The Mad Doctor (1933 film)
1933 Mickey Mouse short directed by David Hand
The Mad Doctor is a 1933 Mickey Mouse cartoon. It is known as the first appearance of the titular character, additionally known as "Doctor XXX". It was the 52nd Mickey Mouse short film and the second of that year.
This short is in the public domain because Disney did not renew the copyright as was required at the time.
Plot
The plot centers on the titular character, a mad scientist who has kidnapped Mickey's dog, Pluto. Mickey tries to rescue him before the doctor can perform his experiment: attaching Pluto's head onto the body of a chicken in order to ascertain what noise the potential hatchling will make. Mickey battles his way through booby traps and animated skeletons before eventually getting caught and strapped onto a table to be cut in half by a circular saw, forcing Mickey to suck in his belly as he trembles. The scene then fades to Mickey asleep in bed and suddenly woken up by a fly, whose buzzing is akin to the whirring of the saw. Not yet realizing the events were only a nightmare, Mickey shouts for Pluto, who eagerly jumps onto Mickey's bed with his doghouse and chain still attached to his collar.
Voice cast
Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney
Pluto: Pinto Colvig
Hen: Florence Gill
The Mad Doctor: Allan Watson
Reception
The short's horror elements made it unusual for a Mickey Mouse cartoon.
“The Mad Doctor (1933 film)” enters the record as 1933 Mickey Mouse short directed by David Hand. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Doctor, film and Mickey can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1136500. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1933.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Mad Doctor (1933 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.