Silly Symphonies

film 60 of 61

Mother Goose Goes Hollywood

Film Review by Dean Duncan Jul 6, 2015

With this late-issue extravaganza, Disney pulls the off the celebrity caricature/homage thing much better than the WB’s tend to do. Maybe it’s because these caricatures are like the cameos in Cukor’s David Copperfield (1935). They’re kind of forced, but they have at least a bit of narrative justification, a bit of dramatic integrity. Plus there’s a boldness here, even an impoliteness that keeps everything from being merely obsequious. Lots of characters, lots of gags—pretty fun! The Hepburn/Bo-Peep character is really funny. So is the preposterously daring Martha Ray/Joe E. Brown conclusion, which leads us back to Katharine Hepburn. Well done!