Flowers and Trees (1932) Director: Burt Gillett
★★★★☆
The second great film to emerge from the early era of Disney studios, Flowers and Trees is fondly remembered for being the first technicolor cartoon short film. It was released as a Disney “Silly Symphony” in 1932. All later “Silly Symphonies” were released on technicolor following the success of Flowers and Trees. This delightful little cartoon has found its way onto numerous “greatest of all-time” film lists, hence why I decided to watch it.
Much like a folk-tale or a fable, the plot of Flowers and Trees is simple. This short film features anthropomorphic trees and animals as they sing and dance. Two trees fight over the affection of a female tree, and the more sinister looking tree wins her over. This lasts until the protagonist tree starts a fire in the woods that threatens the animals and the plants. However, the fire kills the sinister tree and the birds in the sky poke holes in the clouds causing it to rain and restore the blissful singing and dancing of the forest creatures. The remaining tree proposes to the female tree and she accepts as the film ends with the two trees embracing under a rainbow.
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Credits:
- Director: Burt Gillett
- Produced by: Walt Disney
- Music by: Frank Churchill and Bert Lewis
- Animation by: Les Clark, David Hand, and Tom Palmer