July 9, 1928 – The Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Short Film Tall Timber is Released to Theaters
On July 9, 1928, the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short film Tall Timber was released to theaters. It is the twenty-third Oswald short done by Disney, and the last surviving short known to exist.
Oswald is whistling a tune as he paddles down a river in a canoe. He narrowly avoids rocks as he rails down some rapids helplessly, but eventually finds his way back to peaceful waters. As he does, a flock of ducks fly overhead, and he pulls out his gun to shoot. A duck stands on the edge of the gun, and notices that the gun is jammed. It sneaks into the gun and knocks the bullet out, peering at Oswald as his eyes are closed in determination. Oswald finally frees the trigger, only to find that the hammer has hit the duck on the head. He angrily pulls the duck out and kicks at it to make it fly away. Another duck approaches as Oswald tries to shoot again, and once again, the gun is jammed. As Oswald yells at this duck, the duck takes Oswald by the nose and pulls it out, sending it flying back to Oswald’s face and knocking the rabbit down. Oswald brings his nose back to its proper length, and loads the gun while the duck laughs. The duck is able to send the bullet flying into the canoe, springing a leak. Oswald attempts to stop his canoe from overflowing with water, and sends the stream back into the pond. As he tries to find the duck one more time, he finds the creature camped out on his head. Unfortunately, the duck escapes just in time, and Oswald knocks himself in the head with the butt of his gun, sending him and his canoe down to the bottom of the pond.
After his fall, Oswald narrowly misses being hit by a boulder, but is chased by it down a hill
Oswald finds what he thinks is a rock to stand on, and is alarmed when the “rock” rises out of the water, revealed to be a moose. He holds onto the moose for dear life, and the moose sends Oswald flying over the edge of a cliff. Oswald grabs a branch on his way down, but sees a huge boulder being supported by the branch, which is now falling thanks to Oswald’s weight. Oswald tries to outrun the boulder once they both fall, but runs into a tree and is flattened by the boulder. As he tries to fix himself, three bears run through the forest and stop at two maple trees, where the two cubs start drinking the syrup from the taps attached to these trees. Meanwhile, Oswald uses another boulder to help return him to his plump self, but finds that he has become even more round, and rolls over to where the bears are, knocking into one of the cubs. The cubs fight over Oswald, and stretch him back to normal. As one of the cubs torments Oswald, they flee to a rock. Oswald grabs the rock to climb up, unaware that he has actually grabbed the mother bear. Oswald is chased by the bear into a cave, where a fight ensues, and the mama bear leaves without her fur, hiding her undergarments in shame. Oswald walks out in a nice new fur coat, puts on a top hat, and lights a cigar triumphantly.
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