Every short in the vault

A close look at The Jazz Fool (1929), the twelfth Mickey Mouse short: a musical two-hander that trades story for showmanship, plus its recycled gags and Jolson title.

October 15, 19295:57

A review of Jungle Rhythm (1929), the thirteenth Mickey Mouse short: an accordion, a hula-dancing lion, five borrowed tunes and almost no story to speak of.

November 15, 19296:53

Notes on The Haunted House (1929), the fourteenth Mickey Mouse short: a stormy-night horror comedy built from borrowed skeletons and censor-baiting gags.

December 2, 19297 min

Fiddlin' Around, also known as Just Mickey (1930), reviewed: the first Mickey short made without Ub Iwerks, a solo violin recital and a close study of a face.

March 6, 19306:50

The Cactus Kid (1930) reviewed: Mickey's cantina western, Pete's first peg leg, Minnie's first voice, and the last short Walt Disney directed for five years.

May 10, 19307:25

The Fire Fighters (1930): Mickey, Horace and a firehouse crew race to save Minnie from a burning apartment block. The first plotted Mickey short in a year.

June 20, 19307:13

Pioneer Days (1930): Mickey and Minnie's wagon train under attack, with set pieces by Ferguson, Sharpsteen and Jackson, a 1940 cut and a stereotype problem.

November 20, 19307:13

Traffic Troubles (1931): Mickey drives a taxi with a mind of its own, with a fat pig, a flat tire and Pete's snake oil. Born from Walt Disney's traffic fine.

March 17, 19317:33

The Castaway (1931), Wilfred Jackson's first turn as director: a Mickey Mouse island short built from recycled 1929 footage under a Columbia deadline.

March 27, 19317:26

The Moose Hunt (1931) is where Rover became Pluto, Mickey's dog spoke his only three lines, and a dog first carried a scene alone. A review of the birth record.

April 30, 19317:22

Blue Rhythm (1931) runs Mickey, Minnie and the barnyard band through W. C. Handy's St. Louis Blues. A review of the 31st Mickey short as a filmed concert.

August 7, 19317 min

Mickey's Orphans (1931), the Christmas short that earned an Academy Award nomination and lost to its own studio. On the kittens, the remake and the wreckage.

December 5, 19317 min

Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935) sends Mickey, Donald and Goofy into a burning hotel in Technicolor and lets the fire fight back. The trio at full strength.

August 3, 19358 min

Good Scouts (1938) marched Donald and his nephews into Yellowstone, sat him on a geyser, and earned the Donald Duck series its first Oscar nomination. Reviewed.

July 8, 19388 min

The Clock Watcher (1945) put Donald behind a department-store gift-wrap counter with an unseen boss and a jack-in-the-box that would not stay shut. Reviewed.

January 26, 19457:34

Donald's Dream Voice (1948) gave the duck pills that let him speak clearly, then took them away. A review of the studio's sharpest joke about its own star.

May 21, 19486:39

Bee on Guard (1951): Donald dresses as a bee, cons the hive's sentry and steals the honey. Jack Hannah's fourth Donald-and-bees short, with the duck as villain.

December 14, 19517 min

How to Play Football (1944) reviewed: Jack Kinney fills a stadium with Goofys, lets the crowd drown out the narrator, and earns Disney an Oscar nomination.

September 15, 19447 min

The New Spirit (1942) reviewed as history: the Treasury-commissioned Donald Duck short that walked some fifteen million new taxpayers through Form 1040A.

January 23, 19427 min

Home Defense (1943) reviewed: Donald Duck and his nephews man a West Coast aircraft-spotting post, and a Carl Barks story turns civil defense into a prank war.

December 28, 19438 min