The Vanishing of S.S. Willie
short film
The Vanishing of S.S. Willie is a 2024 short horror film written and directed by Nick Lives. It uses the American public domain status of the short animated film Steamboat Willie, featuring the earliest version of Mickey Mouse.
The film was released via YouTube on January 1, 2024 and is credited as the first released film to have been derived from Steamboat Willie since the cartoon entered the public domain.
Plot
Presented as a presumed lost documentary from 1928, the film focuses on the alleged disappearance of the commercial steamship The S.S. Willie in 1909. The story is introduced with the claim that a studio fire destroyed all known film prints before the premiere, relegating it to lost history. They impart a found footage-like atmosphere to the work.
The film itself depicts a series of evidence and backstory discovered by Ben Collin and his crew, who have looked to solve the mystery of what happened to the S.S. Willie and its crew. It starts by revealing the crew aboard the ship: The Captain, the First Mate, two Deckhands, the Chambermaid and the Cabin Boy, all of which go unnamed, and are various animal/human hybrid creatures.
After introducing the crew, Collin shows an interview with an unnamed, and faceless witness who was the last person to see the S.S. Willie and its crew. They talk about how they met the Cabin Boy, and how he claimed that this was to be his final voyage, stating that he was to be married after it was over, and that he would be "making music" with his wife soon.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Vanishing of S.S. Willie” as short film. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as short film. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q124131016. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2024, 1928 and 1909.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Vanishing of S.S. Willie”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Vanishing of S.S. Willie primary sources, The Vanishing of S.S. Willie archive and Vanishing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Vanishing of S.S. Willie”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Vanishing of S.S. Willie” 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.