#silly simphonies

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Santa's Workshop (1932, Wilfred Jackson)

02/12/2023

Santa's Workshop is a 1932 animated short film directed by Wilfred Jackson. The film is included in the Silly Simphonies series, produced by Walt Disney, based on the character of Santa Claus.

Christmas Day is approaching and at the North Pole all the elves and Father Christmas himself are working hard to make sure everything is ready on time. It's almost Christmas now and the good man gets on the sleigh and sets off towards the homes of the world, under the backdrop of a sky full of snow and a moon that smiles at him and wishes him a good journey.

The film was included in the 1982 VHS edition of the film The Small One and in December 2001 the short film was included in the direct-to-video montage film Walt Disney's Greatest Christmas Stories, without the opening and closing credits and linked to the sequel The Night Before Christmas.

A year later a contribution of the film entitled The Night Before Christmas will be made.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

I do not know why but the mental image of Mickey Mouse cosplaying as the Pied Piper does not cease to amuse me. It’s so cute but so ironic.

Well, their Silly Simphony adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin ended by portraying the Piper as right in taking the children away to live forever in a magical amusement park, "The happiest place on Earth" if you will.

That kind of joke was to be expected 80 years later.

[polisena-art]

Has José’s smoking ever posed a problem for Don and Chito?

Hmm,,, a problem per se I don't think so. Maybe the occasional worry/chiding if José overdoes it, which he does because stress smoking (which only happens because that motherfucker is also addicted to putting himself in situations). Usually I headcanon that both José and Donald smoked when younger, Panchito was never a fan tho. I like to think José had moments of trying to quit smoking only to come back to it repeatedly. After Zico and Zeca came along tho, he managed to quit for good.

[seventeenshitpiles]

They see me rollin' they hatin'

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@themousefromfantasyland @adarkrainbow @the-blue-fairie @amalthea9 @thealmightyemprex @princesssarisa @angelixgutz @tamisdava2

@irreplaceable-ecstasyy​ @rollingthunder06​

@theimpossiblescheme​

Some of the different encarnations of Hades in Pop Culture:

1º Goddess of the Spring (1934)

2º Hercules: the Legendary Journeys (1995-99) and Xena the Warrior Princess (1995-2001)

3º Disney’s Hercules (1997)

4º Saint Seiya: Hades Saga (2002-08)

5º Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (2009-2011)

6º Hadestown (2016)

[patemi-pk]

I wish, within my lifetime, that one licencee publishes the whole syndacated production. We all love Gottfredson up until 1955 or those four Silly Simphonies books, or the Taliaferro ones, but knowing that there are decades of strips, both Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck which have had so little recognition and/or distribution is excruciating (not really but let's be dramatic).

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Jane Eyre adaptation OSTs, ranked

Because I have OpinionsTM. The main criteria here is "how Jane Eyre" each of these feel, being the main trait in it how much drama, high emotion, operatic-ness and cheese they contain, how much they reflect the environment and feel of the story, independently of how much they fit the specific adaptation they were made for. Some context will be taken into account, and also how aesthetically pleasing they are, etc, but not specifically their overall match with the tone of the adaptation they belong to (mainly because that makes them really impossible to compare with each other).

Before properly beginning, I will put outside this list the OST of the 1973 BBC adaptation. As much as it is big and operatic and has a lot of gusto, it's also not an original composition for the series -it's Edgar Elgar's 'Introduction and Allegro' for Strings (Quartet and Orchestra), Op. 47, and I think that disqualifies it.

That now out of the way, let's proceed:

7. Jane Eyre (1983) by Paul Reade.

This one is at the bottom mostly because of how sweet and tranquil and restrained it is overall. I'd rather expect it for something like Cranford or Anne of Green Gables. There's nothing even remotely Gothic or super dramatic to it.

6. Jane Eyre (1943) by Bernard Hermann.

Bombastic, like all things Hollywood in the 40s, but also very, very, very generic. Can fit anything from Victorian Romance to Contemporary drama and a serious old-timey silly simphony cartoon.

Best tracks: Rochester, Springtime, Mr Mason, Farewell.

5. Jane Eyre (1970) by John Williams.

It's comforting, once in a while, to know even the greatest are not very inspired sometimes.

Mind you, this still IS John Williams. The melodies are beautiful, the leitmotif carries solidly through the different pieces and morphs deliciously... but it doesn't sound like Jane Eyre. It doesn't sound like anything remotely in a zone anywhere near Jane Eyre. The tone is epic, but as in war-epic, with a dash of romance. What you'd expect for, say, a Zefirelli adaptation of a Shakespeare play?. The instrumentation, heavy on flute and a sort of harpsichord and sometimes... glockenspiel? does very little to evade that idea.

Best tracks: Trio (The Meeting), Across the Moors, Reunion.

4. Jane Eyre (2006), by Rob Lane.

This one is... fine. It's fine. It surely does have big emotions, it can do spooky and it can do joyful... but, listen, Rob Lane is an award-winner composer. We are talking of the person that composed the epic theme of Merlin. Here are some samples of his Jane Eyre score:

All except the intro an outro can be found at: https://www.roblanemusic.com/portfolio-item/jane-eyre-2006/

But you know what really puts it at the "bottom of the best" list? The... peculiar... way in which it sometimes sounds way too close to Thomas Newman's score for Little Women 1994. Maybe it is a matter of the director temping scenes with LW tunes and requiring the score to sound very similar, but even then, it's not... a good look.

Listen, for example, to this segment (it will play first "New York" from the score of Little Women 1994, then the music you hear when the servants prepare Thornfield for the arrival of the guests. The sound on the second is a bit muffled because I removed the vocals manually):

Also, this one (Learning to Forget, from LW 94, then the Rivers Family tune):

Badly done, Rob, badly done.

3. Jane Eyre (2011) by Dario Marianelli.

*gasp*

Yes, I went there and I'm not sorry. But also, this is not about dissing this score at all. It's really, really good. And truly, the difference between 3 and 2 is almost a technicality.

Declaredly, the director wanted Dario Marianelli to make this score as contrasting as possible to the one he composed for Pride &Prejudice (2005). This is in principle a good idea, because these works do feel like completely different universes. But one thing that the P&P score had going for itself, and that I see as a weakness of this one, is the distinctive character of each piece of the score; one blends into the other, and the general tone, while very atmospheric and supremely gothic, is also very restrained (it sounds contradictory, but it isn't). Which isn't very Janeeyresque at all.

Best pieces: A Thorough Education, Waiting for Mr. Rochester, The Wedding Dress.

2. Jane Eyre (1997), by Richard Harvey

(here is my own extraction of the music from the movie itself. As such, because of vocal isolation procedures, there's distortion and quality loss, specially in the parts under dialogue, but it still gives a complete impression of the OST as a whole).

I mourn that it has never been released, because to me at least it is hauntingly beautiful and memorable. Jane's leitmotif really just captures so much about the hardship and grief mingled with hope and yearning, and high drama and struggle of the story, that even if some of the other parts of the score aren't as distinctive or memorable, it still places it near the top.

Best pieces: Jane Eyre (Main Theme), Rochester's Fire, Handshake at Sunrise.

1. Jane Eyre (1996) by Claudio Capponi and Alessio Vlad

Jane Eyre (1996) will justly loose most accuracy rankings, but the score, the score is the one thing in it that very much does feel like the novel to me.

The music for this production is distinctive and gorgeous; it’s very simply structured around three main motifs: a journey motif (very clear in Infanzia di Jane, Viaggio di Jane), a love motif with a joyful (Tema di Helen, Matrimonio di Jane) and a wistful movement (Tema di Jane, Jane e Rochester), and a dark motif with a regret (Tema di Rochester, Ritorno a Thornfield) and a danger (Incendio a Thornfield, Inverno a Lowood) movement. The score moves seamlessly from poignant and reflective to sinister to hopeful, to innocent and pastoral and back again.

Best pieces: Infanzia di Jane, Helen e Jane, Tema di Jane Eyre (reprise).

What are your favorite moments of Jane Eyre scores?

[rabid-dog-steve-horn]

Hell's Bells - Silly Simphony

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@angelixgutz

I would love them decorating the living room!

The Silly Simphonies are so underrated!

@ disney 

make them as figurines irl please

[yzomiris]

Coin give off huge Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline vibes, would they be a stop motion fan?

Oooh of course! :3 He is already an animation fan, specially the Silly Simphonies/Happy Harmonies/ Merrie Melodies series. I can imagine him doing stop motion movies in his room skdjsjahs

[ariel-seagull-wings]

Top five adaptations of your favorite fairy tale?

@thealmightyemprex @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @professorlehnsherr-almashy @amalthea9 @princesssarisa @tamisdava2 @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @barbossas-wench

01. The Company of Wolves (1984)

2. Into the Woods (1986)

Hoodwinked

4. Goodtimes Little Red Riding Hood

5. Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

Honorable Mention: Silly Simphonie's The Big Bad Wolf

[moviesiveseenandwanttoremember]

“The Goddess of Spring,” released November 3, 1934.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@thealmightyemprex

John Hurt movies can be fitting for April.

And considering that Disney has so many properties that it becomes a brand category, to not feel burn out you can focus on one type of property specifically in february:

Either

*Disney Animated Movies

*Disney Live Action Movies

*Disney Movies Based on Theme Park Atractions

*Disney Animation Documentaries

*Disney Nature Documentaries

*Disney Mickey, Goofy and Donald Shorts

*Disney Silly Simphonies

*The TV series Dinosaurs (wich is a partnership project between Disney and the Jim Henson Creature Shop)

*The 90s cartoon series Pepper Ann

OK theme months I wanna do

Muppets

John Hurt

Musicals

Disney

Now I am planning to do musicals in the M months :March of the Muppets and Musical May

However I am split on whether to do John Hurt or Disney for next monthHurt does some very heavy films and my personal life has been kind of heavy so lighthearted Disney might be more fun ......Buuuuuuuuut I also can get burnt out on Disney and there are some Hurt movies I wanna check out ,so I dunno

Should John Hurt be Feb or April and should Disney be Feb or april

@ariel-seagull-wings @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @princesssarisa @goodanswerfoxmonster

[stupendoustastemakerboy]

El Terrible Toreador (1929)

[maverikki]

Ministry - Every Day Is Halloween and Hell's Bells

[panda-paco]

Stitch: The Ugly Duckling

They didn't like him because he was different, and he didn't understand what he had done wrong, he just wanted to be part of where he thought he belonged. But he had to search until find his place and his correct beings, because our place is not always where we begin our life, we have to live, suffer and explore, to realize that we are not ugly ducks, but swans. When I was a kid, at home we had a Beta tape with many Silly Simphonies, one of those was The Ugly Duckling, there was not a single time I could see that shortfilm without crying, and even nowadays, if I try to watch that film on YouTube and watch it, I can't help it. https://youtu.be/UrHr5ykvE_o Stitch, for more mainstream than he is, he's an ugly duckling in many ways, in his own universe and in this our world as well. And for many reasons he's one of my favorite Disney characters. (Not only because cute) ("Lilo & Stitch" is the only movie, any other kind of sequel are just weird fanfics, but those never happened) Digital. Photoshop.