THE THREE LITTLE PIGS (1933)
Article 4834 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-27-2015
Directed by Burt Gillett
Featuring the voices of Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig, Dorothy Compton
Country: USA
What it is: Disney Silly Symphony fairy tale
Two lazy pigs who build ramshackle houses must retreat to their smart brother’s brick house when a wolf blows down their own homes.
This may well be the most famous of Disney’s Silly Symphonies, and I think the main reason for this is the inclusion of one of Disney’s most indelible songs, ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”. It was one of the first cartoons to be written on storyboards at the studio, and it became a phenomenal success. It must have really struck a chord in its time. Watching it now, it’s a bit difficult to see what all the fuss was about. Make no mistake; it’s a solid, entertaining little cartoon with a very catchy song, but it also looks rather ordinary. That may well be because the innovations introduced here were quickly adopted and imitated by others. It’s more whimsical than funny; probably the biggest laughs I got from the cartoon were noticing the pictures hanging up in the various pigs’ houses; I especially enjoy the one of “father” in the house of bricks.
