Studio: Walt Disney Studio, for Winkler Pictures
Distributor: Winkler Pictures (M. J. Winkler)
Short Synopsis
Alice and Julius the cat steal a pie, are caught by the law and sentenced to the rock pile. In the cartoon prison, drawn in the striped-uniform manner of the period, the two plan their escape, and the second half of the film is the breakout and the chase, with guards, dogs and the prison walls themselves as the obstacles and Julius's detachable tail and elastic body as the means. As with most of the middle-period Alice films, the live-action portion is reduced to Alice herself, composited into the drawings, and the picture is a cartoon in all but name. The film survives and was issued in the Alice in Cartoonland 35mm collector's set and in a 1930 sound reissue; detailed gag lists are not in the sources used here.
Why It Matters
- Prison comedies were a silent-era staple, and the Alice version uses the setting for chain-gang gags and a jailbreak that give Julius some of his best physical business; by the autumn of 1925 the cat was the real star and the animators, led by Iwerks, had him moving with real snap.
- The film comes from the series' most productive year, when Disney released an Alice film every two weeks, hired Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from Kansas City, and moved into the first studio on Hyperion Avenue. It is a typical rather than exceptional entry, which is what makes it useful as a sample of the series at speed.
Notes and Trivia
- A sound version was released on 1 November 1930.
- Margie Gay played Alice in more films than any other actress, 31 of the 57.
- See also: Alice Solves the Puzzle (1925), Alice Rattled by Rats (1925).