User Reviews

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Disney to any degree that this short took some (in this case, understandable and legitimate) liberties with the original source material. Based on the story of how Persephone came to become the wife of Hades, god of the Underworld, this is a truncated version, leaving out any reference to Demeter, Persephone's mother (and sister to Hades) and leaving out the detail of why Persephone must return to the Underworld and stay for a specific duration. It's a fascinating story, but the changes made were reasonable ones and the short itself is quite good. Because I want to discuss the short in a bit of detail, this is a spoiler warning:

As the short opens, it is made abundantly clear that the "Goddess of Spring" is well nigh universally loved and adored by all creatures, great and small. The opening sequence shows a lush, verdant paradise over which she reigns with tenderness and warmth, which is returned many times over.

Then the ruler of the Underworld appears and basically kidnaps her, taking her below to make her his wife. He seems absolutely certain that the idea of marrying him and of becoming his queen is so clearly a desirable thing that her disinterest and continued sadness first confuse and then disturb him.

She continues to plead with him to allow her to return to her world above, because she fears that, if she never goes back, both she and every creature are doomed to die. He reluctantly agrees-on the condition that she spend part of each year in the Underworld, as his queen.

There are three predominant visual contrasts-the eternal spring before her kidnapping and at the end, when she returns to the surface, the visual depiction of the Underworld and the depiction of the winter cast over the world by her departure to the Underworld. While all three are quite good, the contrast between spring and winter makes those sequences a bit more impressive. The colors used in the Underworld were a bit too bright at times and I think a bit more use of shadow and darkness would have made for a sharper juxtaposition of the two radically different realms.

This short is available on the DVD set, More Silly Symphonies, part of the Disney Treasures series and both this short and the DVD set are highly recommended.

. . . of its "Silly Symphonies" and other animated shorts from the 1900s is NOT because Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes were MORE Racist than Disney's Demeaning Put-Downs. It's because Warner Bros. sports an often too-sensitive Corporate Conscience (please excuse the oxymoron), while the Soul-less Disney MegaCorp never possessed even a modicum of Civilized Responsibility. Most Disney cartoons would need to be Banned and Deep-Sixed IF some future "House of Mouse" Reformers ever decide to follow Warner's lead. Take THE GODDESS OF SPRING, for instance. A White Chick is abducted to Hell (3:20), where a circle of gleeful Black "imps" dance and prance around her, singing their "Hi-Dey Hades" ditty (3:45). This is an obvious Cheap Trick by Old Walt's Racist Crew to besmirch Cab Calloway's "Hi-Dee Ho" song, then topping the charts among America's Black Community. Scores of Blacks were mutilated and lynched in the Jim Crow Confederate Red Southern States as these Black Imps assailed Disney's White GODDESS OF SPRING. Emmett Till's killers viewed this Racial Hatchet Job at least 27 times as their Deplorable Characters formed during their Disney-Corrupted Childhoods.

. . . (that would be Pluto, of course) is one of the two stars featured in THE GODDESS OF SPRING. You can probably imagine my chagrin, disappointment and feeling of being swindled, then, after watching this cartoon all the way through TWICE and catching nary a glimpse of America's favorite mutt. As far as I could see, there was only a singing lady, a few birds, bunnies and fawns, Satan and a thousand devils among the sorry cast of characters. How sad.

Disney's Silly Symphonies were the gold standard for mood pieces, development of technique, and character acting in the 1930s. Early on, they were simply characters singing and dancing with little plot to speak of.

Goddess Of Spring marked a significant change in Disney animation in many ways. This was the first time a serious story with conflict was told. Yes, there are still the hallmarks of singing and dancing, but this is done with a lot more sophistication. There are scenes with drama, contrasted with light hearted moments. Disney arguably nailed down the concept of a complex antagonist very early. Pluto, the God of Hades, isn't an outright villain and wants to make Perisphone happy and is willing to compromise with her.

This was also an early attempt to animate human characters and it did not go over so well. Other studios, such as Fleischer and Harman-Ising had done it earlier, but relied on rotoscope or kept scenes limited. There wasn't any real attempt to seriously tackle the challenge of doing it freeform until this short. The Disney crew recognized they needed more practice.

During the next three years, the studio honed all the accomplishments and attempts done in this short with marvelous outcomes. This culminated in Snow White. So much was achieved in three years.

Regardless, this still holds up very well today as a great mood piece. Director Wilfred Jackson deserves mention for his eye for atmospheric filmmaking. One of Disney's all time greatest.

"The Goddess of Spring" is a cartoon from 1934, so this one is already over 80 years old. Wow. And there are some significant differences compared to the "usual" Disney from around that era. First of all, you will not find any of the very famous characters in here, instead this is a much more mythological tale. But most of all, it is opera. If you think of opera in these old cartoons, you will probably think of Warner Bros and Looney Toons before Disney, but actually Disney also gave the subject a try occasionally. Such as here. And finally, the film runs for 10 minutes instead of the usual 7 minutes. The animation is very good of course, but that's a bit of a given with Disney back then. The voice actors are basically voice singers and have not appeared in many other Disney cartoons, if any at all. The two male protagonists have starred in several pretty famous (still today) live action movies. As a whole, nowhere near my favorite Disney cartoons, but certainly worth checking out and be it only because it is so different compared to almost everything else Disney has done in the 1930s. Thumbs up.

When I first watched this I was a bit taken aback by very melodramatic grand opera tone and style of it, and I found that and the whole cutesyness overload of the Goddess' kingdom to be cheesy and just an itty bitty bit too much.. I mean, it is a very easy short to laugh at, I can't help but chuckle every time I hear that dashing Devil in a red leotard sing in his bizarre soprano! Ah, but all that stuff's just part of the whimsical, old world fantasy charm of it. And I personally don't think a few inconsistencies in the rendition of the legendary tale of these characters really negatively affects the short too much. Anyway, it's really grown on me since, and it's probably one of my favourite "Silly Symphonies" now, and it's certainly one of the most outlandish and visually interesting ones, as is its story and place as an important stepping stone in the evolution of the Disney animation process that would eventually culminate in the classic "Snow White." The story of this, for what it is, is sweet and engaging enough in its quaint, lulling and ~very~ melodious way! It's all about Persephone - she's the Goddess of Spring, and she's having a ball of a great time in her perfectly harmonious realm of bountiful nature, basking in the adoration of all the surrounding happy flora and fauna that merrily bounds about her! And everything's cool until the red hot demon Himself emerges from the fiery underworld to abduct her and drag her back to Hell to make her his queen!!! A good way to describe the look of Persephone as she willows around would probably be that she almost, looks kinda boneless, and her arms look almost like bird wings. The overall effect might be eerie if her strange motions weren't nevertheless very serene and soothing to watch. And her face at least was perfectly done and expressive. To me, regardless of the imperfections in her design, she still cuts a very striking figure of fragile beauty and grace... And, in stark contrast to her, was the Devil who's bodily proportions and movements were far more realistic - only it was *his* head that looked weird and out of place! The resulting blast of thunder and brimstone when he erupts from the ground on his hellevator(ha-ha) reminded me of the cool effects later used in "Sleeping Beauty" when Malificent transforms into the dragon. Also, her little minions in that movie are very similar to the Devil's imps you see in this! Really amazing animation throughout the whole Hades sequence. I just know I've seen a couple of them backgrounds before in the earlier "Hell's Bells" Symphony. The fire looked so good! I love the infernal, moody animation of the flames as the hue changes from green to deep red to blue. And the jazzy tune was more like something you'd find in one of the more 'out there' Fleisher offerings! The Devil wasn't much of one if you ask me, he wasn't even all that mean! He'd rather let the Goddess go free for half the year then see her miserable. I guess the thing I like the most about this short is the novel concept it offers regarding why the seasons exist, I really thought that was quite the awesome little idea. It's not perfect, but overall I now see this as a most wonderful animation indeed...