''Donald and Pluto'' is a 1936 animated short film produced by
Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...
and distributed by
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
. The film stars
Donald Duck, employed as a plumber, and Mickey's dog
Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...
as his assistant. The film was directed by
Ben Sharpsteen
Benjamin Sharpsteen (November 4, 1895 – December 20, 1980) was an American film director and producer for Disney. He directed 31 films between 1920 and 1980. Sharpsteen created a museum documenting the history of California's first millio ...
and featured the voice of
Clarence Nash
Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He was best known as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and ...
as Donald.
''Donald and Pluto'' is one of the three installments of the
''Mickey Mouse'' series in which Mickey does not appear as a character; the others are 1937's ''
Don Donald
''Don Donald'' is a 1937 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The cartoon follows Donald Duck attempting to woo a female Mexican duck named Donna. It was directed by Ben Sharpsteen and ...
'' and ''
Modern Inventions''. The cartoon also introduced
Fred Spencer's new design for Donald Duck, which included a slimmer body, shorter neck, rounder feet, and a shorter bill.
Plot
Donald is a plumber fixing pipes in the basement of a house. Donald first has trouble with pulling his hammer off a magnet, which it gets stuck to. When he unscrews the lid covering the pipe, water spurts out and hits Donald in the face, angering him. To stop the flow, Donald uses the magnet to pull a larger hammer toward himself, which he uses to put on another lid to the hole. In doing so he accidentally wakes
Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...
and later accidentally pulls Pluto's bone away from him. While Pluto wrestles with the magnet to get his bone back, he swallows the magnet and gets his bone stuck to his bottom. As he fights to get the bone, he tumbles into the pile of furniture Donald is standing on, causing Donald to come crashing to the ground. Pluto eventually runs into the kitchen and the magnet inside him causes many cooking items to be pulled onto his rear.
Pluto's erratic actions eventually cause the dishes to fall off, but his bone continues getting stuck to him and annoying him. As he tries to get it off, he backs into the clock and gets stuck to it. After breaking free of the clock by destroying it, he pulls a much smaller alarm clock to him. He engages in a fight with the clock, soon realizing that if he makes minor movements along the wall rear-end first the clock will not come to him. However, he trips over a rolling pin and the clock sticks to him again, but he loses it in a
polar bear rug. His dish sticks to him again and the magnetism causes knives and forks to come out of a drawer and chase him. The chase eventually causes Pluto to end up in the basement again. There, the magnet inside him sucks the nails out of the ladder Donald is standing on, causing it to fall apart under his feet. Donald falls into a tank and is pulled out through a wringer. After an angry outburst he gets stuck to Pluto's bottom and is dragged into the roof of the basement.
Pluto is chased by the angry Donald through the house and onto the roof, where the magnetism causes Donald to be pulled into the roof and along the ceiling with the floor separating the two (it looks as if there is an invisible track Donald is hanging from). Donald is dragged into a ceiling fan, activating it and spinning both Donald and Pluto around. Donald gets an electric shock when he pulls out a lamp and is later bumped across the ceiling when Pluto crawls over a ladder. Pluto eventually makes his way downstairs where Donald falls to the ground and bounces back into the basement when he is pinned to the wall by his own tools. Pluto finds him and begins happily licking him as he squawks angrily.
Voice cast
* Donald Duck:
Clarence Nash
Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He was best known as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and ...
* Pluto:
Pinto Colvig
Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. C ...
Home media
The short was released on May 18, 2004 on ''
Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941''.
Notes
The running gag of Pluto licking Donald is reused in ''
Beach Picnic'' in 1939.
See also
*
Mickey Mouse (film series)
''Mickey Mouse'' (originally known as ''Mickey Mouse Sound Cartoons'') is a series of American animated comedy short films produced by Walt Disney Productions. The series started in 1928 with Steamboat Willie and ended in 1953 with '' The Simp ...
References
External links
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{{Ben Sharpsteen
1930s Disney animated short films
1930s American films
1930s color films
1936 animated films
1936 films
Fictional duos
Donald Duck short films
Pluto (Disney) short films
Films directed by Ben Sharpsteen
Films produced by Walt Disney
Films scored by Frank Churchill