The Old Mill Pond
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Old Mill Pond |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1936 |
| length | 8 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hugh Harman |
| production |
Hugh Harman , Rudolf Ising for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
The Old Mill Pond is a 1936 American animated short film directed by Hugh Harman .
action
Frogs gather in a pond near an old mill. A frog preacher calls on the congregation with the Preacher Song, among other things, to indulge in music. He starts the following scenes: From the pond rises on lily pads , a jazz band of dark brown frogs Kickin 'the Gong Around playing and singing.
The scene continues into the performance of a frog lady in a red dress who presents Jungle Rhythm and is later accompanied by numerous dancing frogs with colorful wigs. The orchestra joins again and the scene fades to a stout frog sitting at the piano. He plays Mista Sippy and is accompanied by a tap dancer . This is followed by a frog quartet that sings I Heard .
The audience is thrilled. More frogs appear in quick succession, the tiger rag sounds, the music speeds up, musical instruments break and frogs go crazy. The audience flees into the water.
The old mill and the pond are as quiet as they were at the beginning.
production
The Old Mill Pond was released on March 7, 1936 as part of the MGM animated film series Happy Harmonies .
The film contains various caricature depictions of contemporary black jazz artists performing the individual titles:
- Kickin 'the Gong Around - Cab Calloway
- Jungle Rhythm - Ethel Waters
- Mista Sippy - Fats Waller (singer) and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (tap dancer)
- I Heard - Mills Brothers
- Tiger Rag - Stepin Fetchit and Louis Armstrong
Awards
The Old Mill Pond was nominated for an Oscar in the category " Best Animated Short Film " in 1937 , but could not prevail against Der Vetter vom Lande .
Web links
- The Old Mill Pond in the Internet Movie Database (English)