| Trick or Treat | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jack Hannah |
| Story by | Ralph Wright |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Starring | June Foray Clarence Nash The Mellomen |
| Music by | Paul J. Smith |
| Animation by | Volus Jones Bill Justice George Kreisl Don Lusk Dan MacManus (effects) |
| Layouts by | Yale Gracey |
| Backgrounds by | Yale Gracey |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 8 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Trick or Treat is a 1952 animatedshort film produced byWalt Disney Productions and released byRKO Radio Pictures.[2] The cartoon, which takes place onHalloween night, follows a series of pranks betweenDonald Duck andhis nephews withWitch Hazel. The film was directed byJack Hannah and features the voices ofClarence Nash as Donald and his nephews, andJune Foray as Hazel.
The film introduced the song "Trick or Treat for Halloween" which was written byMack David,Al Hoffman, andJerry Livingston and performed byThe Mellomen.[3][4]
The film opens with the song "Trick or Treat for Halloween", the lyrics of which tell the film's moral - one must be generous on Halloween or face trouble.
One Halloween night, a witch named Hazel takes great joy in scaringbats on aclock tower and acat onfence. But then she gets scared by ajack-o'-lantern and hides behind atree. The jack-o-lantern turns out to be part ofHuey, Dewey, and Louie’scostumes as they gotrick-or-treating. When the trio goes to theiruncleDonald Duck's house, Donald decides toprank the boys (giving them a "trick" instead of a treat). Instead of giving themcandy, he putsfirecrackers in their bags and then pulls a string that dumps a bucket of water on their heads. After Donald bids farewell to the boys, the discouraged nephews go and sit on thecurb.
Hazel, who was watching thedrama unfold, approaches the boys and tells them that she saw the whole thing. When she discovers that they believe in witches, Hazel happily offers to help them get their treats from Donald. At first, she tries to kindly convince Donald but he skeptically retorts, yanks on her stretchynose, and dumps the bucket of water on her head, not believing she is a real witch. Realizing that the job may be harder than anticipated, Hazel tells the boys she will use her magic for this situation. In another location, a scene paying homage toShakespeare'sMacbeth shows Hazel and the nephews concocting amagic potion, adding somewhat more whimsical ingredients than theThree Witches inMacbeth (such as, "Eye of needle, tongue of shoe,hand of clock thatpoints at two!", etc.). After testing the potion, Hazel fills an insecticide sprayer (similar in appearance to aFlit gun) with the potion and returns to Donald's house with the nephews.
Upon arriving back at Donald's house, Hazel sprays the potion on an assortment of objects (ajack-o'-lantern, a can ofpaint, threefence posts, and agate) causing them to become animated oranthropomorphic. Donald, stunned at the magic being displayed before him, immediately gives in and agrees to treat his nephews, but when Hazel refers to him as a pushover, he changes his mind, locks hispantry and swallows thekey. Hazel uses the potion on Donald's feet to give her control of their maneuverability and commands them to kick out the key, causing Donald to perform a crazydance while Hazel plays herbroom like aguitar and sings to the dance. This also causes Donald to get his rear poked by acactus that was turned big by Hazel andburned by thefireplace, successfully getting the key out of hisstomach. However, Donald makes things worse by throwing the key under the pantry door. Enraged, Hazel casts a spell "that's double-grim!" on Donald's feet by spraying them even harder and ordering them to "smash that door down" with Donald. This is initially unsuccessful, so Hazel commands him to take a longer start, and he runs even faster right before he rams down the pantry door and is left unconscious on the floor in defeat.
In the end, Huey, Dewey, and Louie collect their treats and Hazel flies off into the night. A final shot shows the enchanted jack-o'-lantern from earlier suddenly popping onto the screen saying "Boo!" to the viewers before smiling.
A print adaptation byCarl Barks was published simultaneously in theDonald Duck comic book. Barks was given a storyboard of the film by Ralph Wright while production of the film was still in progress. Barks was asked to create a 32-page comic adaptation, yet Barks did not believe he had enough material. In the end, he wound up making a lot of his own material, creating new characters such as Smorgie the Bad, a villainous six-armed ogre serving Witch Hazel.
When the final product was sent to the publisher, Barks' segment with Smorgie was rejected, and the story was cut to 27 pages. To fill out the rest of the comic book, Barks created an additional story called "Hobblin' Gobblins". The original story was later restored with the publication of theCarl Barks Library.[5]
Disneyland Records also produced an audio adaptation that was narrated byGinny Tyler. This version was 12 minutes long and also included a song and story from theHaunted Mansion Disneyland attraction.[6]
The short was released on November 11, 2008, onWalt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Four: 1951-1961.[7]
Additional releases include:
Authority control databases: National |
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