The Old Mill

1937

Action / Animation / Comedy / Family / Musical

12
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 80%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 80%
IMDb Rating 7.7/10 10 5351 5.4K

disney walt disney walt disney treasures mill cartoon thriller

Plot summary

Night in an old mill is dramatically depicted in this Oscar-winning short in which the frightened occupants, including birds, timid mice, owls, and other creatures try to stay safe and dry as a storm approaches. As the thunderstorm worsens, the mill wheel begins to turn and the whole mill threatens to blow apart until at last the storm subsides.

Director

Wilfred Jackson Photo
Wilfred Jackson

Top cast

Lester Dorr Photo
Lester Dorr as Singer
Clarence Nash Photo
Clarence Nash as Frogs
Mildred Dixon Photo
Mildred Dixon as Singer
Elvia Allman Photo
Elvia Allman as Birds / Singer
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
80.18 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   dk   es   fi   it   no   pt   sv  
23.976 fps
12 hr 8 min
Seeds 3
148.77 MB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   dk   es   fi   it   no   pt   sv  
23.976 fps
12 hr 8 min
Seeds 16

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CuriosityKilledShawn 8 / 10

A dark and stormy night

I was first introduced to The Old Mill when footage of it was recycled into a "Blueberry Hill" music video on DTV. I liked the dark, cloudy and atmospheric animation and the video became one of my favourites. The cartoon itself features a decrepit old windmill and the surrounding pond which is home to everything from frogs to bats. When a stormy night rolls in chaos ensues and the animals struggle to make it through.For a 72-year-old cartoon the animation is wonderful. There's not a human or a line of dialogue in the whole 9 minutes but there's still a great little story to be told. For all of these reasons it's no wonder that it won an Academy Award.
Reviewed by utgard14 9 / 10

Lovely

Wonderful Disney animated short that has a lot of significance, both artistically and from an animation history perspective. I just love this cartoon. The plot, such as it is, has various adorable animals living in an old windmill and dealing with a scary thunderstorm. It's so simple but so effective and just gorgeous to look at. The animation is sublime with beautifully drawn characters and backgrounds, rich colors, and some of the best use of lighting to create atmosphere you'll ever see in a cartoon. If you loved the spooky part of Snow White where she's running through the woods, you'll love this. This is Disney's first use of the multiplane camera, which creates a short of three-dimensional effect. It played a big role in the making of those early Disney feature-length classics we all know and love. The music in this is also very enchanting and perfectly matches the animation. This is truly a work of art. Lovely from start to finish. A real classic that everyone who loves vintage animation should see at least once.
Reviewed by rebeljenn 8 / 10

Powerful 8 minutes of music and quality animation

'The Old Mill' was a short Disney film (about 8 minutes long) that the animators created to aid them in the production of 'Bambi'. I saw this on the Disney channel when I was younger, and the animation is so powerful that it stuck with me. Now, I've watched it again as a clip provided on the 'Bambi' DVD. The clip features several creatures that live in and around an old mill, and there is a storm. All of the events taking place are done to powerful music from the singing of the frogs to the storm, and there are no speaking parts. It's purely nature and Disney animation at its best. Hopefully, a greater appreciation for nature can be learned through this film as I think it is something taken for granted by most today. And it is amazing that an animation can be so powerful through minimalisation and sound. It's much better quality than some of the computer-animated clutter. Wonderful.
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