''Chris Columbus, Jr.'' is a 1934 short animated film by

Walter Lantz Walter Benjamin Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animat ...

Productions, starring

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit, Oswald Rabbit, and Ozzie) is an animated series, animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short film ...

. It is loosely based on the historic events leading to

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

' sailing to the lands that were later named America. It is also among the few cartoons where Oswald plays a character other than himself.

Plot

Chris Columbus, Jr. (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) is one of few individuals who believe the world is round. Most people elsewhere insist it is flat and that they find him delusional. To prove them wrong, Chris plans to sail to India by going west. Chris goes to the king of Portugal to request ships and equipment, only to be denied. He then heads to the king of England but gets a similar answer. Finally he turns to the king and queen of Spain. While the Spanish king is unwilling to help, the Spanish queen shows sympathy and thinks otherwise. The Spanish queen provides the ships Chris needed. The people whom she brought to be Chris' shipmates are prisoners but Chris does not mind. Chris, at last, sets off on his voyage to India. The transatlantic journey of Chris is going smoothly at first. He and his shipmates appear to be fine. Days later, the first mate develops sour feelings for Chris. Like everybody else where they came from, he believes the world is flat. Thinking Chris has tricked them into sailing so they would fall off an edge, the first mate rallies the other shipmates to turn against and dispose of their captain. Mutiny ensues but Chris is able to keep his renegade shipmates at bay. But despite his cleverness, the first mate is able to get the upper hand. Chris then finds himself hanging at the ship's

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar (sailing), spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestay, forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create ...

. The renegades cut him loose, causing him to drop. However, the water he lands on is only knee-deep. He then finds out land has been reached. He even regains the loyalty of his shipmates. Chris and his men set foot on what they think is India but is actually America. They also befriend some of the inhabitants of the land. After spending several days there, Chris and his shipmates sail back to Europe, although one of them chooses to stay.

Guild/Firelight reissue

The film was reissued under the title of ''Christopher Columbus, Jr.'' Also, the scene where the Spanish queen smashes a bottle on one of the crewmen during the christening was removed.

References

External links

''Chris Columbus, Jr.''
at the

Big Cartoon Database The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) was an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated f ...

1934 films 1930s American animated films Films directed by Walter Lantz Animated films set in the 15th century Animated films set in England Films set in Portugal Animated films set in Spain Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons Seafaring films Universal Pictures animated short films Walter Lantz Productions shorts Cultural depictions of Christopher Columbus American animated black-and-white films 1934 animated short films {{1930s-short-animation-film-stub