NFR Project: 'The Old Mill' (1937)

 

NFR Project: ‘The Old Mill’

Dir: Wilfred Jackson

Scr: Dick Huemer

Premiere: Nov. 5, 1937

9 min.

An exercise in pure visuals, Disney’s Silly Symphony The Old Mill won the Oscar for best animated short in 1937. It served as a test run for the techniques used to make Disney’s first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

It represents the first use of the multiplane camera in animation, which allowed multiple layers of animation to be shot at the same time, allowing the animators to create ever-more-involved visual complexities. The Old Mill has a quality of facility to it that today we take for granted.

The short film is set to Leigh Harline’s orchestral score. Troops of various animated animals maek their home in the old mill of the title. A summer storm blows up, threatening the safety of the animals – they take shelter, avoid disaster, and eventually return to their peaceful home after the storm abates. It’s all rendered in classic Disney style, with cute animals and commendable attention to detail.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Prisoner of Zenda.