ReFrederator Blog

How would you like to be an invisible elf on the wall during the story conference for today’s cartoon?

“Okay, so there are these live action kids, see? And they put a lot of mice in a doll house, see? And one mouse turns into a cartoon, see? And then he tells them a story about an old elf who uses a magic potion to turn lizards into, ummm, birds, then more potion that turns toads into, errrr, squirrels, then even more potion to turn mice into… into…. into…. little devil-guys! Yeah, little devil-guys! See?”

One suspects the writers may have been sampling some magic potion of their own.

“Spinning Mice” is a 1935 Toddle Tale, part of a short series of live action/animated shorts produced by Burt Gillett, who also co-directed this one. If the idea was to add a touch of realism showing footage of real boys and girls, the end result may have been undercut when the producers decided to use the creepy looking Cinecolor process. The cartoon part is kinda cute though, and I really dig the character design for the little demons — the whole affair kinda reminds you of Joe Dante’s old Gremlin movies.

Elf Help Week is on the march — check in tomorrow for a four star classic!

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Dave Kirwan