A fun but sloppy entry in the 'Cartoonland' series

Alice Chops the Suey (aka "Alice in Chinatown") (1925)
Starring: Margie Gay
Director: Walt Disney
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

When Alice is kidnapped by cartoon Chinese gangsters, her animated cat friend sets out to save her.

 

 "Alice Chops the Suey" is a so-so entry in the "Alice Comedies" (referred to as "Alice in Cartoonland" in these parts where the strengths are almost cancelled out by the weaknesses. It was an early series animated by Walt Disney himself, and if it tells us anything about Disney, it's that his talent for gathering and managing creative teams was superior to his own creative talents.

Coming during the latter half of the series, and ostensibly starring the fourth and final girl to play the live-action character having adventures in a cartoon world, this short film is literally non-stop action from beginning to end. Like some of the other best moments in the series, the fun it has with cartoon-world physics and the malleability of animated characters are also highlights here, especially if you have a taste for surrealism and the absurd.

On the downside though, there is a lack of attention to detail that felt sloppy and that I found frustrating. The most obvious example of this is the way Alice's shape changed to appear more like one of the natives of the Cartooniverse when she was put in a bag and carried off by the gangsters. I've previously commented on how disappointed I was when the live-action Alice turned into an animated Alice for no reason other than to make the scene easier to execute, but it's never been as badly and sloppily done as it is here. At the very least, Disney could have bothered to make the struggling character in the bag thinner, to match Alice.

I was also annoyed by the way this installment opened, but not for the reasons I understand that has frustrated other reviewers.

I've seen negative comments directed at "Alice Chops the Suey" because its opening moments are a clear and obvious "rip-off" of Fleischer Studios' Out of the Inkwell shorts. I didn't see that as a negative, but more as Disney acknowledging where the inspiration for his series mixing live-action and animation came from... even if Fleischer consistently did it better than Disney ever managed to do.

To my mind, the biggest flaw here is that Disney either forgot the set-up of the series and that the "borrowed" opening from Out of the Inkwell doesn't fit with how he uses it. Alice is NOT a creation of pen and ink, but is instead a flesh-and-blood being who enters Cartoonland. It makes no sense for her to pop out of the ink well, especially not since she isn't a drawn character. I don't know if the target audience for the series would be bothered by this, but it cast a pall over the entire episode for me. And the pat ending didn't help. 

Ultimately, though, the good almost cancels out the bad here, with "Alice Chops the Suey" being fast-paced and goofy enough to entertain.

It's a Very Fanny St. Patrick's Day!

Well-crafted film noir homage with a twist!

Long Cold Walk (2022)
Starring: Nat Wise, Rocco La Motta, Stephen Scott, Jessica Rudolph, and Gene Winer
Director: Gene Winer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A homicide detective on the nightshift (Wise, voiced by Winer), is called to the scene of what turns out to be a greater mystery than he could have possibly imagined.

 

"Long Cold Walk" is a well-crafted film noir homage with an unexpected twist. Visually, there are a few jarring elements--such as some extreme close-ups that don't seem to serve any purpose and an extra that seems out place with the historical setting of the film--but overall Gene Winer and his crew do a fine job, on pretty much every technical level you'd care to consider.

As this film reached its final moments, I was certain that I would be giving it a solid Six of Ten Stars... but then the twist occured. I was expecting there to be some sort of twist due to a comment made by the narrator at the very beginning of the film, but when it happened, it was not at all what I expected it to be. That twist, and how it was executed, got a star added to the rating all by itself! I've watched and reviewed so many films over the past 30 years that "WOW!" moments don't happen all that often anymore, but Winer delivered one with "Long Cold Walk".

If you like old-school detective movies and TV shows, you're going to enjoy this short. Click below to check it out!

It's Women's History Month...

... so here's another cartoon from the 1920s about women's fashion trends, by author/illustrator Ethel Hays. (Her self-titled cartoon series was syndicated to over 500 newspapers.)

This Day in History...

 

Musical Monday with LostProphets

Part crime drama about small-time British crooks and part music video, "For He's a Jolly Good Felon" is the first chapter of a story about Simon (Sie Haworth) and a few other hapless men trying to get out from under the thumb of a vicious gangster/fight promoter, Harry (Alan Ford). It closes on a cliffhanger, and if I ever find Part Two, it will be featured in a future post here... because I liked both the music and film portions of this neat video--which is something of a throwback to the Golden Age of Music Videos during the 1980s and 1990s.

By the way, if you liked Alan Ford in "Snatch" (2000), you may like this one, too: He essentially plays the same character here as he did in that movie.

For He's a Jolly Good Felon (2010)

Starring: Alan Ford, Sie Haworth, Richard Sharpe, and Ian Watkins 

Director: Charlie Lightening

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

It's Mohammed Monday!

THIS WEEK WITH JESUS & MO

'The Gay Goucho' is one of Van Beuren's best

The Gay Goucho (1933)
Starring: Gus Wicke
Director: Hugh Harman
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Cubby Bear descends from the Argentinian highlands to spend the night with his dancer girlfriend... but when banditos intrude upon their fun, Cubby's defense of her honor places them in deadly danger.

 

Animation-wise, "The Gay Goucho" is one of the best efforts I've seen from the Van Beuren Studios; the character designs are decent, varied, and they remain stable throughout the entire run-time of the cartoon. Further there are honest-to-god detailed backgrounds and other elaborate scenery, something that's a rariety in a Van Beuren production. There is also a minimal amount of obvious looping and none of the visual gags and other sequences are stretched to the point where they stop being funny and become dull. In fact, one can even describe moments of this cartoon as thrilling. 

So why am I only giving it a rating of Six Stars? Because as funny and cute and energetic as this cartoon is, it falls completely apart and the end. The final gag is amusing, but the wrap-up is such a lazy cop-out that I knocked a full star off.

But I've embedded "The Gay Goucho" below for your viewing convenience and--hopefully--pleasure. Let me and everyone else know what YOUR thoughts are about it!

Happy birthday, Sharon Stone!

Actress Sharon Stone turns 65 years old today. We're celebrating with pictures of her from various points during the past five decades.

 

 

Fanny Friday!