The Art of Self Defense (1941)

Director:

Jack Kinney

Release Date:

26 December 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Sport

Plot:

Goofy takes a lighthearted look at self defense through the ages: cavemen, knights, the age of chivalry, and finally boxing. |

Plot Keywords:

Goofy | Boxing | Caveman | Knight | Narration

Cast

George Johnson

...

Goofy (voice)

Runtime:

8 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Movie Connections:

Edited into Goofy About Health (1989)

No Golden Gloves For Goofy

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

Goofy aptly demonstrates THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE throughout the Ages.

Pugilism comes in for a gentle ribbing in this amusing little film. Goofy proves to be as adept at fisticuffs as he is at most everything else in his befuddled life. John McLeish narrates in his best documentarian manner.

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 always pay off.