-
Mickey's Mouse Tracks :
Episode #42
-
Donald's Quack Attack :
Episode #23
Technical Specifications
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Color Type : Technicolor
-
Animation type : Standard
-
Sound mix : Mono
-
Aspect ration : 1.37 : 1
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Negative format : 35mm
-
Print format : 35mm
-
Cinematographic process : Spherical
-
Original language : English
Released by United Artists Pictures
Gallery
Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture
Comments
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From Lee Suggs : This is an early Pluto short
where he gets into trouble, has to sleep outside, and then ends up on trial
for chasing cats. Of course, the whole courtroom staff, jury, and audience
is cats. This means Pluto's trial is rather unfair, if amusing. I thought
this short really pushed the envelope. It truly looks like Pluto is going
to die for his crimes. (My kid don't like this short, since they are fans
of Pluto. My son always yells at the cats.) Fortunately Pluto suddenly wakes
up and discovers the whole trial was a dream. This short did a lot towards
developing Pluto's personality as a rather excitable guy, with a tendancy
to imagine the worst.
-
From Jerry Edwards : I have seen this short
listed as both "Judgment" and "Judgement" - the Disney Encyclopedia (Disney
A-Z) by Dave Smith lists "Judgement" which I'll go with until proved otherwise.
I much enjoy the short for the inventive gags and drama and tension of what
Pluto's fate will be. Full of action and gags. Once again, I tire of the
"dream" cartoons.
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From Ryan : In this short, Pluto chases a
kitten around the house. Believe me, I know what it's like. My dog is always
doing this too. The last time I saw this short was on the "Ink and Paint
Club." Pluto sure learns his lesson at the end. From now on his cat-chasing
days are over.
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From Candy : I love this cartoon. I think
it's great because it makes you feel for Pluto, even though there's a sense
that he kind of deserves to be judged for tormenting cats all those years.
Pluto chases a cat into the mouth of a giant cat head of stone and falls
down into an underground cavern that was probably meant to symbolize hell.
The prosecuting attorney cat makes him swear on a telephone book instead
of a Bible, and it turns into a mouse trap and snaps his paw in it. Then
there's the scene at the end when the cats throw Pluto on pitchforks and
suspend him over a bonfire. This was the closest thing to portraying him
being sent to hell. I thought that it was kind of scary for a Disney cartoon,
to portray a familiar character actually being tormented in hell. I've always
liked this cartoon for that reason. It shows that Disney was willing to portray
things that had an edge to them from time to time.
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From Baruch Weiss : This is one of my favorite
shorts. When my little brother was younger he uesd to laugh at the part where
the orange cat said "That great big bully picked on me because I was so fat.
He chased me under a steamroller and then he left me flat." Anyway I do not
recomend this short to little kids because it might scare them but my high
school teacher might like it because she likes cats and she likes Pluto.
This short could have been released as "A Walt Disney Mickey Mouse - Pluto
- Silly Symphony" because it had Mickey in it but the film focused mainly
on Pluto and when the cats were going to "put him in the hot seat" I noticed
that the flames came alive.
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From Jeff Wiener : Ordinarily, I don't really
like Pluto very much. A lot of his solo shorts that were made in the 40s
and 50s got to be a bit boring and repetitive. However, Pluto's Judgement
Day is wonderful. Mickey Mouse was already being relegated to a subordinate
role at this stage of his career. However, Mickey's brief appearances within
this short are extremely effective. My first memory of this cartoon dates
back to the early 60s, when I was still a small child. They used to show
cartoons interspersed with newsreel footage at various cinemas. Since we
only had black and white television at the time, seeing a cartoon in colour
was a very rare treat indeed. I seem to remember being frightened at the
sight of the rather demonic looking cat in the red robes. There is a very
vivid memory of seeing the twin reflections of Pluto in the procecuting cat's
eyes. In the 70's, I saw a censored version of this cartoon on 'The Mouse
Factory '. The footage of the cats as negro caricatures dancing with tambourines
was edited out. Now, it has been revived in all its uncensored glory on the
DVD: 'Mickey Mouse In Living Colour Volume 1'. The dark and sombre images
in this short are dramatic and extremely powerful, but this is offset by
the comedic absurdity of the situation. I believe that the nightmarish aspects
of this film helped to pave the way for the frightening sequeneces that occurred
in 'Snow White' and 'Pinnochio'. Walt Disney was often criticised for producing
cartoons that frightened children. 'Pluto's Judgement Day' is a prime example.
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From Happy : I used to watch the cut version
of this animated short as a little girl on "Disney's Halloween Treat" and
I thought it was pretty good....until I saw the whole version on "Scary Tales."
I decided to give it a try watching it....big mistake! It scared me to death
and the same night I watched it, I had a nightmare of it. While I agree that
Mickey was right about his chasing habits are going to get the better of
him one day, I was really spooked about him being chained up and seeing his
scared face. I give the people credit for doing a good job on making it a
scary tale, but I haven't seen the short in years. I'm hoping to try and
watch it again (if its on DVD) so I can figure out why it scared me. Oh,
and I saw the Uncle Tom cut on the "Scary Tales" tape....really creepy!
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From KaseyKockroach : My all-time favorite Disney short, period. I happen to find this short extremely underated. This cartoon scared me as a child, but in a good way that made watch over and over again. Also, the scene with the dogshot cat in the wheelchair is the kind of thing that seperates good from great animation.
