Babes in the Woods
Babes in the Woods
NR | 19 November 1932 (USA)
Babes in the Woods Trailers

Two Dutch children stumble on a clearing in the woods where gnomes are going about their business. The gnomes are friendly to the children. A witch comes and takes them away on her broom to her gingerbread house, where she turns nasty on them, turning the boy into a spider, her yowling cat to stone, and tries to turn the girl into a rat when a gnome's arrow stops her. While the gnomes are fighting the witch, Hansel and Gretl free the other children who have been imprisoned and transformed by the witch.

Reviews
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
MartinHafer In the 1930s, Disney was the top studio for animation. The quality of their work was without equal and the public adored them. So, I have no animosity against Disney cartoons of this era. However, I must admit that a few of their cartoons were NOT so wonderful and a small number were, despite GREAT animation, still very bad cartoons. This is the case with "Babes in the Woods"--a completely sub-par and creepy cartoon indeed.This short begins with two Dutch-looking children with hollow, soul-less eyes running about--lost in the woods. They happen upon a group of gnomes that look like little Santas. However, after all their cavorting about, an evil witch arrives. She kidnaps the kids and tries to eat them and the kids respond by murdering her--but it's in self-defense! Then, all the forest creatures celebrate and the film ends. On top of everything, the music in this bizarre mess is terrible. Apart from nice animation, there really is nothing worth seeing in this weird and uber-creepy short film.
TheLittleSongbird I thoroughly enjoyed this Silly Symphony. I wouldn't necessarily deem it as a favourite, like I would Flowers and Trees and The Old Mill, but it manages to be both scary and charming. With nice colourful animation, particularly on the outside of the gingerbread house, a beautiful lullaby-like title song and dramatic and whimsical incidental music it is a delight visually and musically. The pace is secure and the cartoon eventful enough to be enjoyable, with some elements of other Grimm fairy tales and sticking to the overall structure of the original Hansel and Gretel tale. The characters are engaging, the two children are likable enough and look cute in the Dutch traditional dress, while the gnomes are friendly and jovial. I remember this though chiefly for the Witch, who is very scary not only how she is animated but how she speaks too. Concluded with a fun climax, in which the Witch is finally turned into stone, this is a lovely, charming Silly Symphony. 10/10 Bethany Cox
jlgrosbeck An early attempt at the Brothers Grimm world to which Disney would soon lay claim. But more awkward and with much sloppier animation. The Hansel and Gretel stand-ins ("whose names I don't know") are shockingly devoid of personality - they've got weird little blank faces that even I could draw. When the boy is turned into a spider, it's both icky and somewhat of a relief, because at least now he's got some personality. Turned into a spider, not fattened up to be eaten. This witch just imprisons and transforms kids...the standard cannibalism was apparently too edgy.The whole thing is also dated by the utterly inane song.Is it just me, or is there something unearthly and horrific about the witch's final moments, after which the ring of laughing children just seems bizarre? And is the fact that the rock's 'arms' seem to have disappeared with the passage of time suppose to be a hint that this is all just the stuff of myth? So many questions.
Ron Oliver A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.A malignant old witch tricks the BABES IN THE WOODS into entering her house of horrors. Only their new friends, the little woodland dwarfs, can save them now...A lot of colorful action is packed into this cartoon, which includes elements of stories from the Brothers Grimm. Charming opening, in which the story begins as a sung lullaby. The wicked witch, though now all but forgotten, is the first of Disney's great villainesses.The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.
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