Thirty-six of the seventy-five Silly Symphony cartoons made by Disney from 1929 to 1939.  The series was intended partially as a training ground and experimental space for animators preparing for Disney feature films.  The shorts, each starring a different character or cast of characters, were based on musical themes -- similar to the later Fantasia -- and spawned imitators such as Warner Brother's Loonie Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

Film Synopsis:

Disk One:

Introduction by Leonard Maltin (1:03)

Fables and Fairy Tales

• The Tortoise and the Hare (8:36) (1/5/35) Winner of the Academy Award for Best Cartoon of 1935. Another version of this cartoon, with the same characters, was later made for the educational market; it was titled Aesop's Hare and the Tortoise.
• The Country Cousin (9:15) (10/31/36). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Cartoon of 1936.
• Babes in the Woods (7:40) (11/19/32)
• Elmer Elephant (8:28) (3/28/36). Elmer was one of the first Disney characters since the Three Little Pigs to be merchandised.
• The Flying Mouse (9:18) (7/13/34). Featured the song "You're Nothin' But a Nothin'," which became a minor hit.
• The Golden Touch (10:02) (3/22/35). This was directed by Walt Disney himself, the last cartoon he ever directed..
• The Robber Kitten (7:46) (4/20/35)
• Lullaby Land (7:23) (8/19/33)
• Mother Goose Melodies (B&W; 8:10) (4/16/31)

Favorite Characters

• The Wise Little Hen (7:41) (6/9/34) Donald Duck's debut!
• Three Little Pigs (8:42) (5/27/33). A landmark cartoon for both Disney and Depression-era audiences; the song "Who's Afraid Of the Big Bad Wolf" by Frank Churchill became an anthem during the Depression, and the cartoon won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon of 1933. The short was praised for its characterizations, and during its long run in theaters was often more popular than the features it accompanied. This famous cartoon spawned three sequels, The Big Bad Wolf, Three Little Wolves, and The Practical Pig (the three pigs, unnamed in the short itself, were in fact named during production: Practical Pig, Fifer Pig, and Fiddler Pig).
• The Big Bad Wolf (9:21) (4/14/34), first sequel to Three Little Pigs.
• Three Little Wolves (9:21) (4/14/36), second sequel to Three Little Pigs.
• Toby Tortoise Returns (7:27) (8/22/36), sequel to The Tortoise and the Hare.

Leonard’s Picks

• Three Little Pigs (see above)
• The Flying Mouse (see above)
• Wynken, Blynken and Nod (8:54) (5/27/38)
• The Tortoise and the Hare (see above)
• The Grasshopper and the Ants (8:57) (2/10/34). The Grasshopper's voice was provided by Pinto Colvig, who was also the voice of Goofy; In other cartoons, Goofy was often heard singing or humming the semi-hit song from this cartoon, "The World Owes Me A Living."

Easter eggs:

• Main menu -- highlight the "S" in "Symphonies" for a Walt Disney-introduced presentation of The Grasshopper and the Ants. (9:57)
• "Fables and Fairy Tales," second menu -- highlight the cat's sword for a Walt Disney-introduced presentation of Water Babies (5/11/35). (10:16)
• "Favorite Characters" menu -- highlight the chick centered at the top of the screen for a Walt Disney-introduced presentation of Who Killed Cock Robin? (6/29/35). (11:41)
• "Leonard's Picks" menu -- highlight the word "Leonard" for a Walt Disney-introduced presentation of Wynken, Blynken and Nod. (9:45)

Disk Two:

Introduction by Leonard Maltin (1:03)

Nature on the Screen

• Mother Pluto (8:35) (11/14/36), one of the last cartoons Pluto appeared in before becoming a star in his own right in 48 Pluto cartoons.
• Peculiar Penguins (9:21) (9/1/34)
• The Old Mill (8:55) (11/5/37). This cartoon, winner of the Academy Award for Best Cartoon of 1937, marked the first use of the multiplane camera, an achievement which earned Disney a second Academy Award, a Scientific and Technical Class II plaque.
• Funny Little Bunnies (7:08) (3/24/34). The only Disney cartoon with an Easter theme, this one is not recommended for diabetics.
• The Ugly Duckling (8:58) (4/7/39). A color remake of the 1931 black-and-white version, in this version the title character achieves happiness not within his own family, but rather when he is adopted by a swan.
• The Ugly Duckling (B&W; 6:42) (12/17/31). This was remade in 1939 as a color Silly Symphony, with an altered storyline.
• Father Noah’s Ark (8:24) (4/8/33)
• Birds of a Feather (B&W; 8:04) (2/3/31)
• The Busy Beavers (B&W; 7:05) (6/30/31)
• Just Dogs (B&W; 7:11) (7/30/32)

Accent on Music

• Music Land (9:33) (10/5/35)
• The China Plate (B&W; 7:31) (5/23/31)
• Egyptian Melodies (B&W; 6:19) (8/27/31)
• Flowers and Trees (7:48) (7/30/32). The first-ever color cartoon, this was begun as a black and white cartoon, then scrapped at Walt's order and remade in Technicolor; Walt signed a two-year contract with Technicolor which gave Disney the exclusive rights to the process for animations, a deal which not only strengthened Disney's position but which helped make Technicolor a successful company in its own right. This cartoon, not surprisingly, won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon of 1932.
• The Cookie Carnival (7:59) (5/25/32)
• The Skeleton Dance (B&W; 5:31) (8/22/29). The first Silly Symphony cartoon. It was directed by Walt himself, and drawn entirely by Ub Iwerks; it's absolutely hallucinogenic... and nightmarish, in its own dadaistic way.
• Woodland Café (7:38) (3/13/37). This cartoon features characterizations of popular Hollywood stars, morphed as bugs.

Leonard’s Picks

• Skeleton Dance (see above)
• Flowers and Trees (see above)
• Music Land (see above)
• The Ugly Duckling of 1931 and 1939 (see above)

Supplemental Features

• "The Song of the Silly Symphonies" Leonard Maltin and Composer Richard Sherman (11:41)
• "Silly Symphonies Souvenirs" Leonard Maltin and Dave Smith of the Disney Archives (17:23)
• Still Gallery (119 images)

Easter eggs:

• "Nature On Screen," first menu -- highlight the star that will appear on the face of the rightmost bunny for a Walt Disney-introduced presentation of The Old Mill. (9:57)
• "Accent on Music," first menu -- highlight the hat on the Tuba for a Walt Disney-introduced presentation of Farmyard Symphony (8:50) (5/11/35).

Technical

Video:	Original Academy ratio 1.33:1
Audio:	ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono [CC]
Subtitles:	English, Closed Captions

Like the companion set Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse In Living Color, the cartoons are windowboxed in their original academy ratio of 1.33:1. The cartoons as a whole are in beautiful presentations, with some -- such as the historically important Flowers and Trees -- exhibiting a purity that must be the end result of exceptional archival work. It was the nature of animation in the late 20's and early 30's that image flickering was nearly always present (as the animation stands did not yet have computer-controlled lighting), and flickering is indeed present in many of the shorts, but there has clearly been an effort to correct for such degradations. It has always been a hallmark of the Disney studio, particularly in these experimental shorts, that the story and presentation commands your full attention, so even the cartoons in the roughest shape are a pleasure to watch.

The audio is also limited to the source material, but any fuller frequency range would seem out of place with animations of this vintage; even a casual student of animation could place each of these cartoons to within roughly three or four years of its actual date, and digital-range symphonic sound would seem to belong to another film entirely.