The Fire Fighters (1930 film)

Plot

The firehouse crew, including Mickey Mouse and Horace Horsecollar, is asleep when the alarm sounds. After scrambling into their gear, they race to a burning apartment building.

Minnie Mouse, unconscious on an upper floor, is rescued by Mickey using a clothesline. As they reach the ground, she wakes up and recognizes him. The two mice call out each other’s names, then kiss and hug as the scene fades out.

Production

This cartoon borrows its plot from Disney's 1926 short Alice the Fire Fighter. An early draft had Mickey Mouse playing music before the alarm, but the final version opens with the firefighters asleep. As they race to the blaze, a lively version of the 1896 rag "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" plays. Mickey would later battle flames again in 1935's Mickey's Fire Brigade.

Reception

In Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse, Gijs Grob notes that The Fire Fighters is the first Mickey Mouse cartoon since The Gallopin' Gaucho to tell a straightforward story. He describes the animation as primitive and rather crude, with some movement rather slow, but states the cartoon is packed with gags and leads to an exciting finale that spotlights Mickey's heroic character. Grob calls it one of the best of the early Mickey Mouse cartoons and certainly Mickey's best short of 1930.

On the Disney Film Project, Ryan Kilpatrick writes that the cartoon is a great use of the character in his new role as the loveable loser, noting that the bravado filled Mickey of earlier shorts would not have worked here, but Mickey as the hapless fire chief works really well. Kilpatrick adds that Mickey's personality is great, showing frustration with the hydrant and fear of whether he will save Minnie, and that he is a character here, not just a collection of drawings.

Motion Picture News from November 15, 1930, states that the laughs come thick and fast, with Mickey as a fireman dashing out to save the fair young maiden to the tune of a lot of laughs.