Rough on Rats

Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.

'Rough on Rats' did remind me a little of 'Three Little Kittens' (released a year later but seen before this by me), also from Van Beuren. It also has three adorable kittens with big personalities fighting a sinister rat villain, with a similar story in events and tone in starting off very cute and then it takes a more violent shift once the rat is introduced (if not as odd and extreme in violence, not knocking 'Three Little Kittens' at all as it is a good cartoon still).

While there is a preference for 'Three Little Kittens', 'Rough on Rats' is still a decent cartoon if not a remarkable one. It is more ambitious than most Van Beuren efforts, especially in more daring material and more detailed backgrounds, which on the most part are pretty excellent in quality, showing that Van Beuren has more to them than bland cutesiness and bizarre absurdity that they execute with wildly variable results.

The kittens are adorable and big in personality and the rat is suitably sinister. The conflict is both fun and tense and the cute factor is not too excessive. The second half is the more interesting half, tighter in pacing and with more of a story that is a cohesive one. The material is violent but not extreme or disturbing.

Best of all is the music score, it is typically peppy and great fun to listen to. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. This is especially the case in the second half and even more so the climax.

However, while the backgrounds show ambition, there isn't as much improvement or effort in the character designs which are very crude and ropy. The first half is not as engaging in the second half, the cartoon does have a slightly too long to gain momentum vibe and the material is fairly thin.

Humour-wise, 'Rough on Rats' is relatively low on it and is bland when it attempts it. Credit is due for having more of a story than most Van Beuren cartoons, but it is pretty formulaic and predictable and the two tonally different halves give 'Rough on Rats' a slightly disjointed feel.

Overall, rough around the edges but decent enough. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Harry Bailey's last credited work as a cartoon director is a decent but unremarkable effort. Three kittens frisk around a grocery store getting into mischief, until they encounter a rat larger than they are and fight it.

Little is known of Bailey. He worked as a cameraman for Bray in the middle of the teens, at the beginning of the animation industry. He became a director in 1928 and directed a wide variety of cartoons for Amadee van Beuren, some of them remarkable for their absurd humor like A DIZZY DAY, but most of them fairly unremarkable. The year after this cartoon, he did some uncredited animation for some Fox features. Neither his date of birth nor his death is certain. Alas, it's fairly typical of the transient and undocumented nature of the industry.