Thru the Mirror

Thru the Mirror is a Mickey Mouse cartoon short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists in 1936. In this cartoon short, Mickey has a Through the Looking-Glass-type dream that he travels through his mirror and enters a topsy-turvy world where everything is alive. While there, he engages in a Fred Astaire dance number with a pair of gloves and a pack of cards, until the cards chase him out of the bizarre world. It was the 83rd Mickey Mouse short film to be released, the fourth of that year.[2]

Thru the Mirror
Directed byDavid Hand
Produced byWalt Disney
Story byWilliam Cottrell
Joe Grant
StarringWalt Disney
Music byFrank Churchill
Leigh Harline
Paul J. Smith
Animation byBob Wickersham
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
May 30, 1936[1]
Running time
8 min (one reel)
LanguageEnglish

The title is written as Thru the Mirror on the title card, but the alternative spelling Through the Mirror is used on the poster for the film.

Synopsis

Mickey falls asleep after reading Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, and dreams that he passes through the mirror into an alternate reality. Beyond the mirror, his furniture and possessions have come to life, and he clumsily tangles with a rocking chair, a footrest and an umbrella. Mickey eats a walnut offered to him by a nutcracker, and it causes him to grow until his head hits the ceiling, and then suddenly shrink to a tiny size.

The telephone answers itself, and hauls Mickey up to the top of a desk with its cord. After a fruitless conversation, the phone uses its cord to amuse Mickey with a game of jump rope. The skipping turns into a tap dance, and the radio turns itself on to play a tune. Grabbing a tiny top hat and a matchstick for a cane, Mickey performs a tap dance routine, using a regular-size top hat as his platform. He has another dance scene with a pair of gloves, and then becomes the leader of a marching set of playing cards. Mickey gets shuffled into the pack, which turns into another dance routine.

Mickey dances with the Queen of Hearts, until the King of Hearts notices, and slaps Mickey for his insolence. Mickey and the King have a furious swordfight, with Mickey using a straight pin as a sword. He dunks the King into the inkwell, which infuriates him. The King calls the cards, who jump to attention and chase Mickey. Mickey hides in the sewing basket, and uses a fountain pen to drench the cards in ink. But there are too many of them, and they swarm him. There's a chase, with the cards throwing their suits at Mickey, but the mouse uses a fan to blow them all away.

The telephone starts yelping for the police, and Mickey runs away as the telephone's bell rings and rings. Speeding across a globe, he trips and falls into the sea, until he's ejected by an angry King Neptune. He regains normal size in time to run back through the mirror, rejoining his sleeping self. The ringing bell turns out to be Mickey's alarm clock, which a sleepy Mickey throws into a drawer and then goes back to sleep.

Releases

Legacy
  • This cartoon was featured, and referenced, in the 2002 video game Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse.
  • Some elements from the cartoon like the cards and the opening were used in Epic Mickey.
  • The song during the magic gloves dance scene was used for the Walt Disney Mini Classics promos during their movie's end.
  • The melody during Mickey’s marching with the cards in the middle of the film is a jazzed-up version of the music used in another 1932 cartoon classic, Santa’s Workshop. The music theme is based on Franz Schubert: Military March Op. 51 No. 1, in D Major.

See also

References
  1. Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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