In addition to the “hidden” world motif, we also have a great number of Silly Symphonies that play off of parables, or moral lessons. This one is no different. This plays off the theme of sticking with the safe over the exciting – in other words, taking the reliable man over the (literally) flaming hot new beau.
The best part of this short is the art, meaning the fantastic backgrounds and characters. The backgrounds here are more rich and full than in previous shorts, looking similar to Snow White in the design of the costume shop. The characters, especially the lead moth, his girl and the flame, are exceptional designs as well.
The downside is that despite having such great tools to work with, the story doesn’t give them much to work with. The basics are that the lead moth brings his girlfriend into the costume shop, and they dance around for a while before he is distracted by a hat. Yes, he starts eating a hat, while his woman goes and flirts with a flame. Predictably, the flame turns evil and starts chasing her around before the boyfriend snaps out of it and enlists his fellow moths to extinguish the flame.
While the personification of the flame is done quite well, most of the other gags just fall flat. The majority of them involve either the lead moth or the flame pursuing the girl, to no avail. It starts simply, with the flirtation of the two moths, and there’s even some willing flirtation on the part of the female moth and the flame, but it then devolves into the lecherous flame pursuing the moth.
It’s not that this is bad, as it illustrates the point of the short, but it’s predictable. There’s no big surprise in the short, and honestly, not much for the viewer to latch onto. I think there’s also something to the fact that the Silly Symphonies seem a little off at this point. After all, we have Goofy, Donald, Mickey and Pluto established as stars capable of carrying their own series. So why are the Silly Symphonies necessary?
The Moth and the Flame isn’t bad, and the artistic quality is actually quite good. It’s just not up to par with earlier efforts in 1937 and 1938, though. It lacks that great character or hook that makes you want to keep watching and warms the heart. What did you think?
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To me this feels like a remake of 'The Spider and the Fly' with much more impressive visual effects. However, ever since I first saw this cartoon I've felt that it doesn't look like a Disney cartoon. Sure the backgrounds have that rich feel of the early features and other late Sillies, but the characters don't like Disney characters to me. some of them look like Fleischer characters, but not good ones. Now I don't have a problem with Disney trying different styles, but I personally really hate the character designs in this. I find the main moth leads particularly ugly to watch and it spoils my enjoyment of the film a great deal.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that the Sillies should end because of the strong characters in the regular Mickey and Donald series. I think it's healthy that the artists at Disney continued to try out new things and explore different styles. This one offers some splendid fire and lighting effects unlike others we have seen before (the fire displays a much greater burning intensity than the flames we saw in Snow White). However, the ugly characters who are uninteresting in personality anyway (plus some of the animation of them isn't too great either) in this one really puts me off.