Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Pluto in "Plutopia" (1951)

Plutopia stands as a very oddball Disney cartoon. This is not only because of the bizarre visual gags and surreal atmosphere, but also because of the director. Charles Nichols was one of the three main directors of Disney cartoon shorts at this time. While the other two major directors (Jack Hanna and Jack Kinney) made very fast paced cartoons filled with wild slapstick humor, Nichols' cartoons were often quite slow paced, very cute and almost never went for wild slapstick humor. This makes the idea of Nichols directing a cartoon like Plutopia very odd. This cartoon is filled with fast paced action and brings us wild gag after wild gag. The surreal atmosphere (rare for any Disney short at this time), is shockingly different from the softness and cuteness that many associate with Nichols' Disney cartoons. However it is just this that makes Plutopia stand out as a favorite among many cartoon fans (myself included).

AnimationJack Boyd (Truck back from camp Utopia sign and pan left of cabins. Mickey and Pluto stop of cabin in car; Pan down "rules" sign - mess of don'ts)
Fred Moore (Mickey tells Pluto "What a dream place..."; Mickey raving about their vacation- inhales- tells Pluto to smell the air; Mickey opens car door and tells Pluto "Utopia is yours." Pluto bounds out barking; Mickey carrying suitcases to cabin. Pluto races around him. Pluto takes- sips out to right; Pluto playfully romps in and upsets Mickey. Bounds out to right; Mickey laughs at Pluto . Hears o.s. bell; Mickey perturbed reads "no dogs allowed in cabins- dogs must be muzzled, etc..."; Mickey calls Pluto- holds up muzzle and leash; Mickey steps outside the house - enveloped in dog and cat fight; Fight moves on- comes back in- upsets Mickey- asks "what happened?")
Norm Ferguson (Pluto sniffs air. Takes as Mickey mentions trees; Pluto bounding thru trees. Stops to sniff bounds out; Pluto wakes up cat chases him to right; Pluto trees cat. Barks up tree; Cat zooms up to top of tree; Pluto romping on bed, attacks pillow; Pluto wrestling with pillow; Pluto sees Mickey says "Mmm-umm" and turns over. Wipeover to sc. 21; Pluto muzzled and leashed. Mickey bids him goodnight. Pluto tries to reach dish; Pluto straining on leash - tries to get food thru muzzle sees out; Cat walking towards camera big smile; Cat enters- starts eating Pluto's food; Cat tastes Pluto's food licks fingers; Cat licking pans and cleaning face- take to off stage right; Cat trots in pushes bone just out of Pluto's reach - Pluto struggles to reach bone - gives up in disgust; Pluto settles down in disgust for the night. Cat in - rubs back and forth on Pluto. Settles down with Pluto for the night; Pluto sails into dream sky on mat - the gates of Plutopia - circles dream house; Cat opens door - ala butler says "Good morning sir."- Pluto takes; Pluto stops cat from shooting himself - cat begs to be punished - Pluto embarrassed pushes cat out of scene; Cat broken hearted, crying on fireplug; Pluto feels sorry - moves over and takes a little nip on cat's tail; Cat screeches for joy - flies out of scene. Back in and throws Pluto a roast duck; Pluto nips cats tail - cat explodes - Pluto waits for food - cat in claws flailing big fight.)
Les Clark (Cat bowing low invites Pluto in; Pluto in big take... Cat says "Your honor..."; Cat bowing and scrapping in doorway; Pluto in angry antic; Pluto roars into house. House Bounces. O.S. growls and cat yells; Pluto slamming cat around - tosses him out of scene; Cat ruffled - thanks Pluto; Pluto in bug eyed take; Cat tells Pluto he'll get him a bowl of cream; Pluto - can't believe his eyes; Cat runs through door rambles up stairs; Pluto into crafty expression moves out to right; Pluto hides by door - trips cat as he rushes through with cream - o.s. crash; Pluto into satisfied chuckle; Cat apologizes for spilling cream asks Pluto to punch him; Pluto into "what the hey" expression; Cat starts to beat himself up; Pluto into amused smile; Cat beating himself up; Pluto laughing at o.s. cat - takes)
George Nicholas (Pluto swallows duck, licks lips for more; Cat holds up sausage - Waves tail at Pluto; Pluto eager prepares teeth to bite cat; Pluto clamps down on cat's tail - Cat takes off in glee; Ca congratulates Pluto - tosses sausage to Pluto; Pluto starts eating string of sausage - a mile long - pans; Pluto eating comes to cat on end of line - bites cat's arm - cat yells and starts throwing steaks at Pluto. Pluto fills up - bone in; Pluto tries to swallow bone looks around for a place to bury it; Pluto starts digging - cat in with shovel strikes bone-well - congratulates Pluto; Cat riding shovel like pogo stick - Bone well strikes up - bones fill screen)  


Marvin Woodward (Pluto lying on bed - Cat on stand with chocolate bone-bones. Pluto nips at cat's tail - cat yells; Cat happy reaches for candy "bone-bone"; Cat tosses chocolate "bone-bone" to Pluto - Pluto eats it - starts to nip cat - o.s. Mickey's voice; Pluto starts waking as Mickey calls him; Mickey amused at Pluto sleeping with cat - takes off muzzle - leaves to get Pluto's breakfast - Pluto turns to eat)

Story: Mickey and Pluto go on a vacation. However when they get to their cabin, they learn all dogs must be on a leash and muzzled. Mickey follows these instructions. Unfortunately Pluto's food is just out of reach. A cat eats it all and then sleeps by Pluto. Pluto also falls asleep and has a dream where the cat is a butler servant to Pluto and gives the dog food whenever Pluto bites him. All of this takes place in a strange minimalist looking environment. Soon the cat digs up bone wells and Pluto is rich. At this time Mickey wakes Pluto up. Mickey thinks it is cute to see Pluto and the cat sleeping next to each other, and then Mickey takes the muzzle off and goes in to get food. Pluto bites the cat's tail excepting the results he had and the dream. This leads to a huge fight and a confused Mickey.

















-Michael J. Ruhland


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