Studio: Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, for Winkler Pictures
Distributor: Winkler Pictures (M. J. Winkler)
Short Synopsis
Alice and Julius the cat set themselves up as bullfighters in a cartoon Spain, with a peaceful old steer as their "bull", the idea being to look brave without any risk. Their enemy, Terrible Tom, swaps the tame animal for a real bull, and Alice finds herself in the ring with a genuinely furious beast and has to run for her life. She and Julius trap the bull in a pen, and Julius climbs into a bull skin to play the part himself and let Alice "win"; the trick is exposed when a dog pulls the skin off him in front of the crowd, and the angry spectators turn on the pair. The film survives and has been released on DVD, so the plot is documented.
Why It Matters
- The bullfight gives the animators a set piece with real speed, the bull's charges and Alice's dodges cut faster than in earlier films, and the climax, a cat in a bull costume unmasked before a mob, is the kind of embarrassment comedy the series did best. The real girl composited into a cartoon arena still looks good.
- Alice the Toreador is one of the last films with Virginia Davis, whose parents had been quarrelling with Disney over pay and billing, and it shows how far the animation had come in a year. The villain, Terrible Tom, is a step toward the recurring heavy Pete, who appears a month later in Alice Solves the Puzzle.
Notes and Trivia
- Ham Hamilton, newly hired, was the third regular animator; the studio was now a staff of about ten.
- The film was included in the collection Alice in Cartoonland: The Original Alice Comedies.
- See also: Alice Gets Stung (1925), Alice Solves the Puzzle (1925).