Aside from some unfortunate character stereotyping, The China Plate is a remarkable cartoon. Consider the source material: in the late 1700s, a story was developed to market a particular pattern on a china plate. Even though the plate was created in England, the design was based on a Chinese style, and thus the story (also created in England) was about Chinese characters. The ‘Willow Pattern’ legend had been told many times and many ways for almost a century and half before the team at Disney tried their hand at it. As a story that might have been familiar to audiences in 1931, there was no dialogue needed, and Frank Churchill’s brilliant score almost tells the story by itself. Disney’s embellishments to the story: a cormorant fishing sequence and a chase with a dragon, for example, only add to the fun and wonder of this mostly forgotten short.

Don’t forget to visit The Silly Symphony Collection page for details on the massive vinyl box set.

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