The Skeleton Dance (1929)
1929 · Animation · 6 min · dir. Walt Disney
The greatest talking picture novelty ever screened! -- A laugh riot from start to finish! A comically clever cartoon classic with music, sound, and original effects
- zombie film
- animated cartoon
Synopsis
The Skeleton Dance is a 1929 American animated comedy horror short film directed and produced by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. In the film, reanimated human skeletons dance and make music around a spooky graveyard—a modern film example of medieval European "danse macabre" imagery. It is the first installment in the Silly Symphony series. The short's copyright was renewed in 1957, and as a published work from 1929, it entered the US public domain on January 1, 2025.
Synopsis from Wikipedia
Details
- Director
- Walt Disney
- Studio
- Walt Disney Productions
- Released
- 1929-08-29
- Running time
- 6 minutes
Cast & crew
Walt Disney Director- Walt Disney
Carl W. Stalling
Reviews on the Internet Archive
A 1929 cartoon that turned skeletons from scary to funny · Paulo A. Chedid · 2026-04-15
What started as a one-time watch somehow turned into a weekly tradition—my daughter (6 y.o.) keeps asking for it over and over again. I’m 47, and we both love *The Skeleton Dance*. The animation is surprisingly clever and still feels fresh, with great musical timing and playful visuals. But the biggest surprise was the impact on my daughter: she used to be terrified of skeletons and cemeteries, and now she just calls them “the funny dancing guys.” Problem solved.
