User reviews

Ferdinand the Bull is one of the most unflappable characters in all of cartoondom. He is a gentle soul, completely happy in his own skin. He inadvertently becomes a participant in a bull ring because he sat on a bee and went into a rage. One wonderful thing is that he never varied from his primary goal: to smell the flowers.

There is some historical significance associated with the story of Ferdinand the Bull as the Spanish Civil War is said to have begun a few months after the story of Ferdinand was written. The domestic harmless nature of the bull is said to represent pacifistic views towards the situation in Spain. Munro Leaf may have partly been influenced by the political climate around him while writing about Ferdinand, but this remains uncertain.

The 1938 short by Disney does not consider all this, and is more concerned with showing Ferdinand's love for flowers. Ferdinand does not care about bull fights unlike his fellow bulls, and prefers reclining under his favorite tree, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the flowers. His mother, despite being a 'cow' is very considerate and allows him to do as he likes. But after a bee accident, Ferdinand is thought to be the most ferocious of bulls and is brought to the bull fight. His name too changes to 'Ferdinand the Fierce' for the event; everyone including the bullfighter is scared of him and they anticipate his grand entry. What happens after this surprises everyone in the story but now us because we already know how Ferdinand actually is.

This story would have been stratospherically more poignant and rich had auteur Frederic Back made it; remember how he beautifully used the chair as a motif while showing the rapid transformation of Quebec society in his brilliant short 'Crac'. Ferdinand the Bull would have got that flavor of Spain had Back made this film; however, Disney does enough justice to make this film watchable and enjoyable. Ferdinand the Bull hence does not wow us but it does bring a smile upon our faces, which is Disney's primary aim.

Verdict: Would have been stratospherically more poignant and richer had Frederic Back made 'Ferdinand the Bull', but Disney does manage to make the short entertaining enough

"Ferdinand" has the same lush art direction and is based on the same kind of sweet parable as a Silly Symphony, and was released while that series was still going (it would end on a high note with "The Ugly Duckling" in 1939), but it's something else altogether: the first of Disney's "storybook" cartoons. It is, in fact, based on a children's storybook, but that's not the point. The point is that there is spoken narration, and the drawings ILLUSTRATE the narration, much as they would illustrate the printed text in a picture book.

So far as I know this is the first cartoon from ANY studio to attempt this kind of thing. It's not the best; narration and illustration are too independent of one another. I'm not saying that Disney should have used any of those old cartoon gimmicks - characters arguing with the narrator, etc. - which postmodernists delight in as though they weren't half obvious; such gimmicks would not, in a sincere work such as this, have worked. But words and pictures should partner each other in a subtle dance; each should know when to withdraw and place the narrative burden upon the other. I can't put it more precisely than this; but watch two "storybook" cartoons that Disney produced later - "Lambert the Sheepish Lion" from 1951, "Pigs is Pigs" from 1954 - to see the dance perfected, resulting in an animated storytelling sessions that FLOW, from beginning to end.

To be fair, unqualified successes like these are rare. Most of Disney's later "storybook" cartoons also get it wrong, some of them are dreadful, and not a single one apart from the two I've named can match the charm of the first.

Disney has had a reputation (in large part, justifiably so) for taking literary works and making them overly cute, thereby not doing justice to the source (i.e., Bambi), but here do a wonderful job of bringing Ferdinand off the printed page and into glorious, moving color! This is one of the best shorts Disney ever did and took the Oscar for 1938, beating three other Disney shorts (including a Mickey Mouse) and a Paramount cartoon called Hunky and Spunky. With remarkable backgrounds and detail, even for a Disney cartoon, this really should be in-print. It does show on The Ink and Paint Club. Most joyously recommended!

Ferdinand the Bull tells the story of a bull who likes smelling flowers, instead of fighting like a typical bull in a bullring. Ferdinand himself is a very charming character, and is well drawn. All of the other characters are well done, with the exception of one or two lifeless backgrounds. Then Ferdinand is sent to Madrid, where he is expected to fight a toreador, but that isn't what Ferdinand wants to do. The music is also good, and Don Wilson's narration was very satisfying indeed. It is such a shame that few people know more about this gem, I don't think it is the best short in the world, but it is certainly entertaining and I would definitely watch it again. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

This is one of my favorite stories from childhood and this Disney cartoon did a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the classic Muro Leaf story. The 1939 Oscars were a particularly good year, with Disney receiving 4 of 5 nominations in the category of Best Cartoon and receiving the award for FERDINAND--beating out such Disney classics as THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR and GOOD SCOUTS.

The film is about a gentle bull in Spain who has no interest in fighting. Instead, he'd rather just sit and smell the flowers all day. However, when men come looking for fierce bulls for the bullfighting ring, they think Ferdinand is the meanest bull because he was just stung by a bee. What happens next you'll need to see for yourself.

There is a lot to like about this cartoon. The artwork, though not exactly in the style of the children's book, is pretty close and is among the better animated shorts Disney did in the era. If you compare the artwork, music and quality to fare from Fleischer, Warner Brothers and MGM at the same time, it is light-years ahead. The best cartoons at that time were clearly Disney--with MGM and Warner Brothers still making saccharine-sweet cartoons with second-rate animation until the 1940s (when these two studios became the best maker of cartoon shorts). This film just screams "quality" throughout and deserved the Oscar.

By the way, get a load of the Cork Tree! Ha!

Ferdinand is a bull that likes to sit under a tree in the forest and smell the flowers. He doesn't hang with the other bulls and chooses to be by himself, perfectly content with his independence. When he was taken into a bull arena to fight a matador, he does not engage in the battle and, instead, smell the flowers that were tossed from the crowd.

A great story - reminds you that you can be perfectly content with the simplest things in life and you don't need to be part of the in-crowd or have materialist things to be happy. You can also be carefree and release yourself of any distractions in life.

Grade A

Munro Leaf's original story comes to life with the pictures of Walt Disney and his artists, who give personality and life to the characters of Ferdinand, his fellow bulls, and the bullfighters.

Ferdinand himself is a sensitive soul, who has no desire to fight and just likes sitting under his favourite tree and smelling the flowers. The other bulls do nothing but fight and cause a racket, but when the bullfighters come looking for the fiercest bull for their show, guess who by some odd circumstance gets picked?

This little cartoon is a joy from start to finish, and Ferdinand is one of the cutest and funniest characters ever created in an animated short. Highly recommended!

Walt Disney was dominating the animation field in the late 1930s. In the 1938 Academy Awards Best Animated Shorts category, four out of the five cartoons nominated for best cartoon were produced by Disney. Competition within Walt's studio was fierce to win the Oscar, yet a peace-loving bull whose interest is more in smelling flowers than attacking a matador's red cape in November 1938's "Ferdinand the Bull" beat out Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and a 'Silly Symphony' entry. The bull's win broke a six-year streak by the 'Silly Symphony's' animators, who had won that category since cinema's first three-strip Technicolor cartoon, 1932's "Flowers and Trees." "Ferdinand the Bull" beat out Disney's 'Silly Symphony's' 'Mother Goose Goes to Hollywood'-the third-to-last cartoon in that highly-successful series-Mickey Mouse's 'Brave Little Tailor,' Donald Duck's 'Good Little Scout,' and Max Fleischer's 'Hunky and Spunky.'

"Ferdinand the Bull," based on American author 1936 Munro Leaf's book, 'The Story of Ferdinand,' features a bull who loves nature rather than fighting other bulls. When a group of bullfighting scouts are canvasing the area for bulls, Ferdinand's colleagues, who are raised to fight one another, show off their beastly skills. Our hero Ferdinand, whose passion is smelling flowers, accidentally sits on a bee's stinger, sending him into a frenzy and knocking all the other bulls on their keisters. The scouts are so impressed with Ferdinand's hutzpah they haul him to their bull ring.

At the day of his fateful battle with the matador, whose face looks like Walt Disney, Ferdinand is escorted by his handlers. These assistants' appearances were an inside joke by the cartoonists who drew their faces to resemble those who created "Ferdinand the Bull.' Ferdinand demonstrates to the angry bulls destined to meet their eventual deaths in the ring that the best way to escape such a fate is to take the time to smell the flowers tossed into the ring by admiring women spectators to the matadors they love. The leftists fighting in the Spanish Civil War at the time saw the cartoon as a parable for pacifism. They remembered the lessons of Ferdinand when they assumed power in Spain, and insisted on remaining neutral during World War Two.

"Ferdinand the Bull" is included in the Disney Christmas special 'From All of Us to All of You,' first shown on television in 1958. The extravaganza has since been dropped from its United States' TV line-up during the holiday season, but in the Scandinavian countries the program is a Christmas Eve ritual on their broadcasting stations. In 1982, Swedish TV programmers decided to tinker with the cartoons in the 90-minute show, and replaced "Ferdinand the Bull" with the Academy Award-winner 1939's "The Ugly Duckling," a Silly Symphony cartoon. The telephones of the country's TV stations lit up with viewers protesting the switch. With its tail between the legs, Sweden reinserted Ferdinand into the special the following year. The Disney Christmas show in these Scandinavian countries consistently ranks as one of the most popular television programs for the entire year.

A Walt Disney Cartoon Short.

Young FERDINAND THE BULL wants nothing more than to sit under his favorite cork tree, just smelling the flowers. But he is chosen to fight in the great arena in Madrid, where only the bravest, fiercest bulls have a chance for glory...

This splendid cartoon, based on Munro Leaf's 1936 classic paean to individualism, is one of Disney's finest. The original story has been left basically intact - no animated mice or ducks, no dancing and/or singing trees & flowers needed here. Robert Lawson's evocative black & white drawings come to life in beautiful color & motion. The animators did have a bit of sly fun: the banderilleros & picadors are caricatures of the artists; the matador is a spoof of Walt himself (he was not amused). Don Wilson, Jack Benny's decades-long announcer, is an inspired choice as narrator. The personality & character of Ferdinand has been a matter of speculation for years, but the truth of the matter is perhaps best left in the privacy of the bull field...

This is one of a great amount of Disney shorts called Silly Symphonies. Overall each one (from what I have seen) is very gorgeous and there are Silly Symphonies to suit all cartoon lovers' tastes.

I had the pleasure of finding and watching this cartoon just now, having seen it about 8 years ago or so. Now, of course (I am younger than you may think I am) I see much more in this cartoon, the sweetness, the good animation - and the slight stereotypes with the donkeys and some of the parade on the bullfight scene.

The summary pretty much explains this short. This cartoon is about a bull called Ferdinand, in Spain, who is very calm and peaceful and does not want to fight. One day, he sits on a bee and the sting makes him go wild...

I like this Silly Symphony because it is incredibly sweet, it is quite funny, it has good, peaceful Disney animation, it has quite amusing slapstick, it possesses the moral that being calm and peaceful will bring you a good life, subtly embedded in this and there is a constant narrator whose voice is calm and peaceful. Apart from the middle bit of this episode I would recommend this for meditating people.

Whether you mainly enjoy watching Looney Tunes (like me) or whether you watch a great deal of Disney shorts anyhow, I recommend this to anyone who likes cartoon stuff. It is very beautiful, as are a few other Silly Symphonies, such as "Little Hiyawatha" and "The Ugly Duckling". Enjoy "Ferdinand the Bull"! :-)

The short tells the story of Ferdinand, a young black bull who has no interest in running around butting heads with other bulls and is content to sit under his cork tree smelling flowers. When Ferdinand grows up he becomes the biggest bull in the pasture, but still maintains his gentle nature. When Ferdinand accidently sits on a bumblebee the pain sends him into a frenzy where his strength and power impresses the five men scouting for a candidate for the bull fight in Madrid. When Ferdinand arrives in Madrid for the fight, and instead of charging the matador starts sniffing his flowers the Matador resorts to increasing pathetic and desperate measures to goad Ferdinand into a fight.

First published in 1936, The Story of Ferdinand written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson was released to not only great success and critical acclaim, but also a fair share of controversy with many reading subtext into the book ranging from endorsement of pacifism, to fascism, to even a simple story of being true to oneself. Released less than two months before the Spanish Civil War the book was banned by Francisco Franco until his death and was one of many books selected for burning by Adolph Hitler. The book also received praise from the likes of Thomas Mann, H. G. Wells, Gandhi, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and in 1938 Walt Disney produced a short animated adaptation of the story titled Ferdinand the Bull. The short was very well received and won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) and became a staple of many Disney TV airings, and rightfully so because Ferdinand while simple is powerful.

There's an endearing quality to Ferdinand in the short in how it depicts Ferdinand as this larger than life powerhouse who's almost always smiling, relaxed and content. Ferdinand has no desires for confrontation, bravado, or fame and has simple desires of enjoying his pasture and time by himself. There's a lot to read into despite its short running time and its because of its deceptive simplicity that Ferdinand has become as endearing a classic as it is. At its core Ferdinand is an aberration from the norm and the world around him (save for his understanding mother) wants him to be a charging brute which Ferdinand ignores always maintaining his gentle nature. When we see the debonair Matador proudly playing up his image to the audience at the bull fight only to then be reduced to hurling childish taunts at Ferdinand, followed by begging, and eventually tears it shows the stronger character is Ferdinand with his simple gentle spirit and the "hero" of the bullfight is nothing more than a petulant child who wants attention and there's a lasting value to that.

Ferdinand is a great short animated film, while short in length it packs a strong emotional resonance thanks to a lovable character who exudes gentleness and happiness in almost every frame and can speak to many outsiders who don't fit within the roles society wants them to play.

From a two-page trade-paper ad on November 2, 1938:

"WALT DISNEY'S Production of FERDINAND THE BULL. Never in all motion picture history have any but the most important feature attractions been given such nation-wide plugging!...Stories, articles, art and pictorial layouts, editorials and fashion announcements in magazines whose NET PAID CIRCULATIONS TOTAL 15, 542, 945! Look at the list already committed: LIFE...PHOTOPLAY...CUE...SCREEN GUIDE...VOGUE...MICKEY MOUSE MAGAZINE...LOOK...McCALLS...HARPER'S BAZAAR...STAGE...YOUNG America...MOVIE LIFE...LIBERTY...WOMAN'S DAY...MOVIE STORY...THEATRE ARTS...SCHOLASTIC...ROCKEFELLER CENTER WEEKLY.

Add to this a total of sixty-four licensees signed up for one hundred and two separate articles of merchandise. Big window displays everywhere. Big fashion parades in department stores. A PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN THAT CAN BE COMPARED ONLY WITH SNOW WHITE.'"

THANKSGIVING WEEK ATTRACTION AT LEADING FIRST RUNS EVERYWHERE.

NEXT Disney RELEASES * MERBABIES -Release Date, December 9 * MOTHER GOOSE GOES Hollywood - Release Date, December 23

Mr. Disney knew how to go to market.

Ferdinand is a big strong bull. But unlike the other bulls, Ferdinand does not want to fight. Ferdinand is a peaceful creature who would like nothing more than to be in a field of sweet-smelling flowers.

If anyone had any doubt on the power of animation, I would point to this as an example. Try to show a child something from 1938. Maybe a film like, "Bringing up Baby", a great film. A movie that went on to inspire a lot of classic comedies. I guarantee they will be more engaged and entertained by "Ferdinand the Bull" than by the other live action material. It is a testament to the timelessness of the medium that over 80 years later, the short still entertains.

After decades, it remains a delightful short animation. About simplicity, about contemplation and about to be a bull in own terms. The drawings, the story, the humor are the same pillars of seduction. A lovely short film and a pure gem.