Believe it or not, a cartoon about three pigs building houses changed the entire trajectory of the film industry. It’s wild. Most people remember the catchy "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" song, but they miss the fact that before the three little pigs film hit theaters in 1933, cartoon characters basically all acted the same. They walked the same, they bounced the same, and they had the same generic "rubbery" expressions.
Walt Disney changed that.
The 1933 Silly Symphony Three Little Pigs was a massive gamble that paid off in ways nobody expected. We aren't just talking about a cute short for kids. We're talking about the birth of "personality animation." If Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig didn't have distinct ways of moving—different from the practical, brick-laying Practical Pig—we might not have the nuanced character acting we see in Pixar or DreamWorks films today. It was that foundational.
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The 1933 Three Little Pigs Film and the Great Depression
You have to look at the timing. 1933 was a rough year for the United States. People were broke, tired, and scared. When the three little pigs film debuted, the Big Bad Wolf wasn't just a cartoon villain to the audiences in the seats. He was a stand-in for the "wolf at the door"—the poverty and despair of the Great Depression.
It resonated. Hard.
The film became such a sensation that theaters would keep it on the marquee for months, sometimes even longer than the main feature films they were supposed to be showing. People would literally ask the ticket booth if "the pig picture" was playing before they’d buy a ticket. It was the first time a short subject had that kind of independent drawing power.
Why Practical Pig Was the Hero We Needed
Practical Pig is kind of a buzzkill if you think about it. He’s the guy who tells you to stop partying and do your taxes. But in the context of the early 30s, his "work hard and prepare" attitude was the ultimate survival guide.
Walt Disney himself was a workaholic. He poured money into this short that he didn't really have, pushing for higher frame rates and better color via the then-exclusive Technicolor process. It’s funny because Disney’s distributor at the time, United Artists, actually thought the short was a bit of a dud because it only had four characters. They wanted more "action." They were wrong.
Technical Milestones Most People Ignore
We take color for granted now. But back then, the three little pigs film was a technical marvel. Disney had a multi-year exclusive contract for the three-strip Technicolor process, meaning his competitors like Fleischer Studios (the Betty Boop people) were stuck with two-color processes that looked muddy and weird.
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Then there’s the music.
"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" was written by Frank Churchill. It became the first-ever "hit" song from a cartoon. It was played on the radio constantly. It sold sheet music like crazy. This proved to the industry that animation could be a multi-media juggernaut. It wasn't just a flickering image on a screen; it was a brand.
The Problem with the Original Edit
If you watch a version of the three little pigs film on Disney+ today, you might notice something slightly off in the scene where the Wolf tries to trick the pigs by dressing up. Originally, the Wolf dressed as a Jewish peddler. It was a common, albeit lazy, vaudeville stereotype of the era.
Later, as social standards shifted—and specifically after the horrors of WWII—Disney realized this was incredibly offensive. They re-animated the scene in the 1940s to turn the Wolf into a "Fuller Brush man" instead. It’s a rare instance of Disney "stealth-editing" a classic to fix a lapse in judgment, and honestly, the film is better for it. The focus stays on the Wolf’s cunning rather than a cheap, harmful trope.
Why Character Acting Started Here
Before this three little pigs film, animators used something called "rubber hose" animation. Think early Mickey Mouse. His arms and legs were just black tubes. There were no bones, no weight.
Animator Fred Moore changed that with the pigs. He gave them "squash and stretch." When Practical Pig hits a brick with a trowel, you feel the resistance. When the Wolf blows, his whole torso expands like a bellows. This wasn't just moving drawings; it was physics.
- The Fifer: Carefree, high-energy, reckless.
- The Fiddler: Basically the same as the Fifer, showing that most people don't learn from mistakes.
- The Practical Pig: Heavy-set, grounded, methodical.
This trio showed that you could tell a story through how a character moves, not just what they say. It’s the reason we can tell the difference between Woody and Buzz Lightyear just by watching them walk across a room.
Legacy and the "Three Little Pigs" Sequels
Disney tried to catch lightning in a bottle again. They made The Big Bad Wolf (1934), Three Little Wolves (1936), and The Practical Pig (1939). They were fine. They were okay. But they didn't have the same cultural impact.
Walt actually hated making sequels. He famously said, "You can't top pigs with pigs." This realization is why he pushed into features like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He knew that if he just kept repeating the same formula, the magic would die. The three little pigs film was a bridge. It gave him the financial capital and the technical confidence to prove that an audience could stay emotionally invested in a drawing for more than eight minutes.
How to Appreciate the Film Today
If you’re looking to dive back into this piece of history, don't just watch it as a kid's story. Watch it as a piece of 1930s propaganda for hard work. Watch it as a masterclass in early color theory.
Look at the background art. The "Pork" and "Sausage" pictures on the wall of the pigs' house are a bit of dark, meta-humor that you wouldn't expect from 1933 Disney. It shows they had a bit of an edge.
Actionable Steps for Animation Buffs
To truly understand the impact of the three little pigs film, you should actually compare it to what came before.
- Watch a 1930 Aesop's Fables cartoon. You'll see characters that are interchangeable and move with zero weight.
- Watch "Three Little Pigs" (1933) immediately after. Notice the "weight" of the bricks and the way the Wolf's cheeks puff out. That’s the Fred Moore influence.
- Check out the "The Silly Symphony Fairytales" book. It goes into the deep-dive history of the concept art and how they struggled to get the Wolf’s design right without making him too scary for children.
- Listen to the soundtrack. Try to find the original 78rpm recordings if you can. The orchestration is surprisingly complex for a "silly" short.
The reality is that without these three pigs and their construction projects, the animation industry might have stayed a side-show attraction. Instead, it became an art form. It’s a short film with a massive shadow. Next time you see a character in a modern movie express a complex emotion through just a subtle eye-twitch, you can thank a brick-laying pig from 1933.