Best Family Movies of 1952

To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground.

A bulldog adopts a small cat, but he can't let his owner know.

Bugs Bunny is too sound a sleeper to notice that a rainstorm has flooded his rabbit hole and sent his mattress floating downstream toward the castle of an evil scientist who needs a brain for his mechanical monster. Bugs tries to escape and save his brain from the clutches of Rudolph, the scientist's giant orange monster.

The Coyote chases the Road Runner through a maze of mine shafts, with their positions made visible only by the lamps on their helmets.

Pluto comes bounding outside to help Mickey get a Christmas tree. Chip 'n Dale see him and make fun of him, but the tree they take refuge in is the one Mickey chops down. They like the decorations, especially the candy canes and Mickey's bowl of mixed nuts. But Pluto spots them and goes after them long before Mickey spots them. Minnie, Donald, and Goofy drop by to sing carols.

After he is rejected by the Great Poochini as an opening act, Mysto the Magician gets his revenge by conducting his next operatic performance.

A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing - some honest, some not quite so. If he can just manage to avoid a certain very predatory woman...

Shorty, a school-age rabbit with a high-pitched voice, jumps into Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole to escape the clutches of the villainous, but extremely stupid, Pete Puma, whose distinctive speech climaxes in an ear-splitting screech. Pete tries to trick Bugs and Shorty with an exploding cigar. Doesn't work. The cigar says "El Explodo" right on the wrapper. He tries to trick them by disguising himself as Shorty's mother. Doesn't work either. His rabbit ears are leaves that are inelegantly affixed to his hat. How can this poor, pathetic puma win the day? Smarter opponents than he have failed to outwit the wily Bugs Bunny.

Anne and "Poppy" Rose have three quirky kids. Anne has a generous heart and the belief in the innocence of children. To the unhappy surprise of her husband she takes in the orphan Jane, a problem child who already tried to kill herself once.

A small-town shoemaker with a knack for spinning yarns, Hans encounters happiness and heartbreak on his road to becoming a full-fledged writer.

A baby seal escapes from the circus and ends up in Jerry's backyard pool. Tom finds out soon enough, and when the circus offers a $10,000 reward, his goal is clear.

A young boy trades the family cow for magic beans.

A fey little Martian, with his green dog-soldier, K-9, arrive on Earth with instructions to bring back an Earth creature. He chooses Bugs Bunny.

The Coyote makes various attempts to get the Road Runner with an explosive-tipped arrow, by shooting himself out of a sling shot and by covering the road with quick drying cement.

Tom sets out to capture and eat a sleeping canary. Jerry is walking out, preparing for a new day, when he spots the vulpine manner in which Tom is acting. As Tom steals the canary in its cage, Jerry trips the cat and Tom loses the canary. The cage rolls into the tree, jolting the canary and waking it up. The first thing he sees is the ongoing chase and he helps Jerry out by tangling Tom in the drying lines and sectioning him. Tom instead chases the canary with an axe, but misses and chops down a pole, which hits Tom on the head and comically nails Tom into the ground. As Jerry is being pursued, the canary motions for him to join him up in the birdhouse. Tom follows him up, but the canary gives him a 2,000-lb weight and Tom plummets. The two shake hands but the peace doesn't last long as Tom erects a ladder and starts to climb it. But before Tom can reach the top, the canary lights a match to it. Tom and the ladder are left burned and completely black.

Spike is building the doghouse of his dreams. However, Tom chases Jerry through the chassis of the house and also pulls a board off it to attack the mouse with. When Jerry perches on Spike's head, even lying on top of his dream house does not stop it from being smashed. Tom bolts, but Spike stomps on his tail, then dusts himself off and wrenches the cat facing in his direction. He issues Tom an ultimatum: leave his dream house alone or suffer the consequences ("Wait a minute pussycat! Ever since I was a pup I've wanted a place of my own and I still want it! But if one thing happens to my little dreamhouse...there's goin' to be moider!").

An elderly mouse tells the bedtime story of Little Red Riding Hood to her grandson, who visualizes the tale in cat-and-mouse terms, with himself as Red and Sylvester as the Big Bad Wolf.

After driving the Foreign Legionnaires from their fort with his aroma, lovesick skunk Pepe falls for the camp mascot, a cat who's accidentally gotten a white stripe painted down her back.

Donald the apple farmer notices his apples have been nibbled on and catches Chip n' Dale in the act. In the ensuing battle, Donald uses a helicopter to spray them (but they have tiny gas masks). And then he brings in the really heavy artillery.

A happily married pair of taxicabs are delighted when Junior enters their lives, but this delight turns to consternation when he states his ambition to become a hotrodder..

Donald spills some sugar on his sidewalk, and soon the ants are in complete control of his home, stealing the cake he was baking, building a pipeline from his maple syrup to their hill, and causing general mayhem.

Sylvester Cat discovers Tweety Bird in a pet store window. Tweety is taken to be delivered by truck to a new owner - Granny. Sylvester chases the delivery truck to Granny's home, where Granny has a huge, fenced-in area for her army of bulldogs. Sylvester makes several unsuccessful attempts to pass the dogs and reach Tweety inside Granny's house.

This short from the UPA studio was nominated for the 1952 Oscars. Based on the Madeline series of children's books.

Water Birds is a 1952 short documentary film directed by Ben Sharpsteen. The film delves into the still waters of lagoons and marshes to the wild blue wilderness of the vast oceans, to experience the beauty and variety of their majestic birds, each perfectly designed for its habitat. It won the Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-Reel.

Francis the talking mule gets his owner in and out of trouble while he is taking basic training at West Point.

An instructional short aimed at school-aged children of the early 1950s that combines animation and live-action footage with voice-over narration to explain what to do to increase their chances of surviving the blast from an atomic bomb.

Barney gets involved in Good Neighbor Week by helping out the local beaver - help the beaver could do without.

How a sheep dog is responsible for the rescue of two children trapped in an old mine.

A poor young man finds a lamp with a genie trapped inside. The genie promises to grant the man three wishes if he frees him from the lamp.

Story of the Three Magi's search for the Christ child following their discovery of a new star foretold in Jewish scripture and Zoroastrain religious texts.

Christmas themed episode of the colgate comedy hour.

Story of young boy and girl who help aircraft designer to outwit gang of spies trying to steal secret plans.

Terry from London, on holiday in Devonshire, is introduced to sailing and bird watching on the River Dart.

Fan of the ingenious little monkey will not be disappointed as he embarks on a wild series of adventures in a traveling circus.