Studio: Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, for Winkler Pictures
Distributor: Winkler Pictures (M. J. Winkler)
Short Synopsis
Alice is in trouble at school. Caught misbehaving by a stern schoolmistress, she is made to stand in the corner in a dunce's cap, and there she falls asleep and dreams. In the cartoon world she and Julius the cat, with a dog for company, wage war on the schoolroom's tyrants, the teacher and the schoolbooks themselves, which come to life as enemies; the drawn battle gives the children's grudge against arithmetic and grammar a satisfying slapstick revenge. The dream ends with the teacher's return in the real classroom, and Alice is back in the corner. The title uses the period slang "in Dutch", meaning in trouble; the film survives and was issued on the Disney Rarities DVD.
Why It Matters
- The dream structure, with a real-world grievance played out as cartoon warfare, became the series' most reliable form, and the animated schoolbooks are a good example of the Disney team's growing confidence in making objects into characters, a habit that would run through the studio's work for decades.
- At ten minutes it is one of the longest Alice films, and it dates from the autumn of 1924, when Ub Iwerks had rejoined Disney from Kansas City and the animation improved markedly. It is the last Alice film but one in which Virginia Davis plays the lead before the role passed to Margie Gay.
Notes and Trivia
- Marjorie Sewell plays the schoolmistress; the adult roles in the Alice films were taken by friends and relatives of the staff.
- The Disney Rarities DVD (2005) presents the film with a new score.
- See also: Alice and the Dog Catcher (1924), Alice Gets Stung (1925).