Arctic Antics


Arctic Antics is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released on June 26, 1930.
The director of the short is uncertain. Ub Iwerks' name is on the draft, but Iwerks had left the Walt Disney Studio four months before the animators started producing the cartoon. In Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series, Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman say that it's "likely, but uncertain" that Burt Gillett directed the short, adding, "Circumstantial evidence points to Gillett as the director. After Iwerks left, Gillett directed all but one of the subsequent 1930 Silly Symphonies. Further, the scenes of the singing walrus and the applauding seals are lifted directly from Wild Waves, a Mickey Mouse short directed by Gillett in late 1929.

Reception

The Film Daily : "Swell cartoon entertainment is this Walt Disney subject, one of the Silly Symphony series. Delightfully goofy stuff. Against an Arctic background, cartooned native animals go through the gestures of singing and dancing. The characters move in synchronism with the music. It's packed with laughs for everybody from six to sixty, and then some."
Variety : "As good as any in this series, which is pretty good. Drawing and synchronization carefully done with none of the hackneyed tricks which spoil so many cartoon shorts. Parade of penguins to the tune of "The Wooden Soldier" is a sure laugh anywhere with a dance by the seals not far behind."

Home media

The short was released on the 2006 Walt Disney Treasures DVD box set .