Hell's Bells

Although the "Skeleton Dance" is considered by many to be one of (if not 'the') main highlight of Ub Iwerks' animation career, "Hell's Bells", to me, is just as equally amazing, animation-wise & music-wise.
This cartoon was released in November 1929, only about three months after "The Skeleton Dance". This cartoon never fails to entertain & inspire me. The highlight to me is the dance cycle of the three devils around 2:40, it always makes my jaw drop.

[@yohannbiimu]

It's amazing that Disney started out with so many people who became names themselves in the animation industry, like Carl Stalling, Huge Harman, Rudolf Ising, Isidor Freling, and Robert McKimson. The coincidence of it is almost cosmic.

[@gnikcohs]

I prefer Hell's Bells to Skeleton Dance but the sheer verve, imaginative ingenuity, and virtuosity of those skeletons were a creative one man coup that is rarely equalled in animation. On the other hand Hell's Bells is also a tremendous visual masterpiece. My favorite parts were when the imp ran into the jagged cave wall becoming a jagged imp. Just look at her at 3:11. And then there was that most magnificent of animated creatures, the dragon cow. Of course it wasn't all Ub Iwerks, as music director Carl Stalling was in top form too.

[@jterg4522]

gnikcohs i

[@FernandoGastelo]

I agree. This one is as equally good as the "Skeleton Dance". Is kinda of a shame that Disney doesn't even try to make dark cartoons like this anymore

[@otanikiyoshi]

🦇

[@WinstonBoBinston]

I’m getting cuphead vibes!

[@TheAnimationEmpire]

3:18 - The jagged dance movements are awesome! - TAE

[@yohannbiimu]

Ooops, I almost forgot to include Ub Iwerks in the mix. His contribution to cinematic history is legendary.

[@hsdinoman2267]

played the AC/DC song off the same name over this, surprisingly it actually fit quite well i think

[@BeauSkunk]

1:16 the music piece "Funeral March of a Marionette" plays, which is best known as being used as Albert Hitchcock's TV series theme song.

[@jterg4522]

The devil looks like the devil of cuphead

[@rnigma]

Many of them came from Kansas City, as Disney did. Stalling was the orchestra leader in a KC theatre.

[@saifalbowg7978]

that's a very exellent question

[@yohannbiimu]

4:30 - Stalling would later use this music (from Felix Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave overture) in Chuck Jones' "Inki" series, where this music would play when an odd minah bird appeared.

[@looneywoman]

Excellent from Stalling, but then I've always enjoyed that piece anyway. :) It's *really* a shame Disney couldn't get the rights to "Dance Macabre" for "Skeleton Dance." I know he had hoped for that one, and I'm sure Stalling would have done well with that one also...

[@rnigma]

Even then, Carl Stalling worked wonders with music... I loved his adaptation here of "Funeral March of a Marionette" (aka the Alfred Hitchcock theme). It's a lot more fun than Disney's better-known demonic effort, the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia (awesome in its own right).

[@jipowap]

So that's how the Chernabog came into power. Faithful servant escapes the king under the mountain after his friend is eaten. Explains why most Disney dogs are on the good side, Chernabog must have eaten the bad ones in revenge.

[@TheAnimationEmpire]

1:11 - Serpent eats the bat and grows wings! =^) - TAE

[@dontsueme]

Oh is this song the inspiration for Eminems Alfred-Theme's backing track?

[@HenryandSpencer]

feels like Max Fleisher made this

[@saifalbowg7978]

and so i can see how devils live in hell

[@TNT-zd6ml]

The title of video is a ac dc song

[@saifalbowg7978]

so i can see how devils live in hell and becuse it's a very funny cartoon

[@AnotherDani31]

It seems to me that the Final Boss of Cuphead is inspired by this animation.

[@saifalbowg7978]

and becuse it's a very funny cartoon

[@saifalbowg7978]

may all devils and demons and satans go to hell and never get out

[@saifalbowg7978]

hey dont say that if u are a devil then u well go to hell an never get out of it being an angel is better tha being a devil if u r a devil then you'll go to hell and live in it 4ever but if your an angel then you will go to paradise heaven and u will a happy life 4ever

[@Stet.]

That made no sense dude

[@ethanp.796]

1:16

[@Guenter34]

That's pretty messed up.

[@seandupuis7376]

Back when Disney was fun instead of Lame & Gay

[@eliwinston7987]

But what do you compare it with this kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGiYZ3mGnrGfppo

[@toonalootown2331]

Bloop

[@toonalootown2331]

What If Tattoos Came To Life…

[@toonalootown2331]

0:15

[@まはたなやに]

Cup head

[@Xion_Toshiro]

DISNEY'S INFERNO

[@CheetahFoxx]

Although his heart is certainly in the right place and the concept is certainly dark enough, the execution just just doesn't seem to make it. The characters are too simple and the score, though fitting, felt flat. It feels like a playful romp through hell rather than the bottomless woe, absolute terror, and eternal damnation that the early Fleischer Brothers made in works like Snow White, Minnie the Moocher, and (most of all) Swing You Sinners.

[@GwynnEarl]

I hate you.