Best Animation Movies of 1933

A dark and stormy night. Pluto is spirited away to the spooky mansion of an evil genius for a mad transplant scheme to put his head on the body of a chicken. Mickey gives chase, but find himself threatened severely by the house and its denizens.

Popeye and Bluto fight for the love of Olive Oyl in their debut short, featuring Betty Boop.

Trouble starts when the queen's magic mirror says Betty Boop is fairest.

The people of Hamelin, overrun with rats, offer a bag of gold to anyone who can get rid of the rats. A piper offers to do the job, and successfully lures the rats into a mirage of cheese, which disappears. The citizens, disappointed that all he did was play a tune, offer only pocket change. The piper, angered, plays a new tune that has all the children of the city follow him, even the new twins the stork is preparing to deliver.

The princess is to wed the Prince against her wishes. When she refuses, the king locks her in the tower. Minstrel Mickey sees her and rescues her, making a rope from the clothes of lady-in-waiting Clarabell. The king spots them and prepares to chop off Mickey's head until Minnie intercedes. The king calls for a joust. Mickey wins and they live happily ever after.

Popeye and Olive Oyl visit a rodeo.

While Bimbo and Koko admire Betty, their experiment becomes a monster.

Popeye sails into Mexico, where Olive is a dancer and Bluto is a bandit.

Betty Boop goes to see the fearsome Old Man of the Mountain for herself; he sings the title song and a duet with Betty.

A narrator sings the opening stanzas of the classic poem while we see the house at rest. Santa lands on the roof, comes down the chimney, and opens his bag. The toys march out and decorate the tree, with the toy soldiers shooting balls from their cannon, a toy airplane stringing a garland like skywriting, and the toy firemen applying snow. A blimp delivers the star to the top. Meanwhile, Santa fills the stockings. His laughter awakens the children, who sneak out. The toys rush to their places, and Santa escapes up the chimney just in time.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Walter Lantz Production #496. Released January 16, 1933. Directed by “Bill” Nolan. Animated by Ray Abrams, Fred Avery, “Bill” Weber, Jack Carr, and Don Williams. Music by James Dietrich.... and yeah, Oswald is a Plumber in this one.

Betty Boop hosts a Hallowe'en party with a few uninvited guests.

The miners at Never Mine go to Betty Boop's Tavern (a jazz-jumpin' place) for lunch. Back in the mine, Bimbo delves into weird realms.

Popeye, Olive Oyl and Wimpy are shipwrecked on an island of hostile Indians

Popeye and Olive, adrift on a raft, land on what apparently is Africa, and are immediately battling elephants and gorillas (also a moose!). Popeye eventually battles an entire menagerie at once - after first gulping down a can of spinach, of course.

Betty, Koko, and Bimbo drive at the auto races; Betty has a cold, and her sneezes help her win.

Mickey's a shovel operator and laborer at a construction site; Minnie is delivering box lunches; Pete is the foreman. Mickey pays more attention to Minnie than to his work, and keeps having accidents (mostly involving the blueprints Pete is holding). Pete steals Mickey's lunch, so Minnie offers him one on the house. While he's eating, Pete kidnaps Minnie; Mickey fights him, but the tide turns when Minnie dumps a load of hot rivets into Pete's pants...

A toy version of Betty Boop drops in on a small toy shop. The other toys come to life and crown her their queen. Then the cartoon quickly turns into Fleischer's idea of King Kong.

Popeye skates over to Olive's house to give her a Christmas present: ice skates of her own. While he's teaching her, Bluto skates up and gets fresh; of course, Popeye fights him. When Olive rejects Bluto again, he sends her careening on an ice floe towards a waterfall.

Oswald is out on the street in a good mood, but a rainstorm drives him into a Five & Dime store, where he finds songs, jokes and a bride.

Mickey's orphans ask for a story; Mickey casts himself as Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk. He starts with the climbing of the beanstalk; after evading the giant a few times, he ends up inside a cheese sandwich, and then in the giant's mouth, where he ultimately grabs onto a pipe and gets pulled out by the giant. In the ensuing chase, Mickey launches a pepper bomb to slow the giant down, then outruns him coming down the beanstalk and sets the stalk on fire.

Mickey's film is having a premiere, and all the stars turn out at the Chinese Theatre. Among those shown: Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Jimmy Durante, Clark Gable, Sid Grauman, Mae West. The picture, Galloping Romance (Pegleg Pete kidnaps Minnie, and Mickey gives chase on a variety of animals), starts, and everyone in the audience sways along to the music, then rolls in the aisles with laughter. After, everyone comes on stage to congratulate Mickey; Garbo smothers him with kisses.

Betty and Bimbo, as Queen and King of the May, host a giant outdoor party that gets sprayed with rubber. Koko appears briefly.

Betty drudges in the kitchen alone until her friends (including Bimbo and Koko) hold a surprise birthday party for her… which gets rowdy.

In a circus tent, Betty, Bimbo and Koko demonstrate some gadgets reminiscent of TV ads; an animated sewing machine gets out of hand.

One of the first color films in Europe, made with the Gaspar Color process.

On a stormy, windy night, Krazy's car breaks down so he and Kitty must seek refuge in an eerie old house. Happy the pup finds a skeleton, but the really scary resident is a huge, violent gorilla that runs off with Kitty, and Krazy must rescue her.

Mickey's in trouble when Pluto and Fifi eat Minnie's chocolates.

Jack sells the family cow for magic beans which grow a vine into the sky.

Betty takes a secretarial job where the boss sexually harasses her… but not without some encouragement from Betty.

Mickey has built a robot to compete in the boxing ring against the giant gorilla, the Kongo Killer. Whenever it hears Minnie's car horn, it goes crazy and starts punching any picture of Killer that it sees, even if it's on a brick wall, thus hurting itself. Mickey manages to barely patch his robot together to take on Killer, but after some early success, it gets pummeled by the ape. Minnie fetches the car horn, which brings it back, and it trounces Killer, then flies apart.

Pooch the Pup takes his girlfriend and an anthropomorphic camera to the jungle in search of the giant ape, King Klunk. They arrive just as the Hot-Cha tribe is offering one of their own girls to the ape as a sacrifice. King Klunk tries to bite down on her head, but even his enormous fangs can't make a dent in her hard skull. His attention turns to Pete the Pup's girl, whom he snatches up in his huge hand. The ape doesn't know what to make of her until Cupid hits him with an arrow. Suddenly, King Klunk is in love. He even battles a dinosaur to prevent her from getting devoured. During the fight, Pooch takes the opportunity to rescue her. After winning his battle, the ape takes after the fleeing pair, but they defeat him by cracking a giant egg over his head. Soon, Pooch and his girl are exhibiting the giant ape in a big-city theater. Mischievous Cupid reappears to reignite the ape's passion for the girl.

The animals on Oswald the Rabbit's farm couldn't be happier with their work. The hens, in particular, enjoy their jobs as egg producers. True, a hen gets a bit anxious when her egg is too small or when she can't lay anything. But on the whole, times are good. That changes when a specter by the name of Depression rises from the dump and travels the globe spreading fear and panic. The Great Depression has begun and has poisoned the entire country, including Oswald's farm. Now, the roosters are listless and the chickens flop around in a daze. Oswald runs to the doctor for help. But Dr. Pill points to a poster of the President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. "There's your doctor!" he declares. Soon, Oswald is in the White House, knocking down the Vice President in his haste to see FDR. Roosevelt sings "Confidence" and gives the rabbit a generous supply.

Bosko enters a road race.

Pluto rescues a bag of kittens from the river. He feels rejected, then, as Mickey ignores him and blames him for damage the kittens do. His angel and devil sides argue with him. Pluto gets thrown outside. The kittens also find their way outside, and fall into the well, where Pluto's angel side wins out as he rescues them once again and is finally recognized as a hero.

Noah, his family (wife, 3 sons, their wives), and various animals all help build the ark. The rains come, and the skunks barely miss the boat (not that anyone was particularly looking for them), but they manage to swim to it. After the rain and many lamentations by the humans, the sun returns, to the great joy of all. The ground appears, and the animals (and many new babies) disembark.

An animated short, part of Van Beuren's Aesop Fables collection.

A baby is transported to Lullaby Land, where pacifiers grow on trees, diapers, bottles, and potty chairs march on parade, and the gingham dog comes to life. He wanders into the "keep out" cave, full of things like scissors, knives, and fountain pens that are not for baby and begins smashing watches with hammers and playing with giant matches. The matches chase after him; baby escapes by riding a bar of soap across a pond, but the smoke from the matches turns into boogey-men. The benevolent sandman, dressed as a wizard, spots baby hiding and works his magic, bringing us back to the real nursery.

Mickey Mouse's new job at Tony's Pet Store is jeopardized when Beppo the Gorilla escapes and kidnaps Minnie. Mickey fights back with the help of the other animals in the store.

Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to 'Peanut Vendor', a 1931 jazz hit for Red Nichols. The two foot high monkey had bolted, moveable joints and some 50 interchangeable mouths to convey the singing. To get the movements right, Lye filmed his new wife, Jane, a prize-winning rumba dancer.

Bosko creates a robot. The only problem is that his creation goes mad wreaking havoc.

Utensils and food dance, sing, and play in the kitchen, until a lump of dough turns into a monster and they all unite to stop it.

Old King Cole throws party and invites all of the Mother Goose characters. He warns them that they must leave at midnight. Another collection of characters puts on a stage show. The Ten Little Indian Boys get everyone dancing along. The Hickory Dickory Dock mice announce midnight, and everyone leaves, back into their books.

For customer Betty Boop, psychic reader Prof. Bimbo conjures up an adventure on a haunted tropical island in his crystal ball.

Two birds rejoice over the hatching of their three eggs; as they grow, the hatchlings are taught to sing and fly. One falls from the nest and has adventures with a rattlesnake and a beehive before finding his way home.

19th century song pluggers in vaudeville theaters and in the streets invited audiences to join in the chorus; this tradition of participation appeared in movie theaters by the mid-teens. When sound arrived, Fleischer Studios’ delightful “Screen Songs” added witty animated prologues and celebrity singers to prepare the audience for the ball that bounced through the lyrics.

Betty, while reading a book of Mother Goose stories, wishes she could visit such a wonderful place. Betty's wish is granted when Mother Goose appears, and gives her a tour of Mother Goose Land. Betty has a wonderful time until Little Miss Muffet's spider chases her, with lecherous ends in mind. All of the characters come to Betty's rescue. Betty wakes up in bed with all the fairy tale characters surrounding her.

A young Eskimo and his animal friends build a snow man, only for it to come to life and terrorize the local wildlife.

Mickey Mouse and his friends stage their own production of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.