Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "The Worm Turns" is an American cartoon from 1937, so this one had its 80th anniversary last year already. The director is 2-time Academy Award winner Ben Sharpsteen, then not yet an Oscar winner though, and don't worry if this name doesn't say too much to you, but if you read the names of Colvig, Bletcher and eventually Disney, then you will certainly know that what we have here is another Disney cartoon. This one's in color and runs for slightly under 8 minutes and it features Micky and finally Pluto too at the center of it. Seeing Mickey as a slightly mad perhaps scientist was a bit unusual for sure but as his potion works he is a bit of a genius. You could divide this short film in several very short films I guess depending on who takes the David and Goliath path in these segments before the next segment starts and usually we see some Mickey in these intermissions. Nonetheless, it did never feel really funny and the wit is also hurt by this one having a bit of a repetitive tendency fairly quickly. The hydrant ending was nothing special either. Looks-wise, it is of course once more top-notch for its time, but that is almost the only positive thing I can say here. This one does not really need to be seen and there is a lot of better cartoon material from that time. Watch one of the others instead.

OllieSuave-007 This is a pretty fun little cartoon starring Mickey Mouse in a mad scientist type of role, where he creates a potion that makes characters beat up on their enemies: fly vs. spider, mouse vs. cat, cat vs. Pluto and Pluto vs. dogcatcher. It's like the cycle of life running backwards.Not much of a plot here, and not much of a story. It's just lots of crazy action.The animation was great, though, and I like the classical number used for the music score soundtrack.Overall, it's not a bad cartoon short. You might get a few laughs out of it.Grade B-

Starfiremyst "The Worm Turns" is one of the best Disney cartoons I ever loved. It all begins with Mickey Mouse, dressed up as a mad scientist, puts the few finishing touches to the Weak Made Strong Courage Builder, a super strength potion that makes a smaller animal turn the tables on a larger animal. Now for a test, as Mickey says, he squirts the super strength potion on a fly, and the fly beats up on a sneaky spider for trapping him in his web. Mickey then squirts the super strength potion on a Jerry-like mouse, and after that the mouse chases a Tom-like cat and wrestles him (just like in a similar scene from a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon called, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse") for chasing him, and throws him out of the house, where Pluto is standing out there. Pluto then chases the cat into the tool shed. The cat gets scared of Pluto's digging, and his 8 lives went for cover in the roof. Mickey squirts the super strength potion on the cat's ninth life, then all of the cat's other lives went back into the cat's body, and the cat chases (and scares) Pluto out into the street after giving him quite a scare, where Pluto calms himself. But before he makes another move, Pluto gets caught by Kron (from the Disney movie "Dinosaur"), who, in Pete's role (!), is seen here as a dog catcher. After disposing of the dinosaur dog catcher, even with the help of Mickey's super strength potion, Pluto gets sprayed by a fire hydrant that Mickey squirts the super strength potion at it when he sniffs at the fire hydrant. This Mickey Mouse cartoon is available on the Walt Disney Treasures 2-Disc DVD, "Mickey Mouse in Living Color", along with the other Mickey Mouse cartoons from 1935 to 1938 including "The Band Concert", "The Brave Little Talior", and such.

Ron Oliver A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.THE WORM TURNS as Mickey's magic potion helps smaller creatures gain the aggressive advantage over their tormentors.Lots of fun in this very well made little film, which begins as a spoof of the old mad scientist movies. The excellent animation bounces the swift moving story right along to its crescendo - a confrontation between Pluto and dogcatcher Pete. For the record, the ingredients necessary for the Courage Builder formula are Tigerus Marrow, Spiritu Bravado, Stimuli Valorus & Lionus Tonicio. Walt Disney provided Mickey with his voice.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.