I absolutely love this cartoon,it's beautifully animated under the direction Wilfred Jackson, who also directed the "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" segment from "Fantasia", and a few favorite Silly Symphonys like :

1.The Cat's Out (1931)
2.The Bears and Bees (1932)
3.Lullaby Land (1933)
4.The Godess of Spring (1934)
5.The Country Cousin and...
6.Mother Goose geos Hollywood (1938)

but this short is my all-time favorite on "My Favorite Silly Symphonys" list. I love the scene at night (it is just gorgeous), and I also love the little swallow family (they are sooooo adorable).

An abandoned windmill and the surrounding countryside are home to a number of creatures, such as spiders on glistening cobwebs, ducks on shimmering water and a bird nestled in the spoke of a wheel. Night falls, signified by bats waking up and flying out of the mill. A group of frogs perform a chorus of croaks, and are soon joined by chirping crickets; a swarm of fireflies float over the pond, and a frog eats one, causing its stomach to glow as it croaks...

This Oscar-winner, the debut of Disney's multiplane camera, is very much a triumph of style of substance. The story is practically nonexistant and the animal characters, while somewhat anthropmorphised, don't really have personalities. The animation, however, is a tour de force; from the opening shot of a spider on a cobweb to the lightning effects in the climactic storm, the cartoon is beautiful to look at. The Old Mill makes an interesting comparison with shorts such as The China Plate - while they may be more rudimentary, plenty of older shorts do a better job of holding the interest.