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Director: unknown
Release Date: May 27, 1925
Stars: Dawn O’Day (Alice), Julius
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
In ‘Alice’s Egg Plant’ Alice and Julius have a chicken farm, but a Russian spy chicken named ‘Little red Henski’ makes their chicken strike. Clever Alice then organizes a cock fight with a one egg admission fee.
‘Alice’s Egg Plant’ marks Dawn O’Day’s only appearance as Alice. She was supposed to be the second Alice after Virginia Davis, who quit after some arguments about her salary. But Disney’s salary offer proved to be too low for O’Day, as well. The next Alice would be Margie Gay, who would serve as Alice during 1925 and 1926
In ‘Alice’s Egg Plant’ one can already see the transition from emphasis on live action to animation. The shots of Alice are minimized in this cartoon and there are no close ups. The animation on the other hand begins to look more flexible and lifelike. Add the clever and entertaining story with its many gags, and here’s an Alice Comedy that still is entertaining today. It would also be prophetic, because Disney himself would face a frustrating strike in 1941, also led by an agitator from outside the company, Herbert K. Sorrell…
Watch ‘Alice’s Egg Plant’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Alice’s Egg Plant’ is available on the DVD ‘Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities’
Director: Walt Disney
Release Date: July 25, 1927
Stars: Lois Hardwick (Alice)
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘Alice the Whaler’ was one of the last of the Alice Comedies. It was only followed by two other titles, before Alice was replaced by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It features Lois Hardwick as Alice, who had replaced Margie Gay at the end of 1926.
‘Alice the Whaler’ is a cartoon that consists of rather unrelated gags. This time Alice and the gang are on a ship, looking for whales. In this cartoon both Disney’s character designs as the flexible animation have matured. Gone are the goggly eyes, and even one character (a cat cook) is wearing Mickey Mouse-type gloves. Also starring is a small mouse that peels potatoes just the way Mickey would do a year later in ‘Steamboat Willie‘.
Alice has almost disappeared from the screen, by now: she’s visible in four shots only, two total shots of the ships and two close ups that contain no animation whatsoever. Indeed, in his next series, Walt Disney would abandon live action altogether, relying on animation only, which by now already was the best in the business.
Watch ‘Alice the Whaler’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Alice the Whaler’ is available on the DVD ‘Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities’
Director: unknown
Release Date: February 15, 1926
Stars: Margie Gay (Alice), Julius
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
Two dog catchers, a bear and a mouse, catch a whole school of dogs.
They also lure some dogs using a girl dog on a balcony. They all end in a prison-like sausage factory, which contains a death chamber. We see a dog actually walk in there (after having been salvaged by a dog priest). He comes out as a string of sausages… Luckily, detectives Alice (Margie Gay) and Julius free all remaining dogs.
This cartoon contains quite some flexible animation, especially of the bear emptying the school.
Watch ‘Alice’s Mysterious Mystery’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Alice’s Mysterious Mystery’ is available on the DVD ‘Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 