The Song of the Birds
The Song of the Birds is a 1935 Color Classics cartoon.[1][2] It concerns a destructive little boy with an air rifle who shoots a baby bird and is mortified when the bird's parents, and all the other birds, go into mourning.
The Song of the Birds | |
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Directed by | Dave Fleischer |
Produced by | Max Fleischer |
Music by | Sammy Timberg |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | February 27, 1935 |
Running time | 9 minutes |
Language | English |
Plot
A flock of robins is teaching their young ones to fly. The sun is shining and all the birds are cheerfully singing. Meanwhile, a boy having much fun with an air rifle is shooting at everything in the house, destroying many of the items in the house; he then goes out into the garden and shoots at a nest (which the birds barely save), then shoots a chick out of the sky—only to realize shortly thereafter the gravity of what he has done. The chick's parents try to revive it, but to no avail.
The sky turns dark and stormy as the birds assemble and wail in mourning for the chick's funeral, complete with pallbearers and a grave digger. The boy is tormented by the birds' wailing; watching from the window, he too is brought to tears and gets on his knees to pray. As the birds prepare to lower the chick into its grave, it begins raining. The young chick miraculously comes back to life, the birds resume their cheerful singing, the sky clears, and the boy, having learned his lesson, breaks his gun into pieces and pulls out a box of bird seed for all the birds to enjoy. The chick and the boy share a seed as the film ends.
Cast
Gertrude Lawrence as Boy Bill Thompson (voice actor) And Clarence Nash as Whistling
References
- McCall, Douglas L. Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts. McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 9780786424504. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
- Borowiec, Piotr. Animated Short Films: A Critical Index to Theatrical Cartoons. Scarecrow Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780810835030. Retrieved 1 March 2017.