Alias St. Nick

On Christmas Eve, a cat disguises himself as Santa Claus to get into the home of a mouse and her many children.

Like almost all of the Harman-Ising cartoons of this period, I find something off about it, and it's the heavy-handed sense of humor. It seems calculated to get through to the dullest of audiences. It annoyed me as a young child when I delighted in the rapid-fire gags offered by Looney Tunes and Fleischer, and offends me now. Like a lot of entertainment offered to young children, it seems intent on despising its audience.

There is also something a bit odd about the Technicolor effects. Disney had recently lost its monopoly on 3-Strip Technicolor for cartoons, but Harman-Ising's use of it suggests they were still being very cautious in mixing primary colors.

'Alias St. Nick' was introduced me quite late, very recently actually via Youtube, so nostalgic value plays no part whatsoever in rating and reviewing it.

It is a very charming seasonal Christmas cartoon, without being one of the best around. It doesn't necessarily do anything wrong really, just that there are Christmas cartoons, many of which with iconic childhood favourite characters and from more famous companies and directors, that have more emotional impact and more staying power.

The start is a bit draggy, and it is agreed that the humour factor is low (apart from the train sequence, but that's more amusing than laugh-out-loud hilarious). And that it does at times try too hard to be cute so the cartoon occasionally goes overboard on the sentimentality.

On the other hand, the animation is colourful and beautifully drawn, the backgrounds smooth and rich in detail. The animation on the cat in expressions and movements is a mini-masterstroke. Also outstanding is the music, with a lush understated elegance but also uses rousing and dynamic arrangements of pre-existing music like "Light Cavalry" and "Snake Charmer" (a very clever brief bit).

While there are reservations about it being too cute and sentimental, 'Alias St. Nick' is also very charming and heart-warming. The beginning with the cat has some foreboding, but the highlight is the exciting and clever climax where the pace of the story drastically picks up.

Regarding the characters, the mice are sweet, with Little Cheeser not falling on the wrong sides of annoying or cloying, but the most memorable is the cunning characterisation of the cat, most of which can be seen in the animation but with Billy Bletcher doing a marvellous job with the voice work. The voice acting generally is fine.

In conclusion, charming cartoon with a particularly engaging climax and a great character in the cat being particularly noteworthy. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Harman-Isling Christmas cartoon. Mother mouse reads "A Visit from St. Nicholas" to a bunch of little mice kids. Among them is Little Cheeser. Cheeser is cynical and doesn't believe in Santa. Meanwhile some mangy-looking cat eavesdrops through the window and decides to masquerade as Santa. He hopes to gain entrance to the mouse home and eat them. But once inside he gets more than he bargained for from the suspicious Cheeser. An innocent little toon that will probably play best for toddlers. Not really much for adults. First appearance of Little Cheeser. The cat looks positively demonic. The animation is nice.

It's a MGM Happy Harmonies cartoon. Mrs. Mouse is reading "The Night Before Christmas" (the title on the book) and all her baby mice are laughing. An argument breaks out about Santa Claus. A scrawny cat is outside freezing and the mice won't let him in. He does overhear the argument about Santa Claus. He has the idea to play Santa Claus. The mice let him in and he brings them gifts.

It's a Harman Ising cartoon. Rudolf Ising is apparently the director. I was thinking that the disbelieving mouse would uncover the ruse. At the very least, the cat should have a plan to catch and eat all the mice. This cartoon is fine, but it has no bite. It's a meh.

The MGM cartoons do tend to trade on cuteness, and are never as hip or edgy as the Warner Brothers output of the 30s and 40s, but this one really isn't hard to watch, if you don't mind yet another cat-versus-mouse cartoon. The cat just wants a meal, but after all, playing on the gullibility of nice little mice is pretty rough, and he's obviously cast as an out-and-out villain. As mouse households go, this one is enormously well-furnished and a quite extensive burrow capable of sheltering thousands of mice, by the look of it. The cunning cat shows enormous resourcefulness in quickly coming up with a Santa suit and an enormous bag of really terrific toys, many of them mechanical. It's a pleasure to watch those mice having a ball with all that great stuff; as a Santa impostor, that cat performs admirably. When his cover is blown (literally!) and the cat is finally out of the bag, so to speak, the mice mobilize as a fearless attack force using many of the toys. Inventive visuals abound. Worth a look!