Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Console best movie i've ever seen.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

MisterWhiplash There probably are examples from before The Old Mill, but I can't think of any time prior to this film where there was such a feeling of realism - or as close to it as possible, certainly from Walt Disney's studio - in presenting a world in animation in the wild like this. Previously, of course, Disney had been doing the Silly Symphony series (and this is one of them), but this one seems different, an experiment that probably came in, did it's thing, and left. Not to say that people didn't notice (it was one of Disney's *several* Oscars of the decade), but I wonder if it was possibly taken for granted at the time, since it is, even compared to something like Flowers and Trees, so simple and bare-bones in its storytelling.The thing that is most striking are the sets and animals. I say sets since it is still a movie with a created facade. But look at how the animals interact and act, the birds and frogs especially. There is something of a minor gag as one of the frogs eats a lightning bug and the bug strikes a big light in its belly, though this seems to me less like a gag meant to inspire guffaws and more like a smile or chuckle. The mood here is really controlled but in a good way; it starts off fairly calm, and then it builds fairly quickly (as it is should, it's just a short), and the conflict emerges as Nature itself is coming on to the windmill. The drama is very small-scale - such as, will the little bird, protecting its nest, be crushed by the gears of the wheel that is set in motion - or what will happen to the owl? This is not the cutesy animation of one of the early Mickey Mouse shorts where animals were played like instruments (not that that isn't a blast on its own). I have to think this was watched and studied by a lot of people (Don Bluth for one thing, a film like the Secret of NIMH seems influenced by the colors and things as simple as the sky and clouds and grass).Moreover, what's interesting n the film-history sense is if you hear the audio commentary for the Snow White DVD - clips of Disney interviews are cut together to make something of a long interview really - and he mentions, once or twice for sure, that The Old Mill was a kind of test-run for some of the techniques and technology for the feature. Indeed a whole new system of a mutli-plane camera was created to meet what would be required to add depth and nuance to everything that was unfolding. In this sense, this 'experiment' proved to be a massive success.In other words, The Old Mill is about as stripped down and, frankly, naturalistic as a Disney cartoon can get. You won't watch it and get a lot of laughs, it's not like that. It's about finding a groove in nature, finding the very basic conflicts that come for those around it (not humans, just the animals and setting), and what this home will be when it's all over. A minor masterpiece.

MartinHafer In the 1930s, Disney Studio's "Silly Symphonies" were very popular cartoons. They lacked the cute and lovable characters like Mickey but were instead almost like music videos with cartoons--using mostly classical or classical-like music to accompany images--usually of nature. The earlier film FLOWERS AND THE TREES won the Oscar for Best Animated Short and this Silly Symphony also won in the same category a few years later.It's format is very similar to the usual film in the series--exceptional animation and nice music but not a traditional narrative. I honestly think that in 1937, it was seen very differently than people would generally see it today. In 1937, theater goers must have been bowled over by the first use of the multiplane camera, as it gave the film a gorgeous three-dimensional quality as the camera appeared to zoom in and out in the scenes. Crowds also would have been far more accepting of a less insane and cartoony style film--as the insanely fun cartoons that were made in the 40s and 50s were still a style you wouldn't see much of the 1930s. The 30s were filled with cutesy characters and schmaltz--something more hyperactive viewers (myself included) would hate. They certainly are NOT Bugs or Tom & Jerry!! So, overall, I loved the artwork and felt the story a bit dull and old fashioned. Watchable for curiosity sake and for fans of early animation but not to the average viewer.

zetes The Old Mill was a Silly Symphony developed as a test for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which was just going into production at the time. What came out of it is utterly beautiful. It is possibly the best Disney short, even rivalling The Skeleton Dance. 10/10.

Lou Rugani To many, the 1930s is the Golden Age of film animation. A wonderful palette of colors runs throughout The Old Mill, a labor of love for the master artists who would continue their craft through the great Disney triumphs yet to come. It's a film of moods and impressions, all set within a brief period towards nightfall early on one summer's evening. An abandoned windmill rests in a pastoral setting, its productive days behind it, with only wildlife visiting the weathered old structure to seek shelter within. As evening falls, there is a play of light from the fireflies; crickets chirp and the nearby frog pond is alive with the sounds of the impending night. But a gust of wind signals an approaching storm - and Leigh Harline's soundtrack music now becomes ominous, as the freshening breeze begins to nudge the long-disused windmill blades. The creatures seek shelter, and now the only sound is the rising wind ... and soon it becomes a gale, raging at full fury, and the rotted ropes that secure the tattered blades can no longer hold against the violence of the storm. The age-weakened ropes sever - and the old windmill begins to turn one final time, the wooden gears meshing again, and picking up speed with every revolution in concert with the force of nature driving them. The storm worsens, and in an unforgettable image the windmill, silhouetted against the raging sky and rain by flashes of lightning, becomes an apparition, alive with mindless motion and energy. Amidst the roaring thunder comes one mighty bolt of lightning, and . . . See "The Old Mill", with its wonderful, rare artistry in sight, color, action, sound and music. A masterpiece, with a Top Rating of 10.(A note of caution: the storm scene is intense, and will frighten the very young and/or impressionable.)