Alice the Piper

    An Alice Comedy

    Release Date : December 15, 1924

    Running Time : 6:39

    Synopsis

    A take on the story of "The Pied Piper on Hamelin" as Alice and Julius are hired to rid the town of rats.

    Characters

    Alice and Julius

    Credits

    Director
    Walt Disney
    Animation
    Ub Iwerks
    Rollin "Ham" Hamilton
    Thurston Harper
    Live Action Actor
    Virginia Davis

    Source

    Based on the story "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"

    Cut Scenes

    Recent showings on The Disney Channel (1998) omit the final scene showing Alice and Julius vacuuming up the King after finding out their reward was less than they expected. This is probably not a deliberate cut, but the result of Disney having to use the only print available to them.

    DVD

    United States
    Disney's Alice Comedies : Volume 1

    Technical Specification

    Color Type: Black & White
    Animation Type: Combination live-action and standard animation
    Sound Mix: Silent
    Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
    Negative Format: 35mm
    Print Format: 35mm
    Cinematographic Process: Spherical
    Original Language: English

    Released by M. J. Winkler Productions

    Comments

    From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : Alright, we’re ready to finish off the year of 1924 with the final short released by Disney that year – Alice the Piper. It’s hard to say that this one is as good as the last few Iwerks influenced shorts, but it’s not too bad, and a fitting way to end the first year of Alice Comedies.

    The story opens with rats having invaded the town of Hamlin, taking over all the town’s areas, grabbing cheese, terrorizing sausages, and tormenting the town’s king. The rats appear in his bed, steal his blanket and trap him in a bear trap, just to name a few of their dirty deeds.

    Fed up with the torment, the king posts a reward sign, offering $5.00 to anyone who can rid the kingdom of the rats. The mischievous rats, meanwhile, change the sign to read $5,000 reward, meaning that hilarity will most assuredly ensue.

    Into this situation comes our adventurers, Alice and Julius the cat. And no, he still has not been named in the cartoons as of yet. They are “starving” according to the card before their arrival, and the thought of $5,000 of milk or ice cream drives them to action.

    Their first thought is just like the fairy tale, to play music and lead the rats to the river to drown. Although the rats enjoy the music, they are not following them to the river, mainly because of the large sign next to Julius that says “To The River.” Apparently, these rats can read. Who knew?

    That plan not working, Alice and Julius instead see a nearby giant vacuum cleaner, and suck all the rats up with that instead. Convenient, huh? The king emerges from his hut, which seems to be the only building in Hamlin, and gives Julius the $5.00. This is where my copy ends, but I have heard that in the original film, Alice and Julius reverse the vacuum and let the rats back onto the populace.

    Don’t get me wrong, the animation in this short is top notch, and it shows the animators still being inventive and using some fun bits. The characters are all the same, though, as the king is familiar from the Laugh-O-Grams, the rats are the same mice (very Mickey-esque) as in earlier films, and of course Julius is the same.

    The main thing I dislike about this film is the deus ex machine of the vacuum cleaner sitting only a few feet away from the door of the king’s hut. I mean, it’s just lazy, isn’t it? The guy could go outside to post a reward sign when no one else is anywhere nearby, but he couldn’t notice this giant vacuum cleaner? This doesn’t square up with the inventive notions of the bears making beer in Alice and the Three Bears and other cool twists that the Disney animators did on some of the other fairy tales. It’s too easy and wraps up the action too quickly for my tastes. It’s bad storytelling, which has been rare so far in these films.

    So, that is the end of the first year of Alice Comedies. Onward to 1925, and more and more Alice!

    Submit Your Comments

    (Note: you must be logged in to submit comments)

    Referenced Comments