Browse: Home / Disney Byways: “The Old Mill”

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here
  • Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

Disney Byways: “The Old Mill”

Posted By Gillianren on November 1, 2019 in Features | Leave a response

Okay, so maybe it’s not surprising that Hayao Miyazaki himself isn’t the world’s biggest fan of Disney. That said, it’s also not surprising that he’s a fan of this particular cartoon. It is in many ways the most Miyazaki short Disney’s ever done. I hate to go down an old Dissolve joke route, here, but it’s really just a tone poem. There’s broadly speaking a little plot, but that’s not why you’re watching. You’re watching mostly for the animation.

There is, indeed, an old mill. It is clearly no longer in use, and it now houses an animal population. The mill pond has frogs and ducks and things. Mice live in the beams. A pair of birds have a nest, and eggs, in the cogwheel. An owl lives up above. It’s all very bucolic. Then a summer storm comes up. The rope holding the bits of the mill in place wears out and breaks, putting the eggs in danger and disturbing the owl.

Disney tended to use the shorts to test out techniques for the features, which makes a lot of sense. This was the first use of their multiplanar camera, most notable in the beginning and end, when we are slowly moving in and then pulling back again. The spiderweb is truly amazing, for 1937 animation. It won the Animated Short Oscar, though it was a strangely sparse year, with only three nominees. Still, you can see the techniques that Disney would start building into their animation in years to come.

There are several different emotional reactions created by the short, which is impressive in nine minutes. I don’t know if you entirely fear for the bird and her eggs, especially once you work out that, no, they’re not all going to be crushed. But you do feel her fear, and of course she’s a bird and not necessarily aware that being saved once means they’re not going to be crushed at all. But there’s also the comedy of the owl getting wet, and the serenity from before the storm begins, and all in all, it’s really quite nice.

It’s a cartoon I come back to now and again because it just feels nice. And it’s a nice one to use if you, like me, are a One Holiday At A Time person and want to space things out between Halloween and Christmas. (I don’t start celebrating Christmas until my birthday is over, but I understand if other people start gearing up before December 7.) This may canonically be a summer storm, but the short has long felt autumnal to me. Yes, okay, crickets. But still. Apparently the music is Strauss the Younger, what music there is, but mostly, we are left to be put into the creatures’ world. It’s nice. It’s comforting. It’s one of my favourite cartoons for this time of year, and you can see its influences on Ghibli.

Hey, Disney+ is about to start up, which will make this column much easier. Help me out with it by contributing to my Patreon or Ko-fi!

Posted in Features | Tagged Animated, Disney Byways, The Old Mill

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Also the movie includes an adorable love story, so there's thatDisney Byways: WRECK-IT RALPH→

Reaching into children's brainsDisney Byways: FRANKENWEENIE→

Really, this was a lovely movieDisney Byways: JOHN CARTER→

That's certainly an expressionDisney Byways: “Pests of the West”→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    38538 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    31165 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    30564 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Gordon with Mr. Looper

    Attention Must Be Paid: Will Lee

    27734 views / Posted January 7, 2023
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    23662 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The truth is FAR out there.

    The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here

    December 6, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • This is a way lower res image than I will be allowed to get away with at the new site.

    Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer

    December 5, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE

    December 4, 2024 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    December 3, 2024 / Greta Taylor
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

    December 2, 2024 / The Ploughman

Last Tweets

    ©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

    Menu

    • Home
    • Who We Are
    • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!