Live-action animated film match with a live kitten. In a variation from this and inspired to do so Walt Disney's first directorial efforts, years before Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was born in 1927 and Mickey Mouse in 1928, were the live-action animated "Alice Comedies" cartoons, in which a young live-action girl named Alice interacted with animated cartoon characters. Many previous films combining live action with stop-motion animation using back projection, such as Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen films in the United States, and Aleksandr Ptushko, Karel Zeman and more recently Jan Švankmajer in Eastern Europe. The first feature film to do this was
The Merry Old Soul ordeal impossible to get out of. It appears the experience at the castle was nothing more than a nightmare as Oswald wakes up and sees himself still at the dental clinic. The dentist, at last, succeeds in extracting the tooth, and Oswald is relieved of his dental worries. The short is available on "The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection" DVD box set. The Merry Old Soul The Merry Old Soul is a 1933 animated short film by Walter Lantz Productions, and part of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. The cartoon was also nominated for an Academy Award.