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Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom main poster

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom

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6.7/10 • 75

1953-11-100h 10m

Animation

A crash course on the history of Western musical instruments.

Professor Owl gives a lecture on the evolution of Western musical instruments, starting with the advent of rudimentary brass, woodwind, string and percussion instruments by ancient cave dwellers at the dawn of history.

Directors
Ward Kimball, Charles August Nichols
Characters
Tom Oreb

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Bill Thompson

    Bill Thompson

    Professor Owl / Bertie Birdbrain

  2. Loulie Jean Norman

    Loulie Jean Norman

    Penelope Pinfeather

  3. Gloria Wood

    Gloria Wood

    Susy Sparrow

  4. Thurl Ravenscroft

    Thurl Ravenscroft

    The Mellomen

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jan 27, 2025

7/10

It's the professorial owl who is teaching his class all about musical instruments. It's manna from heaven for an animator as the entertainingly crafted lyrical narration (complete with slightly annoying singing) takes us all on a very basic lesson in musical onomatopoeia! It was the cavemen who started, rather monotonically, with a dead cow's horn. Next, for the Egyptians it's a different kind of "King Toot" who wants something altogether more sophisticated. Trumpets, dear reader. What happens when trumpets get beaten up; the curvy bits and varying lengths give it flexibility and huzzah, the horn was born. You've got the drift by now and as the other three principal sections of the orchestra: woodwind, strings (quite excruciatingly at times) and finally percussion get an the treatment this leads us to the synchronised, and thankfully more tuneful, modern orchestra. It's a bit too long, this, but it is still quite good fun as they even manage to squeeze the bagpipes in there. The singing doesn't get any better, though - sorry.

Media

  • Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom poster
  • Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
adventures in musicmusic historycinemascopeshort film