The Old Man Tree is the main villain of the 1932 Silly Symphonies short Flowers and Trees.
Background[]
Personality[]
The Old Man Tree is a rival tree who attempts to get his interest, the Lady Tree, where he attempts to attract her to replace the Boy Tree as his interest in a curmudgeonly behavior. He is shown to be jealous whenever the Boy Tree tries to make the Lady Tree his interest as well as showing envy towards the former. In addition of trying to make the Boy Tree stay away from his interest, he is also shown to cause imminent threats to not just the Boy Tree and the Lady Tree, but also to the forest, such as the case of starting a wildfire, resulting the survivors in the forest to react in shock.
Physical appearance[]
The Old Man Tree is a waspish-looking hollow tree with a pale gray coloration all over his body. He is shown to have a human-like face on top of his crown whose top does not have any leaves on it. He is also shown to have human-like arms as well as human-like legs which make up for his roots. He is also shown to have a green lizard in his mouth which seems to be his tongue.
Role in the short[]
The Old Man Tree is seen waking up in the morning where a bird wakes him up just as the pair of vultures standing on him fly away while bats fly out of his mouth. He later approaches the Lady Tree trying to get her attention, only for the Boy Tree to defend her from his rival. During a confrontation, the Old Man Tree arms himself with a spare branch while fighting against the Boy Tree in combat. As they fight together, the Old Man Tree walks backwards and trips himself on a rock, knocking himself unconsciously while a flower walks onto his body, seemingly to be dead, only for him to get back up to take revenge against the Boy Tree.
The Old Man Tree grabs a stick, twisting it on a log to cause a wildfire across the forest, causing the inhabitants in the forest to sound the alarm while the Boy Tree attempts to put out the fire alongside the other survivors, but the fire is too strong. However, unaware of this, the fire he caused began to burn the Old Man Tree, setting him on fire, just as he disappears during the wildfire, followed by a flock of birds poking through the clouds to emit a rain to extinguish the fire caused by the Old Man Tree. After the fire, the Old Man Tree's motionless body lies on the ground, making him reduced to a burnt log as he is shown to have perished during the fire, while the duo of vultures begin hovering over him.
Gallery[]
