Play Safe (1936)

A little boy jumps on a real train and learns a lesson about safety.

Director: Dave Fleischer
Producer: Max Fleischer

[railgun]

That kid is one person who will risk everything to get his dream. Also the subtle Casey Jones theme was great!

[LuvMJJ]

One of my all time favorites. I haven’t seen it in decades but always remembered it.

[daltondick]

0:52 Casey Jones, mounted to the cabin, Casey Jones orders in his hand, Casey Jones mounted to the cabin, and he took his farewell trip to the promised land! That’s my favorite song of the railroad.

[HENRY-vsd]

In his backyard, a little boy dressed like an engineer, is reading a book about trains while playing with a toy train. He has a brief thought about what it would be like to operate a real train. At that moment, he hears a real freight train approaching. He opens the gate to see the train stop, and goes to board it, but fails when his St. Bernard, whose name is given as Rover, grabs him before he can get far. Still wanting to get a hands-on experience, the boy attaches Rover's collar to a nearby tree and then makes his way toward the train and climbs onboard the boxcar at the end. Rover frantically tries to get free from the rope, fully aware of the dangers at hand. As the train starts moving, the boy ends up falling off, knocking his head against the rails and sending him into Dreamland.

Entering subconsciousness, the boy wakes up to find himself in an enormous train yard filled with steam engines with built-in yet uneasy smiley faces. Too excited to care, he looks around and boards the cab of a shiny, greenish blue streamliner engine named Montana. Then he hops in the seat, blows the whistle and pulls the brake lever backward, but starts fiddling with the rest of the valves and levers. The engine starts moving, slowly at first but quickly shifting up to rapid speed. Suddenly, the gauges on the dashboard start stalking the boy with the ominous warning "play safe". Frightened, the boy realizes that Montana is going much too fast, and reaches for the levers, but they disappear before he can grab hold of them. With no way of stopping, the boy finds himself trapped on the runaway engine as it travels around treacherous mountains and into a cavernous tunnel back in placers. Suddenly, from out of nowhere a red streamliner, coming in the opposite direction and screaming, appears on the same track. The two engines blow their whistles at one another, but instead of colliding, they jump off the tracks and scream face to face as the nightmare cuts away.

The boy is still not fully awake, and Rover hears another train coming down the tracks. Rover finally manages to break free from his collar, and rushes to the boy's rescue. As the train speedily approaches the boy laying on the tracks, Rover finally manages to outrun the engine. He dips his tail in some red paint and waves it like a flag, hoping to stop the oncoming train. Alas, the engineer doesn't notice and the engine runs into Rover, sending him speeding along the tracks over to his young master, and he grabs the boy in his teeth and pulls him out of danger just as the train speeds right past. Once the train has gone, Rover licks the boy's face to wake him up. He happily hugs and kisses Rover.

[glennviking]

5:14 there's 2 important things to be learned here. 1, Don't do drugs. 2, play safe.

[clray]

I wonder how many little boys learned to sleep on the rails and how many dogs learned to run faster because of this film since 1936.

[civishamburgum]

The design of this lokomotive with its disapearing handles is very dangerous.
It will cause confusion and delay.

[debralee]

Wow... I remember this like it was yesterday!

[jessicakey-olmsted]

Omg I wanna cry. I haven't watched this in 15 years...

[steamie]

4:11 I fear the ingenuity that went into the spastic coupling rods!

[onivapor]

I have been looking for this skit for years. Now that I found it, I can rest easy

[kelfreakingpoppy]

I'm pretty sure this cartoon is why I'm terrified of trains.

[railgun]

3:17 I would be SOOO happy if I woke up to find I was surrounded by the trains I love.

[Petemonster]

The message is that kids who find trains interesting should observe them from a distance.

[sondubs]

4:47 The shot was done by using models in the animation was deposited into it

[KrimzonFlygon]

Man's. Best. Friend.

I mean...holy SHIT.

[thecpmr]

I like how they subtly toss around the ballad of casey jones in the background.

[TheMNrailfan]

In all honesty I think that kid would have done awesome if the controls didn’t disappear.

[Rosemarie.]

As a kid I felt the boys anxiety, bro. Nostalgic 😭

[erichinkle]

The Fleischers were brilliant animators; why are they so forgotten today?