The Old Mill
This 1937 Silly Symphony from Walt Disney was made as an experiment in the use of effects animation - the motion of atmospherics, of rain and lightning and wind and water - to create drama. The film is populated by many different animals, who are all affected by the inclement weather, but it is the windmill and stormy night which play the lead rolls. The cartoon was also the first use of Disney's new multiplane camera, which allowed for creation of dimensional depth to a scene, as background and foreground elements could be blurred out of focus. The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, and the studio received an Oscar for the technical innovation of the camera.
Direction: Wilfred Jackson
Animation: Ugo D'Orsi, Ralph Somerville, Jack Hannah, Tom Palmer, Robert Stokes, George Rowley, Josh Meador, Bob Wickersham, Dan McManus, Stan Quackenbush, Robert Martsch
Please consider supporting our work.
I hope you found this article important. Before you leave, I want to ask you to consider supporting our work with a donation. In These Times needs readers like you to help sustain our mission. We don’t depend on—or want—corporate advertising or deep-pocketed billionaires to fund our journalism. We’re supported by you, the reader, so we can focus on covering the issues that matter most to the progressive movement without fear or compromise.
Our work isn’t hidden behind a paywall because of people like you who support our journalism. We want to keep it that way. If you value the work we do and the movements we cover, please consider donating to In These Times.
