The Big Bad Wolf (1936)
“Cry wolf one too many times, and one just might come.”
Streamed free from the Internet Archive · no signup, no cost — this film is in the public domain.
Synopsis
Little Boy Blue and a dancing Scarecrow sing and frolic as Little Bo Peep and her sheep join the fun. When the mischievous Black Sheep keeps crying "wolf," it spells real trouble once an actual Big Bad Wolf shows up and snatches a sheep — sending the nursery-rhyme gang into a musical rescue. It's a brisk, all-singing, all-dancing fairy-tale mash-up built around a jazzy score.
About the Director
Ub Iwerks — This is an Ub Iwerks ComiColor cartoon, produced by Iwerks's studio and released through Celebrity Pictures. Iwerks — the animator who co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney before going independent — made the ComiColor series (1933–1936) as colorful fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme adaptations, with a deep bench of talent that at times included Grim Natwick and composer Carl Stalling.
Why It’s Free: The Public-Domain Story
This is the Ub Iwerks ComiColor cartoon (not Disney's separately copyrighted 1934 Silly Symphony of the same name), and it is in the public domain because its copyright was not renewed. Its original title was "Little Boy Blue"; "The Big Bad Wolf" is a later home-movie reissue title.
Behind the Scenes
Released in 1936 as one of the last entries in Iwerks's ComiColor series, the short was later sold to home-movie and TV distributors — which is how it acquired the catchier 'The Big Bad Wolf' title. The ComiColor films were produced in a two-color process and aimed to compete with Disney's Silly Symphonies, though Iwerks's studio never matched Disney commercially.
Did You Know?
- The short is more properly known as "Little Boy Blue" — "The Big Bad Wolf" is a reissue title that invites confusion with Disney's unrelated 1934 cartoon.
- Ub Iwerks personally animated Mickey Mouse's debut, 'Steamboat Willie,' before leaving Disney to run his own studio.
- The ComiColor series adapted classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes — Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Tom Thumb, and more.
- Iwerks later returned to Disney and won two Academy Awards for technical innovation in optical and effects processes.
Reception & Legacy
The ComiColor cartoons are remembered today chiefly as the work of one of animation's great technical pioneers operating outside the Disney machine. Modestly received in their day, they endure as charming public-domain curiosities and a window into 1930s independent animation.
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