Clock Cleaners (1937) User Reviews

They got their clocks cleaned!

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 7/10 · 7 October 2012]

This was one of my very favourite Disney cartoons when I was a kid. Now I'm afraid I merely like it rather than love it. I find it good, just not perfect. But there's definitely something special about it, because it is very memorable. A clocktower is a great setting for mayhem with the characters. Goofy's hazardous concussed acrobat walk was a fun sequence. The height is quite dizzying, it's very impressive how well the vertigo effect is conveyed. The running gag and the ending with the guys unable to stop themselves shaking in clock motion was a great way to end it. My favourite part is definitely Donald's battle of wills with the spring, which is totally what this short is most known for. The way the spring's "voice" sounds is so cool! Kind of sounds like a voice and a metallic twang all at once. Where did these guys get their sound effects? I noticed and got a big laugh out of the possible swearing thing even as a wee one. Did the most funny of the three Disney heroes, Donald Duck, in one of his legendary tirades, quack the most uttered swear of them all? Did they even have that nasty word back in 1937? That's 75 years for those of you keeping score. I could never understand a word Donald said anyway! But, after listening to it over a few times, it's clear that he probably doesn't say that, but it's certainly fun to imagine he does! And you never know, perhaps the animators were aware of how it sounded and purposefully left it like that to stir things up. If so, I'd say it worked. In any case, it certainly doesn't sound enough like the proposed word to warrant the short being banned. How ridiculous, censoring a swear that was never even there! "Says you!!!"

Quite good

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 7/10 · 5 March 2005]

Though it is yet another 'everything goes wrong' cartoon (pretty much EVERY Disney short) this one has enough imagination to keep you amused. I remember watching it as a kid and being impressed with the set-pieces and hijinks even then.

Basically Mickey, Donald and Goofy are cleaning a huge clock tower, taller than all the little skyscrapers (surely no one would be able to tell the time from down on the street) at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It's a risky dangerous job but they seem to all know what they're doing and never loose their footholds. But a big stork, an angry spring and a sleepwalking Goofy all make it end in disaster. Funny!

The trio delivers

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 11 July 2015]

It does not happen too often that we get Mickey, Donald and Goofy in one cartoon, but here it is the case. Thanks Walt Disney. However, this 8-minute cartoon is really more of a collection of 5 or 6 very short cartoons and the three do not really interact too much with each other apart from Mickey and Goofy in the last segment. But that's not meant derogative in anyway. All three of them are funny enough to watch on their own and one never gets bored here. Mickey struggles getting a sleepy bird out of the clock. Donald has trouble with the clockwork. And Goofy just won't get out of the bell. This short film from almost 80 years ago is truly fun to watch. Disney delivers as always and Colvig and Nash are among the most talented voice actors of all time. Final mention to 2-time Academy Award winning director Ben Sharpsteen for his work here. He also contributed to several of the early Disney classics. With all these talented people involved here, this could only turn out a success. And it did. Recommended.

High Time

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 22 July 2003]

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey, Donald & Goofy are the CLOCK CLEANERS atop a very tall tower.

The three buddies have their work cut out for them in this classic little film from Disney's Golden Age. The animation is first-rate and the laughs keep coming as Mickey deals with a stubborn stork, Donald falls foul of the mechanism's mainspring and Goofy, in a nod to Harold Lloyd, teeters about the deadly brink. 'Asleep In The Deep' is the tune of which the Goof keeps singing the first line ('Loudly the bell in the old tower rings.') Walt Disney provides Mickey with his squeaky voice; Clarence Nash does the honors for Donald.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Tick Tock

[Coolguy-7 · 5 April 2000]

This short features Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as clock cleaners cleaning a very tall clock tower (possibly Big Ben). What was interesting about this short was that each of the three characters had some sort of problem. Mickey kept trying to get a nesting stork out of the clock and the stork wouldn't cooperate, Goofy was hit on the head by a figure resembling the Statue of Liberty and knocked unconscious, and Donald was having troubles with a spring that seemed to talk back to him. In fact, Reverend Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association thought he heard Donald say a naughty four-letter word that began with the letter "F" followed by the word "you" to the spring. He succeeded in getting Wal Mart to remove all copies of a video containing this short off of their shelves and return them to Disney. Donald was actually saying "Says you!" to the spring. Interesting to note that.

Mickey and friends are upstaged by a bird and a clock!

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 16 December 2003]

This is a truly magnificent cartoon, with the real star being the clock, with a strong supporting effort from a sleeping stork. Mickey, Donald and Goofy are fine, but the detail work on the backgrounds and the design of the clock are exceptional. The gags are hilarious, if somewhat familiar (probably because they've spurred frequent imitation by others) and the ending is priceless. Various bits are reminiscent of some great silent comics like Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, particularly the opening shot and an extended bit featuring Goofy on walkabout. Well worth having. Most highly recommended.

What time is it when Mickey Mouse comes to clean . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 25 January 2022]

. . . your clock? Time to get a new clock, of course. Beyond reinforcing this basic caution, CLOCK CLEANERS is a highly derivative rehash of other movie studio's takes on perilous concussion-walking, or dangerous sleepwalking. Goofy's unwittingly traumatic trek high above the streets of the clock tower city echoes animated scenes done with far better timing by the people behind Popeye and Bugs Bunny. This is pretty much par for the course on the part of the viciously litigious Rodent Ranch ruffians. Many of America's so-called "business" types make their living by claiming credit for other people's ideas, and these miscreants also are notoriously prone to sue the pants off anyone they feel threatens their ill-gotten Wealth, with Old Tom Edison and Wart Dizzy being Exhibits A and B on this front.

To me, it is second only to Lonesome Ghosts as the best of the Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoons

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 22 June 2012]

I love Clock Cleaners and always have done. The animation has so much detail(like with Goofy close to falling you do feel authentically dizzy due to how everything moves) in the scale of everything on screen and the backgrounds are gorgeously coloured. The music is full of energy as you would expect, and the story while simple is always engaging and crisply paced. Other than the animation, it was the characters and the gags, combining silliness and danger, that made Clock Cleaners. Mickey is as likable as ever, though I do find Goofy with his clumsiness and confusion and Donald with his frustration and temperament funnier in a way. The gag where Goofy stumbles around the top of the clock tower, eventually falling down, walking in a daze across a rope, falling only to jump back up off a flagpole and knock Mickey back inside is my all-time favourite Goofy gag, and the shot of the Mickey, Donald and Goofy in the gears of the clock is priceless also, but the best one is the one with the spring talking back when Donald gets irritated. The visual humour and dialogue never fails to make me laugh, but due to the fact you don't always understand what Donald is saying and the fact it was thought he said a bad word in this exchange caused for it to be censored. In a nutshell, a wonderful cartoon, one of the trio's and Disney's very best in my opinion. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Clock Cleaners review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 21 April 2020]

Three of Disney's big guns are given an outing in Clock Cleaners: Mickey Mouse and his mates Donald Duck and Goofy certainly have unconventional methods for cleaning the intricate mechanism situated in a clock tower, and their exploits offer plenty of opportunities for gravity-defying scrapes. A decent enough little comedy that will keep kids above the age of 45 quiet.

Donald's bad word?

[mbking-2 · 10/10 · 17 May 2006]

Some viewers mistakenly infer that Donald says a bad word (e.g. "f--- you!") in response to his altercation with the coiled clock spring. If you play the scene over several times and listen carefully, what he is really saying is "Says you!" To which the spring replies, "Says I!"

This gem of a cartoon also depicts Disney's ongoing fascination with machinery and how it operates, in this case the intricate mechanism of the clock's inner workings. The same can be noted in THE OLD MILL, a Silly Symphony, also released in 1937, where the inner machinery is used to build up suspense in the case of the bird's nest situated in the gears.

One element that is sometimes cut from television showings of THE CLOCK CLEANERS in the iris out shot is the music on the soundtrack, "They Don't Wear Pants in the Sunny Side of France," considered to be a naughty song at the time.

Produced in 1937, the same year as Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, this is one of the most innovative and entertaining of the Mickey "Trio" shorts. Highly recommended

Mickey, Donald and Goofy as hilarious clock-cleaners!

[OllieSuave-007 · 10/10 · 5 October 2013]

This cartoon short features three of Disney's biggest stars: Mickey, Donald and Goofy. They are tasked out to clean a huge clock tower in the middle of the city, but the humor and laughs come when the three each have issues obstructing their work.

Mickey has a hard time sending a sleeping stork away; Donald gets tangled in the main springs of the clock; and Goofy, while cleaning the bell, gets the two statue hour ringers (one which resembles the Statue of Liberty) pound the bell at the stroke of the hour with Goofy inside.

It is a hilarious, delightful cartoon that is one of my childhood favorites and certainly brings back the nostalgia of the better cartoon days.

Grade A

This cartoon is a bit slow

[dandu386 · 3/10 · 27 August 2006]

I cannot see why this cartoon is one of the best, I'm not saying it's bad, but it doesn't deserve top spot. The gags and timing are slow. The characters milk their gags to the point where I have to yell "Enough Already!!" And another problem with this as well as many Disney cartoons is that the characters interact with objects instead of with each other. Watch a Fleisher or Warner Brothers cartoon made in 1937, and you notice that it is much more engaging than this cartoon or any late 1930s Disney cartoon. The only good thing I have to say about this, is that it is well animated, and colorful, but that's really it. Even the Fleishers made better artwork with their depression era budget!

"Hey, come on, cut the clowning, will you?"

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 2 July 2016]

The incomparable trio of Mickey, Donald and Goofy team up in this early color Disney short with the task of cleaning a giant clock tower. Mickey has to deal with an uncooperative, sleepyhead stork; Donald comes up against a stubborn mainspring, and Goofy gets his bell rung in a fun cartoon that's bound to delight folks of all ages. Of the three very early color Disney cartoons I've just seen ("The Band Concert" and "Thru the Mirror" are the others), this is the first one I could actually understand what Donald Duck was saying, although captioning did help with my hearing. The early sequence involving all those clock gears reminded me a bit of 2011's "Hugo" film, and in appropriate fashion, it appears the three Disney friends get their own clocks cleaned to wind down the story.

Clock Cleaners

[mclarenowner4 · 10/10 · 22 July 2005]

I have always loved this video, even when I was younger, I used to watch it so much. The mainspring in this movie was so funny fighting Donald. The conversation and fight between the two was so funny (later caused the short to be banned in one state due to a minister who thought that the spring told Donald to "F!@% off".) I am sorry for the profanity in that, but it is true. As the film goes on, Goofy ends up getting nailed on the head by the bell ringer and almost falls to his death, but luckily, Mickey is there to save the day once again! However, the stork is one thing that Mickey has a problem with. Of course, the stork fights back and throws Mickey out of the clock. As the short goes on, Goofy is still out of it from the hit, and as Mickey goes to save him, Goofy falls and hits a lamppost, sling-shooting himself and Mickey into the clock only to land on the mainspring and ruin Donald's work.

Excellent cartoon!

[sethn172 · 10/10 · 30 July 2006]

Why, oh why, do many people complain about this short? I liked it!!!!! I rented that "Fun on the Job" VHS all the time as a little kid!!!!! I never even knew people thought Donald was "cussing" until I heard rumors about this online!!!!! Well, actually, it's "says who!!!!!" (Darn voice talents!)

Anyways, I give this 1937 Disney short a ten because, yes, this was the cartoon that got me hooked onto the Disney classic cartoons (because I thought it was a "Goof Troop" tape), and that tape was excellent!!!!! I've also seen this playing on Mickey's TV at Toontown USA in Disneyland a long time ago!!!!!

Yep, I'll never forget the days when the Disney company meant great taste for everyone's viewing needs!!!!!

10 stars!!!!!

On the clock.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 8/10 · 8 June 2021]

'Clock Cleaners (1937)' is a short film that sees Mickey, Donald and Goofy clean up a giant clock, contending with various challenges as they do so. These challenges include a stubborn sleeping stork, a cheeky broken spring and, most hilarious of all, a shockingly serious concussion. It's a highly entertaining piece, one that moves quickly and has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Most of its hilarity ensues in the second half, once Goofy has become goofy thanks to a hefty whack on the head (see the aforementioned concussion), but that doesn't imply its first half is weak. Having said that, the thing does lack an overall flow, seeming like a few set-pieces rather than an actual narrative. Still, it's a lively and enjoyable time overall. It's great fun. 8/10.

rock around the clock

[lee_eisenberg · 5/10 · 6 May 2017]

Mickey, Donald and Goofy appeared in a couple of cartoons in the '30s in which they would start out together, get separated, and end up reunited following a series of mishaps. "Clock Cleaners" is one example, as the guys get given the assignment of keeping a clock tower spick and span, but all manner of things impede their work.

I understand that the American Family Association - classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group - convinced Wal-Mart to discontinue the sale of a VHS tape that included this cartoon over allegations that Donald used curse words while arguing with the mainspring. Two things about that. First, commercial entertainment wasn't allowed to include profanity when the cartoon got produced, as the Motion Picture Production Code (more commonly known as the Hays Code) was strictly enforced. Second, it not only shows what a bunch of cultural degenerates the AFA is, but how morally bankrupt Wal-Mart is (don't even get me started on how Wal-Mart has devastated communities).

Anyway, the cartoon isn't any sort of masterpiece, but the tykes will probably enjoy it.

Very imaginative, it's a beautiful sketch.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 1 August 2022]

Mickey, Donald and Goofy clean a clock tower, and run into a few problems.

I have such fond memories of this sketch from my childhood, I had it recorded on a VHS, it definitely had a few lines running through it.

It's wonderful seeing the trio up to all manner of problems, there's Mickey conscientiously trying to get on, Goofy ambling along, and of course poor Donald getting a little angry.

It's very funny, it's very sweet, and the animation is beautiful. Consider this dates back to 1937, it holds up incredibly well.

You have to live this trio, 9/10.

Clocks

[raben-81146 · 10/10 · 22 January 2023]

In this old Disney short Goody, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are cleaning a clock tower, as it ends in an vertigo including ending while a sleepy stork is in the way too inside the clock tower. You get some thrills, fun and nostalgia out of this Disney short so there is something for the whole family in some few minutes. I am surprised that this did not got the Oscar nomination for the best short, but not all animated shorts can get an Oscars runners up. But, his is just some old fashion cartoon that is a must watch for Disney or oldeis fans, and an highlight to watch around every New Years Eve.

Maddox's Masterpiece Review #1 (CLOCK CLEANERS - MICKEY MOUSE)

[maddoxacox · 9/10 · 8 May 2016]

==Does Donald Swear?==

No, he does not he says "Says you!" and then the spring says "Says I!"

==Is it a good cartoon?==

Recommended for all Mickey fans. But some parts are out of date so i give it a 9/10

SPOILERS

== Plot ==

Mickey Donald and Goofy have to clean a clock but Mickey is stuck, Doanld is on a weird spring and Goofy is on a gear.

The End.

Maddox Cox -- Mickey Fan *O*

Voted 27th Greatest Cartoon Ever Made

[springfieldrental · 10/10 · 4 December 2023]

Walt Disney released Mickey Mouse's 97th cartoon in October 1937's "Clock Cleaners." Featuring the same trio, Mickey, Donald Duck and Goofy, the three are janitors tasked with cleaning a clock high above inside a city tower. The three again split to spiff up the gigantic clock, and experience all sorts of adventures while doing their cleaning chores. So engrossing is the action of "Clock Cleaners" the eight-minute cartoon is ranked 27th in 'The 50 Greatest Cartoons.'

"Clock Cleaners" is well known today for the controversy it created after the cartoon as released on VHS. A fundamentalist Christian group petitioned Wal-Mart in the 1990s to pull the tape from its shelves. Its main concern was the scene showing Donald swearing at a clock's mainspring as he was repairing it. When the spring hits Mr. Duck, he first says "Says who," with the spring responding "Says I." Donald then calls the offending spring a "snake in the grass." Because of actor Clarence Nash's sometimes incomprehensible spitting voice as Donald, some viewers misinterpreted Donald as saying "f- you," and yelling "son of a b..." Wal Mart pulled the offending videotape. Spurring the Disney studio to re-record the lines clarifying the questionable offending lines.

Timeless Disney fun

[utgard14 · 9/10 · 10 July 2016]

Classic Disney short teaming their three stars of the time: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. This time the trio are supposed to clean a clock at the top of a high tower in the middle of a big city (presumably New York City since one of the mechanical figures that rings the clock bell is the Statue of Liberty). They each run into some difficulty and even danger, as you might expect, but it's all light and fun. Goofy's near-falls had my head spinning, though. The animation is gorgeous! Well-drawn characters and backgrounds, exciting action, and jaw-droppingly beautiful Technicolor. Great voice work from Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig, and Walt Disney himself. Lively, bouncy music from Paul Smith and Oliver Wallace. It's a fantastic cartoon, imaginative and funny. It's totally deserving of its reputation as one of the best shorts these three starred in together.