''The Little Whirlwind'' is a 1941

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, part of the ''

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

'' series, produced by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

for

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 ...

. The short was released by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

on February 14, 1941. The film was directed by

Riley Thomson Riley A. Thomson Jr. (October 5, 1912 – January 26, 1960) was an American animator and comics artist who spent most of his career working with Walt Disney films and characters. He directed six Disney short films including ''The Nifty Nineties'' ...

, and animated by Ward Kimball, Fred Moore, Ken Muse, Jim Armstrong, Les Clark, John Elliotte, Fred Jones, Walt Kelly, and Frank Follmer with effects animation by Art Fitzpatrick.The Little Whirlwind
. ''www.bcdb.com'' It was the 110th short in the ''

'' film series to be released, and the first for that year. The short involves Mickey's attempts to help Minnie with her yard work, despite the presence of several (anthropomorphic)

twisters Twisters is a New Mexican cuisine restaurant chain from the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was founded in 1998. Today Twisters is known for their green chile cheeseburgers and burritos. They also serve other New Mexican staples like so ...

as foils.

Plot

While walking by Minnie Mouse's house one day, Mickey Mouse is enticed by the aroma of a cake Minnie is baking. Promised a slice if he cleans the yard, Mickey immediately jumps into raking up the fall leaves littering Minnie's lawn. While working in the yard, a small

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

as tall as Mickey comes along and makes his work more complicated: first the tornado hops into the basket and leaps over Mickey countless times before he pounds the basket in place before putting his hammer back in his overalls, shaking it to check if it is snared. After he throws the leaves in, the tornado pounces on him, knocks him onto the ground, grabs his hat, and taunts him. Angered, Mickey pounces on the tornado, who spins him around and scoots away, leaving Mickey's hat on his head. The tornado then scoops a large pile of leaves, flies to Mickey, stuffs the leaves into his overalls, and flies away. As Mickey unstuffs his overalls, the little tornado dives into a red hose and pops out as smaller tornados that merge into one. Both Mickey and the tornado have a tug'o'war on the basket until it shatters on Mickey, who is entangled. Then, the tornado makes an army of leaves and marches about, with the caboose leaf jumping on Mickey's nose which sends his hat on the leaf. Mickey grabs his hat in his mouth, and the leaf taunts him before joining the march, and Mickey untangles himself. As the march moves toward the house, Mickey manages to trap the tornado with a sack, which, after a bit of wrestling, he ties and punts away. The tornado retaliates with just 2 punches, then attempts to get away, with Mickey hot on its heels. As Mickey chases it with a rake the terrified tornado calls out for a large one. The larger tornado, unamused with Mickey tormenting the smaller one (and unaware of what it has been doing to Mickey), furiously pursues him. Its angry rampage causes chaos and destruction through the farm fields and grasslands until it lifts the lower portion of its gigantic body and slows Mickey's movement. When the twister finally sucks Mickey in, he is sent for a spin until he falls into Minnie's water fountain. After the two tornadoes leave, Minnie, unaware of the whole incident finds her garden in a complete mess causing Mickey to get her cake thrown in his face which he proceeds to eat.

Production

Much of the animation of the big tornado is taken from the 1935 ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoon ''

The Band Concert ''The Band Concert'' is a 1935 American animated short film produced in 3-strip Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. It was the 73rd Mickey Mouse short film to be released, and the second of that year. ''The Ba ...

''. ''The Little Whirlwind'' was the debut for a newly updated Mickey Mouse design: Mickey was given ears that worked in perspective (in lieu of his traditional, unchanging circles for ears), in addition to a slimmer body, larger head, hands and feet as well as buck teeth (the latter lasting for just two shorts;

Canine Caddy This is a list of animated short films produced by Walt Disney and Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1921 to the present. This includes films produced at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio which Disney founded in 1921 as well as the animation studio now o ...

was the other), and the absence of a tail. This cosmetic change was relatively short-lived, and only lasted for the duration of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Voice cast

* Mickey Mouse:

* Minnie Mouse:

Thelma Boardman Thelma Boardman (born Thelma Joyce Hubbard, October 31, 1909 – April 21, 1978) was an American voice actress and writer best known for her work with the Walt Disney Studios, particularly as the voice actress for Minnie Mouse from 1937–1938 ...

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two: 1939-Today''. Additional releases include ''Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites Starring Mickey Volume 1'', and the 2018 Blu-ray/DVD/Digital ''Celebrating Mickey'' compilation.

References

External links