Hell's Bells (1929) Online

For anyone who thinks that films were very bland and avoided dark topics in the 'good old days', then try watching "Hell's Bells". I'll say it's a dark film! In fact, what can be darker than setting it in Hell! Yes, a children's cartoon in Hell--and many, many decades before the South Park movie!!

It's a cartoon from Disney marketed under the Silly Symphonies umbrella--a series of cartoons that featured lost of singing and dancing and not the familiar Disney characters like Mickey or Goofy. In this case, various demons and animals cavort about--having a pretty good time in jolly old Hell!

The cartoon is black & white (the norm for 1929) and has some very nice classical music. While audiences of today probably won't be bowled over by the film (aside from its locale), for the time it was quite the achievement. Worth seeing if you love old cartoons--for others it might be a bit of a chore.

Though this wasn't as clever or funny compared to most Silly Symphonies, it was entertaining to watch just because of how strange and offbeat it was for a Disney cartoon. This is a side of Disney that most people have never seen. It is ironic how they were afraid to release The Nightmare Before Christmas under the name of Disney because they thought it might be too scary for kids, yet they used to make shorts like this. This literally takes place Hell and is full of creepy monsters, cat-like devils, and a dragon with udders of a cow that milk flames. They eat each other and in the end the main demon (which I assume is Satan) is dragged down into his own abyss of fire and consumed. It is all in the spirit of fun and games but I'm not sure of how "kid friendly" it is. People used to call the band AC/DC satanic, they even have a song with the same title "Hell's Bells." Maybe they just watched too many Disney cartoons as kids.

By the late 1930s, Disney had developed a reputation for polished, wholesome entertainment, and so I'm betting that they could never have released a cartoon about the fiery devils and imps that lurk in Hell. However, the late 1920s were a different matter, and short films like 'The Skeleton Dance (1929)' and 'Haunted House (1929)' exhibited distinct elements from the horror genre, though always with a comical campiness that usually went down well with the little ones. It's films such as these that demonstrate the innovation and forward-thinking that propelled Walt Disney into animation super-stardom. 'Hell's Bells (1929)' is a somewhat comical look at the creatures of Hell, where fire and brimstone burn the nostrils, and where devilish imps dance to classical music. The film opens with an assortment of bizarre fire-dwellers, including a winged-serpent, a three-headed dog, and an enormous spider that swings from its web and engulfs the entire camera (and, by implication, the audience) in its mouth.

Dancing is then provided in great abundance. Interestingly, 'Hell's Bells' utilises two musical pieces that I was able to identify from memory: the first, Charles Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette," is most recognisable as the main theme from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962); the second piece is Edvard Grieg's well-known "In the Hall of the Mountain King." This excellent soundtrack selection provides an enjoyable soundtrack for director Ub Iwerks' musical exploration of life below the Earth's core. Though there is little story to speak of, a brief sub-plot opens up when the Devil tries to feed one of his servant imps to the three-headed dog, only to find that this little guy is less-than-willing to sacrifice himself. Oh, and there's also a weird-looking cow/dragon that dispenses fire from its udder, for the drinking enjoyment of Satan. If all this Hellishness sounds like your kind of cartoon, then commit a sin, sit down and enjoy a supreme piece of Disney musical weirdness.

Given that this is a short which was directed by Ub Iwerks and it's an early sound cartoon, it's hardly surprising that this is, first and foremost, a very visually oriented short. It has some excellent animation and some beautifully rendered creatures. Because I want to discuss the short a bit, this is a spoiler warning:

The basic conceit here is simple: a rather comical rendering of Hell, at least for the most part. The beginning is very striking, with sequences showing a dragon and the three-headed dog out of Greek mythology, Cerberus, which shows up on two occasions. They are vividly shown and one of the highlights of the short.

Then Satan and his imps start to throw a rather raucous celebration, which is a good showcase for the musical efforts of Carl Stallings, best known for his work for Warner Brothers on the Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. This is an enjoyable sequence, culminating in imps bringing Satan flaming hot "milk" from a dragon, which he drinks with gusto. As a "reward" for their efforts, Satan proceeds to feed one to one of the heads of Cerberus, with one head getting the imp, the second swallowing and the third licking its chops. Before he can feed a second imp to his hungry guard dog, the imp, perhaps not wishing to go the way of his comrade, suddenly recalls an urgent appointment elsewhere and takes off, with Satan in "hot" pursuit. The imp gets the last laugh by sending Satan tumbling off the end of a cliff.

This short is available on the More Silly Symphonies set fro the Disney Treasures series of DVD releases which saw release in December 2006 and it and the DVD set are highly recommended.

My guess: this is teaching kids and adults that if you end up in Hell then the devil will still get you for not obeying him but if you are good you can still overcome the devil. Really I have no idea of the message of this cartoon - lol - but it's really cute! Short and sweet, just under 6 minutes long but some great Halloween/Gothic imagery as eye-candy.

I love these old styled cartoons - nothing like them anymore. And I would love to have a DVD full of these old Gothic/Halloween creepy cartoons like this to watch anytime of the year. Disney's stuff today can't compare to their stuff of yesteryear - this is the real Walt Disney stuff you see in this cartoon! It comes straight off his comics, when he first got started good. Awesome stuff! 10/10

"Hell's Bells" is a 6-minute black-and-white sound cartoon from 1929, so this one soon has its 90th anniversary already. It is a Disney production and belongs to their great body of Silly Symphonies. Director is the legendary Ub Iwerks. The title already tells us that horror is a major aspect in this little movie. It plays down in hell during its entirety and we even see Satan for quite a while. I wonder if people back then found it actually scary. They were certainly easier to scare than we are today. Anyway, by today's standards you can really only appreciate this one for its comedy and creativity, but even if it has some good moments, I still found it underwhelming in terms of both. That is why my overall verdict is negative. I do not recommend the watch.

The demons of Hell gather together for a mad frolic. Everything's cool until Satan starts feeding the underlings to Cerberus! You can't have a cartoon that's set in Hell! That's not fun! It's too grim and not at all conductive to a positive atmosphere! Not of course that every early Disney short need be all bunnies and flowers and sunshine and lands of candy, but Disney, keep the action above ground and outta the graveyards please! If done right, which to me this wasn't, it could have been all infernal and impressive, but as it is, it feels like a mere playful romp through Hell rather than anything surrealy creepy and nightmarish like Some of the fantastic Betty Boop Cab Calloway shorts. It's not at all bad, but I thought it was very dull. The dancing does drag and becomes annoying. I mainly enjoyed this short for its darker qualities. We see wretched souls tossed into the hungry maw of Cerberus, and the Devil himself is usurped from his throne, but it's not at all as impressive and interesting as it sounds. There are those darn bats and that spider that like to fly at the camera again-you see them more than a few of times during the course of the Silly Symphonies series! Well what happens to the spider is a nice deviation, and it also foreshadows the ending. The ending is truly bizarre. Satan, hanging from a cliff, is spanked and then consumed by the fires of the underworld!!!:::2::: The black and white tones are not this particular short's friend. I've enjoyed several of the other colourless Symphonies, but not so much this one. Although the grim merriment feel is conveyed well enough, a little colour would have worked wonders. I think they might have reused some of the backgrounds or something later on in The Goddess of Spring. I liked the portrayal of Hades a lot better in that one. It's not a particularly brilliant, humorous or well animated short, but still a fairly enjoyable and entertaining one. Thank you.

Only Disney could create a cartoon sequence depicting Hell to look story-intriguing, with its catchy music, interesting characters, and whimsical plot. Here, the demons play music for Satan, but one becomes insubordinate and, as a result, literally all hell breaks loose.

There's some laughable moments, especially the title that somehow just rings well with the cartoon. And, as with older Disney cartoons, the animators and storytellers don't shy away from political incorrectness, over-protection, and over sensitivity. Overall, not a bad cartoon.

Grade B

This takes place in Hell. It seems like a reasonable pleasant place. Satan holds forth and the creatures seem to get along just fine. The animation here is pretty poor, the plot is minimal, and music borrowed from the classics. Basically, Satan makes life (or death) miserable for anyone he doesn't like. He feeds his minions to other creatures. Since they are supposedly already dead, will they return? A very average effort, certainly.

The Disney Silly Symphonies were part of my childhood, and I still love a lot of them to this day. Hell's Bells is not quite one of my favourites, the story is slight and one of the characters is a mix of a cow and a dragon and although maybe deliberate it was nonetheless weird to watch. However, it is wonderfully animated, the black and white is stylish and atmospheric, while the characters are generally well-proportioned. The music is outstanding, dynamic and and sometimes devilish-sounding. The obvious standout is Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King, though Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette(originally written for piano and best remembered as the theme of Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and a small excerpt of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. And the dancing is niftily choreographed and fits so well rhythmically with the music, especially in the Gounod. The characters are engaging too, none of them are developed well but this is not that kind of cartoons, besides they are a nice mix of the charming and satanic. All in all, fun and weird indeed, second only perhaps to The Goddess of Spring as the most compellingly weird of their cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox