The Big Bad Wolf is an animated short released on 14 April 1934 by United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

, produced by Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 and directed by Burt Gillett as part of the Silly Symphony series. Acting partly as a sequel to the wildly successful adaptation of The Three Little Pigs

Three Little Pigs (film)

Three Little Pigs is an animated short film released on May 27, 1933 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on a fairy tale of the same name, Three Little Pigs won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. In 1994, it was voted #11 of the 50...

 of the previous year (maintaining the previous film's titular characters as well as its villain), this film also acts as an adaptation of the fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a French fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....

, with the Big Bad Wolf from 1933's Three Little Pigs acting as the adversary to Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.

Plot

Not taking the advice of Practical Pig ("There's danger in them woods. Be aware. The Big Bad Wolf is lurking there. Better to be safe than sorry. Short cuts are not always good. Take the long road round the forest while the Wolf is in the wood."), Little Red Riding Hood, escorted by Fiddler and Fifer, takes the short cut through the woods to Grandma's house. They end up encountering Goldilocks the Fairy Queen, who is soon revealed, thanks to a branch breaking, to be the Big Bad Wolf in disguise. Fiddler and Fifer run home, whilst Little Red Riding Hood escapes from the Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf, however, isn't giving up on getting dinner, and goes to Grandma's house, where he chases Grandma into the closet and gets in bed disguised as her. Little Red Riding Hood arrives and after the expected "what big eyes/nose/mouth you've got" spiel is terrified to see the Big Bad Wolf is posing as her grandmother ("You ain't seen the half of it, dearie!"). Fortunately, Fiddler and Fifer have managed to get Practical Pig and thus managed to beat the Wolf once more. As the cartoon ends, a reprise of "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" comes in.

Reaction

Made as a somewhat reluctant response to the success of the earlier short, The Big Bad Wolf did not quite achieve the levels of popularity of Three Little Pigs (which was huge), though two more shorts predominantly featuring the Big Bad Wolf and the pigs came about (The Three Little Wolves and The Practical Pig

The Practical Pig

The Practical Pig is a Silly Symphonies cartoon. Released on February 24, 1939, and directed by Dick Rickard. It was the second-to-last Silly Symphony made, and the fourth and final cartoon starring The Three Pigs...

), in addition to countless appearances in a variety of shorts, comic strips, war-time propaganda pieces and TV series.