Alice's Mysterious Mystery

Alice's Mysterious Mystery (1926)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

If you're looking for a cute and cuddly Walt Disney picture then it's best that you stay away from this one. The plot involves a mouse and a bear kidnapping local dogs so that they can kill them and turn them into sausage. Soon Alice and Julius her cat are on the case. ALICE'S MYSTERIOUS MYSTERY is certainly a must-see not because of its quality but because of how weird it is. This thing has a plot about killing dogs so just let that sink in for a minute. The film is actually well-made and as you'd expect the animation is very good. The plot is just so weird that you can't help but think many children were terrified of what they were seeing. There's one sequence where dogs are sliding into a room where they're hit over the head and go flying into a cell. There's even another where a group are taken into a death chamber. Pretty grim stuff for a family film.

Unlike the earlier Alice comedies from Walt Disney, this one stars Margie Gay as Alice. Why they switched from Virginia Davis to other little girls is something I have never understood, but the company canceled Davis' contract after she made about a dozen films.

This is NOT one of the better Alice comedies. In fact, it's downright creepy! And, I would imagine it would have traumatized some kids! It begins with a nasty character and his sidekicks rounding up all the dogs they can get. Why? They plan on killing them and turning them into sausages!!! In one brief scene, you can see one dog in a cage and next to him is a door marked 'Death Chamber'!!! And then, he's begin given his last rites!!! Only then does Alice come to the rescue--and the audience is relieved but also can assume that quite a few dogs already were turned into the tasty treat! Well animated for its time but rather unsavory...no, I mean NASTY!

Contrary to popular belief Walt Disney's first sustained character was neither Oswald the Rabbit nor Mickey Mouse. It was a six-year old real life girl named Alice. While working for an advertising agency in Kansas City Walt experimented with stop-action animation in his spare time. Borrowing an idea from Max and Dave Fleischer's "Out of the Inkwell" series; which superimposed animated figures on real film backgrounds. Disney reversed this and superimposed a young actress (originally Virginia Davis) on an animated background. Eventually there would be 56 Alice cartoons.

By the time of "Alice's Mysterious Mystery", Margie Gay had replaced Virginia over a pay dispute. To disguise this change, Disney eliminated tight shots of the live character and went entirely with wide shots. The economics of the animation business had begun to dictate quality and quantity; meaning the stories were cut to one reel (six minutes) and the animation far less elaborate. In spite of this the characters in "Alice's Mysterious Mystery" still convey some personality and you realize that little has really improved in cartoons since the silent days.

"Alice's Mysterious Mystery" is about as bizarre a story as you are likely to find. A mouse (not Mickey) and a bear supply a sausage factory with dog meat; first they pose as dogcatchers and capture a schoolhouse of puppies, then an attractive female dog lures male dogs to the factory window where the cat and bear open a trapdoor which whisks them into the basement. A helper down there hits them with a mallet and deposits them in cells. Then he takes them into a killing room and presumably stuffs them into sausage skins (I'm not joking-this really happens).

Adding to the surreal quality of the thing are the Ku Klux Klan hoods and robes worn by the bear, mouse, and the basement henchman. Alice and Julius the Cat eventually save the day but not for those who have already been made into sausage.

This one will leave you amazed about what mainstream theater patrons in mid-twenties found entertaining.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Disney has never been afraid of darker territory. Think of the Queen planning to have Snow White buried alive, the Pleasure Island sequence in PINOCCHIO, Frollo's homicidal lust in THE HUNCHBAKC OF NOTRE DAME, or Dr. Facilier being literally dragged to hell in THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG. However, I was still taken aback by ALICE'S MYSTERIOUS MYSTERY, an early Disney short involving a dognapping ring that seeks to turn its victims into sausage links. The humor does not pull punches and is quite dark. The filmmakers even include a rather comical murder scene!

In and of itself, this ALICE cartoon is pretty standard. Honestly, it's the messed up subject matter you'll remember more than the quality of the animation or the gags.