The Milky Way (1940 film)

The Milky Way is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres with the film The Captain Is a Lady in 1940 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The short (produced and directed by Rudolf Ising and co-produced by Fred Quimby with the voice of Bernice Hansen as the kittens and their mother, and musical supervision by Scott Bradley) explores the adventures of the "three little kittens who lost their mittens", as they explore a dreamland where space is made up entirely of dairy products (for example, the Milky Way is made of milk and the Moon is made of green cheese). The short won the 1940 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, and was the first non-Disney film to do so. Other shorts nominated in 1940 included A Wild Hare by Warner Bros., introducing Bugs Bunny, and another MGM cartoon Puss Gets the Boot, with Jasper & Jinx, the prototype for Tom and Jerry. It was added as a bonus feature in the Marx Bros. DVD release of Go West (1940).

The Milky Way
Theatrical poster
Directed byDirected and supervised by:
Rudolf Ising (uncredited)
Produced byRudolf Ising
Co-produced by:
Fred Quimby and William Hanna (both uncredited)
Story byMaurice Day
StarringBernice Hansen
Music byMusical supervision:
Scott Bradley (uncredited)
Animation byCharacter animation:
Michael Lah
Ray Abrams
George Gordon
Carl Urbano
Pete Burness
David Treffman
(all uncredited)
Effects animation:
Al Grandmain (uncredited)
Layouts byBob Allen (uncredited)
Color processTechnicolor
Perspecta (1958 reissue, uncredited and original titles retained)
Production
company
MGM cartoon studio
Rudolf Ising Productions
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
June 22, 1940
CountryU.S.A.
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Three kittens, denied milk as punishment for losing their mittens after playing out in the snow, sail up into the Milky Way in a basket lifted by three helium balloons. Their spaceflight takes them past the Moon, the planet Mars, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper, until they reach their destination.

Once in the Milky Way, they find it a land of natural milk springs and gushers. The kittens proceed to happily gorge themselves on milk, until they end up getting into trouble and risk falling back down to Earth. However, it turns out to be just in their imagination, and their mother comes in to their bedroom to invite them for supper. They rush down excitedly only to be shocked to see that their supper consists milk.

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