''Mickey Mouse'' (originally known as ''Mickey Mouse Sound Cartoons'') is a series of American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

. The series started in 1928 with ''

Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released by Pat Powers (producer), Pat Powers, under the name of Cele ...

'' and ended with 2013’s '' Get a Horse!'' being the last in the series to date, otherwise taking a hiatus from 1953 to 1983. The series is notable for its innovation with sound synchronization and

character animation Character animation is a specialized area of the animation process, which involves bringing animated s to life. The role of a character animator is analogous to that of a film or stage actor and character animators are often said to be "actors ...

, and also introduced well-known characters such as

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

Minnie Mouse Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. The longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue (or pink or red) polka-dotted dress, w ...

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

Daisy Duck Daisy Duck is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. She is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck that has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers around her lowest region to suggest a skirt. She is often s ...

, Pluto (Disney), Pluto and Goofy. The name "Mickey Mouse" was first used in the films' title sequences to refer specifically to the character, but was used from 1935 to 1953 to refer to the series itself, as in "Walt Disney presents a Mickey Mouse". In this sense "a Mickey Mouse" was a shortened form of "a Mickey Mouse sound cartoon" which was used in the earliest films. Films from 1929 to 1935 which were re-released during this time also used this naming convention, but it was not used for the three shorts released between 1983 and 1995 (''Mickey's Christmas Carol'', ''The Prince and the Pauper (1990 film), The Prince and the Pauper'', and ''Runaway Brain''). Mickey's name was also used occasionally to market other films which were formally part of other series. Examples of this include several ''Silly Symphony, Silly Symphonies'' and ''Goofy and Wilbur'' (1939).

Production

Disney began secretly producing the first ''Mickey Mouse'' films while still contractually required to finish some Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons for producer Charles Mintz. The first two films, ''Plane Crazy'' and ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'', were previewed in theaters but failed to pick up a Film distributor, distributor for a broad release. For the third film, Disney added synchronized sound, a technology that was still in its early stages at the time. ''

'' debuted in New York in November 1928 and was an instant success. The revenues from the film provided the studio with much needed resources, and the studio quickly began to produce new cartoons as well as releasing sound versions of the first two. Production slowed towards the end of the 1930s as the studio began to focus on other characters and feature-length films. The series was informally retired in 1953 with the release of ''The Simple Things'', but was revived in 1983 and 1990 with two featurettes, or three reel short films. 1995's ''Runaway Brain'' returned the series to its single reel format, while the latest installment, 2013's '' Get a Horse!'', was produced in the black-and-white style of the early films and combining color CGI animation scenes. The cartoons were directed by 20 different people. Those with the most credits include Burt Gillett (34), Wilfred Jackson (18), Walt Disney (16), David Hand (animator), David Hand (15), and Ben Sharpsteen (14); the director of the most recent installment, Lauren MacMullan, was the first female director. Notable animators who worked on the series include Ub Iwerks, Norm Ferguson (animator), Norm Ferguson, Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas (animator), Frank Thomas, and Fred Moore (animator), Fred Moore. Mickey's voice is mostly provided by Walt Disney, with some additional work by Carl Stalling and Clarence Nash. By 1948, Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist), Jimmy MacDonald had taken over Mickey's voice. Wayne Allwine voiced the mouse in the three films released from 1983 to 1995. In the most recent film, ''Get a Horse!'', Mickey's dialogue was compiled from archival recordings primarily of Walt Disney's voice work.

List of films

The following is a list of ''Mickey Mouse'' films. The early films released by Pat Powers (businessman), Celebrity Productions (1928–1929) and Columbia Pictures (1930–1932) were distributed by region and state, so there is no definitive release date. The dates used in the list from 1928 to mid-1932 are shipping dates, reflecting when the Disney studio shipped the completed films to the distributors, per the 2018 Disney Enterprises book ''Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History''. The shorts released by United Artists (1932–1937) and RKO Radio (1937–1940) have official release dates announced by the distributors. The list does not include shorts where

appears outside of the ''Mickey Mouse'' series, such as appearances in short films starring other characters in their own film series, segments from feature films (such as ''Fantasia (1940 film), The Sorcerer's Apprentice''), nor shorts of Mickey Mouse made as part of the episodes of the television series ''Mickey Mouse Works''. Gray headers indicate black-and-white films, while yellow headers indicate color films.

1928

1929

The 1929 shorts entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.

1930

The 1930 shorts will enter the public domain on January 1, 2026.

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1946

1947

1948

1951

1952

1953

1983

1990

1995

2013

Releases

Every ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoon was originally released theatrically, typically appearing before feature films. In 1929, some theaters began to host the "Mickey Mouse Club", a children's program which would exclusively show Mickey's cartoons. The series was Film distribution, distributed by Columbia Pictures (1930–1932), United Artists (1932–1937), and RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures (1937–1953). The four most recent films were released by Disney's own company, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution). Many of the films were also broadcast on television, beginning in 1936 on BBC Television. Here the series was shown on a regular basis except during World War II. In the United States, selected films were shown on the Walt Disney anthology television series, and later on other series such as ''The Mouse Factory'' (1971–1973), ''Mickey's Mouse Tracks'' (1992–1995), and ''The Ink and Paint Club (TV series), Ink & Paint Club'' (1997–1998).

Home media

The films have also been released in various forms of Home video, home media. In the 1960s there were several 8 mm film, 8 mm and Super 8 mm film, Super 8 releases, although these were often silent, black-and-white, or condensed versions. In 1978, Disney began to release selected films on VHS, laserdisc, and later DVD. Starting in 2010, some of the cartoons were made available on the iTunes Store as digital downloads. Disney has also released films online. At the Disney website, cartoons are shown on a rotating basis under the video page "Mickey & Friends". On Walt Disney Animation Studios' official YouTube channel, three complete cartoons have been released: ''Plane Crazy'' (1928), ''Steamboat Willie'' (1928), and ''Hawaiian Holiday'' (1937), and most of ''Thru the Mirror'' (1936) as seen on the ''Disneyland'' episode "The Plausible Impossible" (1956). As of 2018, the only complete re-release of the entire series has been in the "Walt Disney Treasures" DVD sets. The vast majority''Donald and Pluto'' appears on "The Chronological Donald" and several others which prominently feature Pluto appear on "The Complete Pluto". of the series appears between four two-disc sets: "Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Two#Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Mickey Mouse in Black and White" (2002), "Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Four#Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two, Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two" (2004), "Walt Disney Treasures: Wave One#Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Mickey Mouse in Living Color" (2001), and "Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Three#Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two, Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two" (2004). Film critic Leonard Maltin, who hosts the collection, implied that there was opposition to releasing the complete series because of some content now considered politically incorrect, such as racial and ethnic stereotypes. Maltin argued that releasing the material uncensored was the only way to "learn from the past". The only film not included in this collection was the subsequently released '' Get a Horse!'' (2013) which first premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and was shown ahead of ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen''.

Notes

References

Bibliography

The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
(EDAS) * * *
The Internet Movie Database
(IMDb) * * * * Tomart's Illustrated Disneyana Catalog and Price Guide

External links

*
Mickey Mouse
at D23 – Disney A to Z *

at The Encyclopedia Of Disney Animated Shorts *
Mickey Mouse Theatrical Cartoon List
at the Big Cartoon DataBase *
Synopsis for the Mickey Mouse
at the Big Cartoon Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Mickey Mouse film series Film series introduced in 1928 Animated film series Children's film series Lists of animated films by character Mickey Mouse short films, * Walt Disney Studios (division) franchises Disney-related lists American comedy short films Slapstick comedy American animated black-and-white films