Silly Symphony The Old Mill

The Old Mill Premieres

On this day in 1937, The Old Mill brought cartoon shorts to a new dimension by being the first film to use Disney’s multiplane camera. This Silly Symphony dramatically tells the story of the animal inhabitants near an old windmill as a peaceful eve shifts into a dark and stormy night. The multiplane camera added depth to animated films by producing more realistic movement of foreground, middle, and background elements as the camera panned from left to right or zoomed in or out. This technological breakthrough was so successful it garnered a special Scientific and Technical-category Academy Award®. The Old Mill also won an Oscar® for Best Cartoon, proving it was no run-of-the mill cartoon short.