LITTLE TOOT.

1948 - d. Clyde Geronomi

Little Toot, a very young tugboat, wants to be just like his Dad. His efforts to help keep on landing him in trouble, despite trying hard, he keeps getting into mischief, and has to hide from the harbour police boats, who scowl at him, trying to be angry with him, but secretly making allowances from his age.

All this comes to an end one day when Toot 'helping' his father, causes an ocean liner to crash into the docks among. the skyscrapers and traffic. His father is shamed, and Toot chained to two tough looking police boats is towed out of the harbour, the other ships turning their backs on him. Once clear of the twelve mile limits he is cast adrift.

The waves crests turn into long black fingers plucking out at him. A black cloud struck by lightning bursts over him and a frightening storm develops. During the storm an ocean liner runs onto some rocks and is in danger of breaking up. Toot sends up a distress signal which is seen by his father. He and other tugs set out to the rescue but the storm holds them back. Little Toot, making a supreme effort manages to pull the liner off the rocks - helped by a streak of lightning which strikes him at the right moment. Toot tows the liner safety back to harbour where he is given a hero's welcome.

Originally one of several cartoons in the 1948 "MELODY TIME", Little Toot stands up well on its own. The animation is of a very high standard, the storm at sea is as good as the best of the Disney features. The song, "Little Toot" is sung by the Andrew Sisters, in fact the story is told in song.

Despite being lifted from a feature this does come complete with full front and end credits. The print quality is superb, very good definition. The colour is excellent.

The sound is good except for some crackle on the track at one point (for about 15 seconds), and there is a join in the master from which the negative was made, causing a jump in the picture and sound. This prevents this item getting an A* rating.

I recommend this cartoon to all Disney collectors, the animation is very stylish, the scene when the liner is caused to go aground in the harbour is very effective with shots of the screw coming out of the water, and track-ins to the warning hooter etc. As mentioned the storm at sea is excellent - superb animation here added to imaginative shots, and there are some effective seagull shots too.

This is a very expensive item to buy from JEF Films (around $40), but even after having had to pay the full price + airmail (no, you don't get it cheaper for doing a review) I still highly recommend it to those who can afford to buy it.

This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002

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