--- title: Disney's Long-Lost Film 'Sleigh Bells' Uncovered description: 'Sleigh Bells,' from 1928, features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and was discovered at the British Film Institute canonical: https://time.com/4099985/disney-film-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-04T18:13:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:20:29.904Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Long-Lost Walt Disney Short Film Discovered og:description: 'Sleigh Bells,' from 1928, features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit og:url: https://time.com/4099985/disney-film-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Long-Lost Walt Disney Short Film Discovered twitter:description: 'Sleigh Bells,' from 1928, features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Long-Lost Walt Disney Short Film Discovered  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 4, 2015 6:13 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 4, 2015 6:13 PM UTC The sole copy of a 1928 Walt Disney film thought to be lost forever [has been rediscovered in the archives](http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/lost-disney-film-found-bfi-national-archive) of the British Film Institute. Walt Disney Animation Studios has restored the six-minute silent film, _Sleigh Bells_, which features Mickey Mouse precursor Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and will premiere next month at the BFI in London. The film originally entered the archives 34 years ago, collected from a film lab went out of business, but nothing about the way it was logged—including the fact that it was dated as being from 1931—suggested its historical value. “There must be a hundred things called _Sleigh Bells_ \[in the archives\],” a BFI spokesman [told _The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/03/lost-walt-disney-film-discovered-in-british-film-institute-archive). While browsing the BFI’s online catalog, a researcher looking for lost Disney films made the discovery recognized the title as a possible missing short. “What a joyful treat to discover a long-lost Walt Disney film in the BFI national archive and to be able to show it to a whole new audience 87 years after it was made,” Robin Baker, the head curator for the BFI National Archive, [said in a statement](http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/lost-disney-film-found-bfi-national-archive). “The restoration of this film will introduce many audiences to Disney’s work in the silent period.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4099985/disney-film-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4099985/disney-film-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit/"},"headline":"Long-Lost Walt Disney Short Film Discovered","datePublished":"2015-11-04T18:13:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:20:29.904Z","description":"Sleigh Bells, from 1928, features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit","url":"https://time.com/4099985/disney-film-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit/","keywords":["movies","Disney"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4099985/disney-film-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit/","name":"Long-Lost Walt Disney Short Film Discovered"}}]}] ```