Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Mouse cartoon to be filmed was "Plane Crazy" in the summer of 1928, but it was produced as a silent and held back from release. The first Mickey Mouse film with a synchronized soundtrack, "Steamboat Willie", reached the screen that fall and became a major hit, eclipsing Oswald. "Plane Crazy" was later given its own synchronized soundtrack and released on March 17, 1929. Mintz, meanwhile, opened his own studio consisting primarily of former Disney employees, where he continued to produce Oswald cartoons, among them the first Oswald with sound, "Hen Fruit" (1929). While things were going in Mintz's favor, animators
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit best gags we have seen in cartoons." With the release of "The Mechanical Cow", "Moving Picture World" wrote that Oswald "has a wild and amusing time with his ingenuous milk producer" With the release of "Great Guns", "Moving Picture World" wrote that Oswald is a "hero in action in the trenches and [in] a situation where two planes fight each other like pugilists". They found that "Great Guns" was "chock full of humor" and wrote, "This series is bound to be popular in all types of houses if the present standard is maintained." "Moving Picture World" also wrote of the