Honeyland (1935 film)
Honeyland is a 1935 American one-reel animated film in the Happy Harmonies series, directed by Rudolf Ising for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio.[2] This is the studio's second cartoon in three-strip Technicolor. The short is based on the song, sung by the vaudevillian trio, the Brox Sisters.
| Honeyland | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Rudolf Ising |
| Produced by | Hugh Harman Rudolph Ising |
| Starring | Possibly Brox Sisters |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by | Thomas McKimson Joe D'Igalo Cal Dalton Jim Pabian George Grandpre Frank Tipper Gil Turner Carl Urbano Pete Burness Bob Allen[1] |
| Color process | Technicolor (three-strip) |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | October 19, 1935 |
Running time | 10 minutes |
| Language | English |
Plot
Bees are harvesting nectar from flowers to make honey, as the camera turns to a trio of singing bees. They perform the song as bees are shown making honey, using ways like human techniques of farming, a stereotypical "French chef" tasting it, and melting candle wax to preserve, a reference to beeswax.
Two bees are shown chasing each other, outside the safety of the hive. Then, the antagonist (a spider) comes in and chases and captures the female bee. The male bee tries to fight the spider, and the female escapes. Using a flower as a rotary telephone, she contacts the operator, telling him to call for all bees. They come into formation, as the spider tries to escape. To a part of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, the group continually stung the spider's abdomen, and the spider runs off. The female bee goes to aid the male bee, and with a kiss, he is happy, and all the bees cheer.
References
- http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mgms-happy-harmony-honeyland-1935/
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 89. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.