The demons of hell play music for Satan, whose delight turns to wrath when an insubordinate refuses to become food for Cerberus.
The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".
The moon and two owls sing to the Blue Danube Waltz, celebrating the night. Moths dance around a candle flame, fireflies glow, frogs chorus, and so forth.
A barmaid, a Mexican officer and a terrible toreador form a love triangle, as they dance, skip, kiss, punch and slap to the tune of Bizet's "Carmen." Later, the barmaid cheers her lover, and the officer razzes him, during the big bullfight. The toreador and the bull are not above clowning, but never doubt they are two fearsome opponents striving toward a gruesome climax.
Little Elmer Elephant has a crush on Tillie Tiger and his affection is reciprocated. Trouble is, the pint-sized pachyderm is beset by bullies who ridicule his trunk and make his life miserable. Then a conflagration breaks out at Tillie's tree house.
As in the classic fable, the grasshopper plays his fiddle and lives for the moment, while the industrious ants squirrel away massive amounts of food for the winter. With his song, he's able to convince at least one small ant until the queen arrives and scares him back to work. The queen warns the grasshopper of the trouble he'll be in, come winter. Winter comes, and the grasshopper, near starvation, stumbles across the ants, who are having a full-on feast in their snug little tree. They take him in and warm him up. The queen tells him only those who work can eat so he must play for them. Written by Jon Reeves
Night in an old mill is dramatically depicted in this Oscar-winning short in which the frightened occupants, including birds, timid mice, owls, and other creatures try to stay safe and dry as a storm approaches. As the thunderstorm worsens, the mill wheel begins to turn and the whole mill threatens to blow apart until at last the storm subsides.
A spider seeks shelter inside an old toy store, where he soon discovers that the merchandise comes to life after dark.
A narrator sings the opening stanzas of the classic poem while we see the house at rest. Santa lands on the roof, comes down the chimney, and opens his bag. The toys march out and decorate the tree, with the toy soldiers shooting balls from their cannon, a toy airplane stringing a garland like skywriting, and the toy firemen applying snow. A blimp delivers the star to the top. Meanwhile, Santa fills the stockings. His laughter awakens the children, who sneak out. The toys rush to their places, and Santa escapes up the chimney just in time.
A group of moths invades a costume shop through a badly plugged hole in a window and makes quick work of the contents. A male moth ignores his lady to chow down on a hat and she's soon seduced by a candle flame, which rapidly spreads. He notices her trapped in a spider web with the fire attacking and makes some attempts to save her, but pours benzene on the fire by mistake. The rest of the moths are summoned, and they fight the fire with water-filled bagpipes, an air drop with a water-filled funnel, etc., while our hero works to free his lady from the spider web.
The title character comes to town, complete with portable boxing ring. He grabs a local chicken and dances with her, inspiring several other barnyard animals to dance. But her rooster takes offense, and enters the ring to do battle.
The season series of Silly Symphonies continues, with squirrels storing nuts and corn, crows stealing it, beavers building a dam, ducks migrating, and the like, as the first snows fall.
The mythological satyr plays some tunes on his pipes and gets various flora and fauna dancing to them. Two clouds also dance; they bump into each other, causing lightning strikes that start a forest fire. The animals rush to escape the fire. Finally, an animal comes to tell Pan of the fire; he rushes to it, and gets it to dance to his tune, right into the lake.
To the tune "I Would Like to Be a Bird," a young mouse fashions wings from a pair of leaves, to the great amusement of his brothers when his attempts to use them fail. When the butterfly he rescues from a spider proves to be a fairy, he wishes for wings. But his bat-like appearance doesn't fit in with either the birds or the other mice, and he finds himself friendless; even the bats make fun of him. Written by Jon Reeves
A group of cannibals gather together for a tribal dance. In the middle of their gala, they are interrupted by a ferocious lion!
The title pretty much says it: fish and other marine life dance and frolic to various tunes. An octopus keeps spoiling the fun in various ways.
Old King Cole throws party and invites all of the Mother Goose characters. He warns them that they must leave at midnight. Another collection of characters puts on a stage show. The Ten Little Indian Boys get everyone dancing along. The Hickory Dickory Dock mice announce midnight, and everyone leaves, back into their books.
It's morning in the English countryside and time for the gentry to participate in their favorite sport: the fox hunt. The eccentric gentlemen come in all shapes and sizes, the fat ones putting the greatest strain on the horses. The craziest things happen to the monocled hunters. One even gets knocked off his horse when it jumps over a brick wall. He shoots straight up into the air and, thanks to a parachute hidden in his clothes, makes a gentle landing. But instead of the ground, he lands on a cow. Upset by her unwanted passenger, she takes off at top speed, finally dumping him in a mud puddle, where he lands on a pig and continues his wacky ride. Meanwhile, the poor fox finally gets trapped in a hollow log. Dogs to the left of him, dogs to the right! Luckily, the beleaguered creature gets help from a certain powerful, and pungent, friend.
A collection of arctic animals (seals, walruses, polar bears, penguins) float by on ice floes and on shore, performing various musical numbers.
A black duckling is rejected by its mother, a hen, but manages to prove his worth when a tornado threatens the hen's chicks.