The Big Cheese has a visit from the Mouse

Big Cheese (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (but there are no important spoken lines)
Directors: John Foster and Manny Davis
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

A boxer from the rough side of town trains for the big prize fight while bullying all who crosses his path.

"Big Cheese" is one of the lesser efforts from the Van Beuren animators--there's excessive looping, gags that get dragged out past the point of being funny, and sloppy animation that leads to character's changing appearances for no reason. Oftentimes, such weak efforts are saved by excellent music and/or songs, but that's not even the case here. There are just enough gags that work to hold a viewer's, and there's also a healthy dose of bizarre, surreal, and out-of-left-field cartoon character transformations to keep the "what the hell am I watching" quotient at an acceptable and entertaining level. And the prize match is mostly hilarious--even if they don't quite pull off the ending.

Despite its overall weakness, this COULD have been a Five-Star rated cartoon, or perhaps even a Low Six if someone, at some point during the production process, had said, "Hey... this story-thread that starts when our Mickey Mouse look-alike character shows up? We just sort of drop it when it really should come back around in the big finale! In fact, we set it up perfectly to do so--so why don't we do it?!" (Basically, Mickey Mouse gets bullied by the boxer, gains super-strength, and then wanders around a bit punching things. If someone who worked on "Big Cheese" had even the slightest notion of how to tell a story, he would have been present for the chaotic brawl at the end of the cartoon, and he would have kicked everyone's butt.)

I have perhaps given a mild spoiler above, but I don't think so. At most, I've given you what you need to not waste your time with this one, if you're a Van Beuren fan. (On the other hand, if you enjoy a good boxing spoof, you'll like boxing match during the second half... and if you're on a quest to watch all the appearances of the Van Beuren Mickey Mouse knock-off [like me], then you'll want to check this out by clicking below.)

Of Wolves and Girls in Hoods: Van Beuren

One thing you could almost always rely on the Van Beuren Corporation for was cartoons that featured weirdness for no apparent reason other than be weird. The quality of their storytelling, and the technical quality of the animation in their features varied wildly--sometimes even within the same cartoon--but they almost never failed to be weird.

Case in point: Their version of "Little Red Riding Hood", which was released as part of their Aesop's Fables anthology series. In true Van Beuren fashion, the cartoons released under that heading rarely had anything to do with Aesop's fables, which is why it's not terribly surprising that they included a Little Red Riding Hood adaptation in the mix. No, what's surprising is how far afield the creators went with this adaptation. It starts straying from the original fairy tale with a little Jazz Age satire... and then spins out of control from there. It is easily one of the most memorable Van Beuren effort... and oh so weird!

(As an added bonus, this seems to be another instance of one of those Mickey and/or Minnie Mouse look-alikes that eventually caused the Walt Disney Company to file suit against Van Beuren Corporation.)

Red Riding Hood (1931)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors
Directors: John Foster and John Bailey
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(This post was presented during Red Riding Hood Month at Shades of Gray. Click on the "Little Red Riding Hood" label below to see all the entires in this series.)

Hussy breaks clown's heart in 'Circus Capers'

Circus Capers (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Singer and Voice Actor
Directors: John Foster and Harry Bailey

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A circus clown has his heart broken when he discovers that his bareback-riding girlfriend is also carrying on with the ringmaster (who tries to kill him).

"Circus Capers" was one of four or so short films presented under the "Aesop's Fables" banner that featured a pair of amorous mice who just happened to (purely by coincidence and not-at-all-intentionally [wink-wink, nudge-nudge]) look very much like Walt Disney's Mickey and Minnie characters. 

While Milton and Rita (as the Van Beuren characters are named) looked like their more famous counterparts, they and their adventures were far raunchier: While I can imagine Mickey having a rival for Minnie's affections, I can't picture her being as slutty as Rita is in this cartoon. And the Walt Disney Company couldn't picture it either, and a successful lawsuit against Van Beuren eventually put an end to Milton and Rita's antics.

As for "Circus Capers" specifically, the plot is pretty much described in its entirety in the teaser summary at the top of this review. I could pad it out with punny double-entendres to describe the action and the characters, but I'll spare you that and instead just note that the strongest part of the cartoon is when the broken hearted Milton sings the at-the-time well-known song "Laugh Clown, Laugh"; it's actually one of the better renditions I've come across. The ending was also one that I appreciated very much, as I think Milton behaved exactly as he should when Rita tried to get him to her back. On the downside, the cartoon suffers from slip-shod animation that results in characters changing shapes and sizes for no reason other than poor quality control. It's a shame, because, with a little more effort this could have been quite good instead of merely average. (That said, I loved the supremely goofy lion-tamer bit; it takes an unexpected turn, and it make me laugh.)

But don't just take my word for how good or bad "Circus Capers" is. If you have ten minutes, you can watch it for yourself by clicking below..

'Stone Age Stunts' leaves something to be desired

Stone Age Stunts (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (but this is basically a silent movie)
Director: John Foster and Mannie Davis
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Pre-historic mice (who are basically Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse clones) go dancing at a club, get into a fight with a bully, and end up literally bringing the house down.

An entry in the long-running Aesop's Fables anthology series, "Stone Age Stunts" is seven minutes of crudely animated nonsense. Along the way, there are some scenes that will make you squirm if you have any sensitivity to the issues surrounding domestic violence. (There are riffs on the old cartoon caveman hitting his mate over the head with his club and dragging her off, but they are taken to uncomfortable extremes here.)

The saving grace (and only thing that makes watching this worthwhile) is the music. The animation and the music go perfectly together, and the only humorous that aren't uncomfortable to watch, grotesque, or inexplicably weird (or some combination of all three) are those involving music. The cavemouse suddenly being able to use his club as a flute is amusing, and the sequence that starts at roughly the halfway mark with a band of cartoon animals using other cartoon animals as instruments and a hilarious nightclub act make sitting through the more unpleasant bits worthwhile.

As I always try to do with the Van Beuren productions I review, you can watch it for yourself, right here in this post, and see if you think I'm right or wrong in my estimation of this one. Just click on the video below.

(Trivia: Although the amorous mice who are the stars of "Stone Age Stunts" had been appearing in Aesop's Fables episodes since the early 1920s, their appearances changed to be similar to that of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse once those characters became hits for Disney. Eventually, the Walt Disney Company filed suit against the Van Beuren Corporation. Disney didn't see damages--they just wanted Van Beuren to stop putting Mickey and Minnie look-alikes in crude situations in crudely animated cartoons.)

It's 'A Close Call' with a parade of knock-offs

A Close Call (1929)

Starring: Unknown Voice Actors (but there's only one spoken line)

Directors: John Foster and Harry Bailey

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

A pair of mice in love are set upon by a cat who has his own romantic designs on the girl.

By the end of 1929, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse had exploded in popularity across the United States and around the world, due to the exceptional way Disney fully integrated the new technology of sound into his animated films, as well as the superior story-telling and animation presented. It should surprise no one that other production companies wanted to get caught in that wave of success and come up with their own Mickey Mouse knock-offs.

Cue the Van Beuren Corporation's team of animators. They redesigned a pair of characters--Milton Mouse and Rita Mouse--that had been popping up every now and then since the early 1920s in their animated anthology series "Aesop's Fables" in a way that left no doubt as to where Van Beuren's creative staff got their "inspiration". 

The redesigned Milton and Rita first appeared in "A Close Call" and their looks evolved over four episodes of "Aesop's Fables" until they so resembled Mickey and Minnie that audience confusion was almost assured. (It's not as bad in "A Close Call", but as you can see EXACTLY what the Van Beuren crew was shooting for if you check out "The Office Boy" (1930) by clicking here.)

Milton and Rita were far cruder (both character-wise and animation-wise) than what Disney animators were doing with their mice was doing with--as well as more sexually charged and more physically and emotionally abusive toward each other. This didn't change once they were dressed up as Mickey and Minnie, and it perhaps even got worse; at the very least, each of the four films I've seen them in were successively more chaotic and fever-dreamish than the one before. Eventually, Roy Disney initiated a lawsuit over trademark and copyright infringement against the Van Beuren Company; Disney wasn't seeking any money--they just wanted to stop these uncouth clones from damaging the public perception of their characters.

But I keep digressing away from "A Close Call", which is a fairly amusing, if poorly structured, cartoon. There's a tone shift at about 2/3rds of the way through where it feels like it should end but it keeps going.

After opening with a bit of musical fluff and an uninspired dance number performed by Milton and Rita--which is, literally, spiced up with a gag involving Milton causing Rita's skirt to fall off--it shifts into a spoof of silent movie melodramas. This part features some of the film's best moments, with the villainous cat abducting Rita, having his romantic overtures toward her rebuffed, and subsequently treating viewers to a series of melodrama villain tropes. Meanwhile, Milton Mouse starts out filling the role of the standard melodrama tough-guy romantic hero--until the stereotypical tropes get hilariously distorted and ultimately reversed. The final disposition of our villainous cat (who himself appears like a knock-off of Felix the Cat--and who is probably more accurately viewed as a Krazy Kat copy since he's courting a mouse) is also somewhat shocking for a cartoon.

The second part of "A Close Call" features the wedding of the mouse couple, and it feels as if we're now watching a different cartoon featuring the same characters. It's equal parts strange and amusing, with the marriage ceremony culimating in a literal knot-tying... and "In the Army Now" is performed by the choir. It's all very amusing, but not very well connected to the first part, unless one imagines that Milton and Rita decided to get married because of the close call they experienced.

If you have a few minutes, check out "A Close Call" right here in this post.

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For a detailed history of the Van Beuren Company and more background on the development of Milton discussed above, you should get a copy of Hal Erickson's very detailed, yet entertaining, book "A Van Beuren Production".

'The Office Boy' doesn't work

The Office Boy (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors
Directors: Harry Bailey and John Foster
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

An office romance between an office boy and a secretary is threatened by their lecherous boss.

"The Office Boy" is a terrible cartoon. Everything about it is amateurish--from the animation through the sound design and the musical soundtrack and featured song--and indifferently produced, with the least amount of effort going into all aspects of creation.

I suspect some of you, after reading the above paragraph, are wondering how anything Walt Disney did with Mickey Mouse could ever be described as "amateurish" and "indifferently produced"? Well, that's because, despite what it might appear from the still above, "Office Boy" is NOT a Disney cartoon. Instead, it's one of a handful of knock-offs cranked out by the Van Beuren Corporation to capitalize on the popularity of Mickey Mouse and his female friend Minnie Mouse. They were so bad that Roy Disney reportedly filed suit against Van Beuren. According to Hal Erickson, who literally wrote the book on the Van Beuren Company, Disney wasn't seeking any monetary compensation for the obvious infringement--he just wanted then to stop making crappy cartoons featuring knock-offs of their popular characters.

"The Office Boy" is more terrible than even the worse "Tom & Jerry" installment, as, no matter how awful some of them are, there's always a certain atmosphere of childish glee, along with a generous helping of surreal absurdities. We have almost none of either here, except for the cute out-of-nowhere finale... which is tainted by what I assume is the first run of a nightmarish "gag" where two characters merge into one in a terrifying manner. (It reappears a couple years later in "Rocketeers", which was also co-directed by John Foster.)

As is my habit, when it comes to the short films I review, I encourage you to check out the subject instead of just taking my word for its quality. If nothing else, you will find yourself marveling at just how shameless the Van Beuren folks were in their rip-off of Mickey Mouse in "The Office Boy". (And if you find yourself disagreeing with my take, let everyone know your views in the comments section, or over on my Facebook page.)