Out of the ten or so "Silly Symphonies" I've seen to date, 'The Merry Dwarfs (1929)' seems to be the weakest of all of them. Though 'The Skeleton Dance (1929)' and 'Springtime (1929)' were enjoyable, despite just portraying characters dancing in time with classical music, this particular cartoon seems to be lacking something. Surprisingly, there's very little charm in watching those little bearded fellows tap-dance across the grass, and, unlike the more nature-orientated Symphonies, we're stuck with the same performers throughout the six minutes. The most notable element of this cartoon is the unmistakable blueprint for Disney's first feature-length film 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),' though, in the intervening eight years, you can certainly recognise how efficiently the studio managed to evolve its craft.
This particular short was directed by Walt Disney himself, and contains no dialogue, only dancing set to pleasant classical music. At the end, Disney does have some fun with the dwarfs' inherent drunkenness, and the entire screen warps as they consume more alcohol than is healthy for them. They dance inside barrels, they dance inside hats, they dance on their hands, they dance of their beards; these dwarfs are enjoying such an agreeable morning that they're quite willing to dance any old way. It's just a shame that watching them dance isn't quite so exciting. 'The Merry Dwarfs' is ultimately a worthwhile early cartoon for fans of the Silly Symphonies, but there are many that can be considered a major improvement upon this effort. Just for the record, my favourite to date is Wilfred Jackson's 'The Old Mill (1937).'
