The Goddess of Spring (1934)

Directed by

Wilfred Jackson

Genre

animated cartoon

Country

United States

Runtime

9 min

Rated

NR

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 67 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This short film retells the Greek myth of Persephone. Pluto whisks her away to his underworld kingdom, and her grieving mother brings winter to the land.

melodramaticoperaticstylizeddarkly romanticvisually experimentalsolemnmythicdreamlike

What happens

The Goddess of Spring is a 9-minute Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. Unlike most Symphonies produced at the time, usually comedic, the short contains operatic themes and is often cited as melodramatic. It was released in 1934, and its production was important to the development of the later full-length Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' style and animation, particularly regarding the usage of the rotoscoping technique for realistically-proportioned characters. The plot follows the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, known here by his Roman name of Pluto with imagery evocative of Hell and Satan (more specifically, a traditional stage Mephistopheles). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Just Dogs (1932)
• Lend a Paw (1941)
• Pluto's Surprise Package (1949)
• Pluto's Fledgling (1948)
• Peculiar Penguins (1934)
• Mother Pluto (1936)
• Pluto's Dream House (1940)
• Pluto's Playmate (1941)