I don’t usually feature short films, but today marks an incredibly important moment in cinema history: exactly 95 years ago, on November 18th, 1928, in a movie theater in New York City, pop-culture icon Mickey Mouse made his debut in “Steamboat Willie,” a seven-minute short film.
It was a smash: Mickey became an instant star with audiences, in spite of — or maybe because of — the fact that he spends pretty much the entire runtime dishing out physical abuse to nearly every other creature he encounters. (Minnie Mouse, also making her debut, escapes his deliberate violence, though she is subject to an unintentionally somewhat rough rescue.)
Perhaps more importantly, this was the first cartoon with synchronized sound. Silent cartoons were made instantly obsolete, and Walt Disney’s entertainment empire was launched. Movies were changed forever.
More dramatic cultural change may be afoot: “Steamboat Willie” enters the public domain in the United States in mere weeks, on January 1st, 2024. It remains to be seen what impact this will have, since later incarnations of Mickey Mouse will remain under Disney ownership under both copyright and trademark law. One thing is certain: there will be huge legal battles over this little cartoon, this character, and their legacies.
US: stream on Disney+
UK: stream on Disney+
See “Steamboat Willie” at Letterboxd (though at the moment there are no other streaming options).
