Studio: Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, for Winkler Pictures
Distributor: Winkler Pictures (M. J. Winkler)
Short Synopsis
A cartoon retelling of Goldilocks with Alice in the title role, and a reworking of Disney's own Laugh-O-Gram version of two years earlier. The three bears, drawn as a comic family with a bowler-hatted father, leave their house; Alice and Julius the cat find it, help themselves, and are caught when the bears return, and the chase that follows is the film's business, with the bears' household turned into an obstacle course. The reuse of the Goldie Locks material is one of several cases in the early Alice films of Disney recycling Kansas City gags for his new series. The film survives in archive prints but has not had an official release, and detailed accounts of its gags are scarce; the outline follows the fairy tale and the series pattern.
Why It Matters
- The interest is comparative: set beside Goldie Locks and the Three Bears (1922), it shows the same director and much the same gags two years and a continent apart, with a live child in place of a drawn one and smoother, better-timed animation. It is a measure of how fast the small studio was improving.
- It is also the last Alice film of 1924, the series' first full year, after which Winkler Pictures renewed the contract, Disney hired more staff and the cartoon portions grew. From the next film the live-action frame shrinks and Julius takes over the comedy.
Notes and Trivia
- Disney's habit of remaking his own early films continued in the sound era with The Three Little Pigs and other fairy tales.
- Virginia Davis made only one more Alice film after this, Alice Gets Stung, before her parents fell out with Disney over pay.
- See also: Goldie Locks and the Three Bears (1922), Alice Gets Stung (1925).