Director: Vernon Stallings
Release date: March 3, 1920
Stars: Krazy Kat
Rating: ★
Review:
Compared to other cartoonists working at the Bray studio, the work of Vernon Stallings is certainly subpar. His Krazy Kat cartoons are crude and simple, and lack the sophisticated animation of an Earl Hurd or the inventiveness of Walter Lantz.
‘The Best Mouse Loses’ is a very short cartoon in which Ignatz Mouse goes into a ringed boxing match. Arbiter Krazy Kat lets him win, much to Ignaz’s chagrin. Both the premise and the execution of this cartoon are poor, and the animation is only interesting because of some strange body elongations not seen elsewhere.
Watch ‘The Best Mouse Loses’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘The Best Mouse Loses’ is available on the Blu-Ray-DVD combo ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’
Discover more from Dr. Grob's Animation Review
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
March 28, 2026 at 03:23
Black Cow
Despite its crudeness, Vernon Stallings’ animation was very funny and inventive. The full extent of his talent can be seen in the 1930 Screen Song cartoon “Yes! We Have No Bananas,” which he animated entirely on his own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HygopC4S5W0
And if you’re a fan of the Krazy Kat comic strip, it’s worth noting that some of the cartoons featuring the feline that Stallings directed were the most faithful to the source material, surpassing all subsequent adaptations in terms of fidelity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E03ajal5_QY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lISGJGs06M4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3cX1a1V2HA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2pZlZf584c