Editing Flowers and Trees

{{short description|1932 Silly Symphony cartoon}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name              = Flowers and Trees
| image             = File:Silly symphony.jpg
| alt               = 
| caption           = Theatrical release poster
| director          = [[Burt Gillett]]
| producer          = [[Walt Disney]]
| story             = 
| narrator          = 
| starring          = Ester Campbell<br />[[Pinto Colvig]]<br />Marion Darlington<br />Walt Disney
| music             = {{ubl|[[Frank Churchill]]|[[Bert Lewis]]}}
| animator          = [[Les Clark]]<br />[[David Hand (animator)|David Hand]]<br />[[Tom Palmer (animator)|Tom Palmer]]
| layout_artist     = 
| background_artist = 
| studio            = [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]]
| distributor       = [[United Artists]]
| released          = {{Film date|1932|07|30}}
| color_process     = [[Technicolor]]
| runtime           = 8 minutes<ref>{{cite book|last1=Heraldson|first1=Donald|title=Creators of Life|date=1975|publisher=Drake|page=251}}</ref>
| country           = United States
| language          = English
}}

'''''Flowers and Trees''''' is a ''[[Silly Symphonies]]'' [[animated]] [[short film]] produced by [[Walt Disney]], directed by [[Burt Gillett]], and released to theatres by [[United Artists]] on July 30, 1932.<ref name="symphony1">{{cite book |last1=Merritt |first1=Russell |last2=Kaufman |first2=J. B. |year=2016 |title=Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series |location=Glendale, CA |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Disney Editions]] |pages=112–113 |isbn=978-1-4847-5132-9}}</ref> It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-color three-strip [[Technicolor]] process<ref name="Robertson">{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Patrick|title=Robertson's Book of Firsts|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=978-1608197385|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TEEaCrPiWsC|access-date=May 24, 2017}}</ref> after several years of two-color Technicolor films. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning the first [[Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film|Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject]].<ref name=symphony1/>

In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/12/national-film-registry-2021-list-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi-fellowship-of-the-ring-sounder-nightmare-on-elm-street-wall-e-1234890666/|title=National Film Registry Adds ''Return Of The Jedi'', ''Fellowship Of The Ring'', ''Strangers On A Train'', ''Sounder'', ''WALL-E'' & More|date=December 14, 2021|first=Nancy|last=Tartaglione|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|access-date=December 14, 2021}}</ref>

==Plot==
During Spring, the flowers, mushrooms and trees do their calisthenics. Some trees play a tune, using vines for harp strings and a chorus of robins. A fight breaks out between a waspish-looking hollow tree and a younger, healthier tree for the attention of a female tree. The young tree emerges victorious, but the hollow tree retaliates by starting a fire. The plants and animals try to extinguish or evade the blaze. By poking holes in clouds and making it rain, the birds manage to put out the fire, although the hollow tree perishes in the flames after getting caught up in them himself. The young tree then proposes to the female tree, with a caterpillar serving as a ring, and they embrace as a 12-color rainbow forms behind them.

==Production==
In May 1932, the first three-strip [[Technicolor]] camera was completed.<ref name="Kalmus">{{cite journal|last1=Kalmus|first1=Herbert|title=Technicolor Adventures in Cinemaland|journal=Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers|date=December 1938|doi=10.5594/J17344|url=https://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/kalmus.htm|access-date=December 7, 2017|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Herbert Kalmus]] wanted to test it in the animation field, giving the company time to build enough cameras to offer the whole movie industry, but couldn't find any interested animators. Finally, [[Walt Disney]] agreed to try it as an experiment on ''Flowers and Trees'',<ref name="Kalmus"/> which was already in production in black-and-white, and ordered the cartoon redone in color. The color animation caused the production to run over budget, potentially ruining Disney financially, but the cartoon proved so popular that the profits made up for the budget overage.<ref name="Mosley">{{cite book|last1=Mosley|first1=Leonard|title=Disney's World|date=1990|publisher=Scarborough House|pages=136–137|isbn=978-1589796560|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaKoZtJqPc0C&q=Flowers+and+Trees|access-date=December 7, 2017}}</ref>

==Impact==
As a result of the success of ''Flowers and Trees'', all future ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoons were produced in three-strip Technicolor. The added novelty of color helped to boost the series' previously disappointing returns. Disney's other cartoon series, the ''[[Mickey Mouse]]'' shorts, were deemed successful enough not to need the extra boost of color, remaining in black-and-white until ''[[The Band Concert]]'' (1935).{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Disney's exclusive contract with Technicolor, in effect until the end of 1935, forced other animation producers such as [[Ub Iwerks]] (Disney's former head animator and close friend) and [[Max Fleischer]] to use Technicolor's inferior two-color process or a competing two-color system such as [[Cinecolor]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

==Accolades==
''Flowers and Trees'' was the first animated film to win an Academy award at the fifth Academy Awards in 1932. It won best "Short Subjects, Cartoons", a category first introduced that year.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guinness World Records|last=Glenday|first=Craig|year=2013|isbn=978-1908843159|page=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/208 208]|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/208}}</ref>

==Home media==
The short was released on December 4, 2001 on ''[[Walt Disney Treasures: Wave One#Silly Symphonies|Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies – The Historic Musical Animated Classics]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Silly Symphonies: The Historic Musical Animated Classics DVD Review |url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/sillysymphonies.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=20 February 2021}}</ref><ref name=symphony1/>

The short was included in bonus on the Diamond Edition blu-ray of 2009 of ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dvdizzy.com/snowwhite-diamondeditionb.html | title=Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition Blu-ray Review - Page 2 of 2 }}</ref>

It made its streaming debut on [[Disney+]] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Flowers and Trees|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flowers_and_trees |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=27 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Flowers and Trees|url=https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-77e868fd-25a0-4928-9f5d-a1c08a2f9813 |website=Disney+ |access-date=27 April 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131203224024/http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=166 Flowers and Trees] in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130113053731/http://disneyshorts.org/ The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts]''
* {{IMDb title|id=0022899|title=Flowers and Trees}}

{{Silly Symphonies}}
{{Burt Gillett}}
{{AcademyAwardBestAnimatedShortFilm 1932–1940}}

[[Category:1932 films]]
[[Category:1930s color films]]
[[Category:1932 comedy films]]
[[Category:Best Animated Short Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:1930s Disney animated short films]]
[[Category:Silly Symphonies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Burt Gillett]]
[[Category:Films produced by Walt Disney]]
[[Category:Films about trees]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic trees]]
[[Category:Animated films without speech]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:Animated films about plants]]
[[Category:English-language short films]]
[[Category:1932 animated short films]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic plants]]