by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
I’ve always had a soft spot for animation. More years than not, at least a couple of animated features find their way onto my top 10 list. So I’m setting out to shine a light on some films that may have passed you by. The idea here is to take a look at some underseen gems—so no Toy Story or Frozen here.
Let’s get started.
In what has become a clever annual tradition, the various shorts nominated at the Academy Awards get their time to shine in theaters, as they are grouped for showing around the time of the ceremony.
However, once the ceremony is over, shorts fade into the background until the next year, and you’re trying to figure out how not to let them completely tank your Oscar ballot.
I’ve covered shorts on this series before and found it an interesting exercise. So I wanted to keep the shorts love going for at least another month. With Snow White set to hit theaters this weekend, it just felt right to cover its precursor, The Old Mill. The short won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons, in 1938, and released just over a month before Snow White made its theatrical debut. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, who had a hand in basically everything early Disney you’ve ever heard of, it follows a community of animals who find their home (an abandoned windmill) under threat from a severe storm.
At just shy of nine minutes, this is short storytelling perfection. There are no wasted beats. We get a quick scene-setter, introducing us to the characters it wants us to care about and setting the scene, brings on the storm, and then wraps things up. No notes.
On the technical side, the film was groundbreaking, laying the groundwork for what would make the studios feature-length films so incredible. The National Film Registry, which added the short in 2015, highlighted its innovation by stating that it, “acted as a testing ground for audience interest in longer form animation as well as for advanced technologies, including the first use of the multiplane camera, which added three-dimensional depth. It also featured more complex lighting and realistic depictions of animal behavior that would be perfected in ‘Snow White,’ ‘Fantasia,’ and ‘Bambi.’”
In selecting it for inclusion, the National Film Registry also highlighted just how impressive the short was to professionals: “In ‘The 50 Greatest Cartoons Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals,’ edited by historian Jerry Beck, Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston recalled, ‘Our eyes popped when we saw all of The Old Mill’s magnificent innovations—things we had not even dreamed of and did not understand,.”
For a layperson, if you want to understand just how much of a leap forward this was, do what I did: Watch this short, then fire up The Skeleton Dance from 1929 and see the difference. It’s immediately apparent what these innovations mean for the depth of field that’s possible in animation. Furthermore, the difference in detail for how the two owls are animated shows the massive advancements that were occurring in the art form in less than a decade.
Like other short shorts of the time (looking at you again, The Skeleton Dance), it perfectly syncs the music to the action, allowing it to become another character. From the croaking of frogs, to the chirping of crickets, and the whistling of the wind, the score not only adds to the experience, it’s vital to it.
As Disney itself is championing its history as they go back to where they first began, taking a dive into their history 10 minutes at a time can be a fascinating and rewarding experience.
I’m excited to continue to geek out on some great animated work you may not have had a chance to catch. Next month, we’ll dive back into a feature-length film.
You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Bluesky and Letterboxd