Simply Perfect

Best movie ever!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Yes I had to go there. "Alice's Egg Plant" is an 8.5-minute cartoon from 1925 and as always with Walt Disney's series about this young girl, the only live action character in this animated world is Alice. As the title already says, she and her pal Julius operate an egg plant here (which means a chicken farm, not a biological plant) and I felt that this little movie here had more of a story and plot than they usually do. of course, it also goes for comedy, but there is a touch of union talk and maybe even a slight ounce pf politics in here. Unfortunately, it still stays a fairly absurd watch and neither the characters nor the animation are good enough to really say this is an enjoyable little film, even if it's among the most known from the Alice series. The title character here is played by Anne Shirley and this is her only performance as Alice. She went on to become an Oscar nominee later on. But here she cannot show us her talent yet. I don't recommend the watch.

Alice's Egg Plant (1925) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Alice and Julius are running a very successful egg planet and their luck just got even better when an order of 5000 eggs come in. The only problem is that the chickens have gotten together and agreed to go on strike demanding shorter hours and smaller eggs. ALICE'S EGG PLANT was the only film in the series that had Anne Shirley playing the role of Alice. She filled in for this one film and it turns out that it's one of the best. To be fair and honest, she's certainly not the greatest thing in the film but she's certainly nice in the part. The best thing about the film is its story, which manages to pack in a lot of laughs and the entire thing just has a very creative feel to it. This includes the fact that the chickens go on strike during a very funny sequence. Another highlight happens when three of the eggs are stolen and Julius must battle a snake to get them back. Fans of this series will certainly love this and even if you're not familiar with the films you should enjoy it too.

Before Walt Disney branched off on his own, he produced shorts for several different companies. One type were his Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons and the other were his Alice films. Alice was an unusual concept. Most of the film was traditional black & white cartoon, but the central character, Alice, was a live action little girl. By today's standards, they're really crude but back in the mid-1920s, they were pretty exciting stuff.If you watch this film, you might just assume it's another cute little Alice film and you would be wrong! The cartoon is actually very, very political as it's a bit of propaganda against the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World), also known as 'the Wobblies'. No one is sure why they're called this but they were by far the most radical union in America and their principles were very pro-Marxist. They believed that the workers must own the means of production--a prime tenant of Marxism and true Communism. During the early 20th Century, many people were worried about this union and there was a lot of propaganda against them during WWI--especially since they protested against American involvement in it (not a bad idea, actually). Obviously Walt Disney, a political conservative, was against the I.W.W..The film begins with a scene that actually might tend to validate the I.W.W., as a cat is on the farm behaving rather brutally towards the chickens to get them to lay eggs. However, soon a Bolshevik (Russian Communist) chicken who represents the I.W.W. arrives and stirs up trouble. Now the chickens won't lay eggs and are even hostile to Alice and her nasty cat. So, Alice thinks up a clever way to defeat the dreaded Wobblies.I can guarantee that most won't understand all this symbolism, but it was meant to be very obvious and very political back in 1925--even though it was supposedly a kids' cartoon! Sometimes being a history teacher does have its advantages!

OF the 10 or so ALICE IN CARTOONLAND Series Cartoons which we have seen, this one rates pretty high on the ratings chart. Of course it must seem to be very primitive to the uninitiated viewer; and certainly it was that way! BUT it also provides us with a glimpse at the yet un-emerged talents and quality of style which would indeed be the Disney Hallmark. For example, it is most insightful to be able to calculate the rapid rise in the sophistication and complexity that became the typical animated cartoon short or cartoon feature in only about a dozen years. The difference is like the proverbial night and day.ALICE'S EGG PLANT (Walt Disney Productions/Margaret J. Winkler Distributors, 1925) has a great deal of fun in it. There is a great deal of that interplay between Alice # 2 (Anne Shirley) and her vast herd of funny animals; but in this one, we have a few twists and turns that were out of the ordinary.THE Egg Plant in the title is not the popular Mediterranean vegetable; but rather a plant as in a building or complex devoted to production of a particular item or consumable food stuffs. In short, young Miss Alice has a Chicken Farm, specializing in Egg production, rather than the Poultry end of the business.WHEN Alice and her right hand 'man', her cat, Julius, receive a rush order for 5,000 eggs; they must decide on a plan for stepping up production as they find their work force of hens has been influenced by "Little Red Henski, from Moscow, Russia"; who now has them 'On Strike!' The day is saved when young Miss Alice hits upon the idea of staging a 'Cockfight' between two Roosters on the farm. This would be with gloves; conducted strictly under Marquis of Queensbury Rules. They would charge an admission of egg and were successful up to a point. The trouble began when………….(We'll never tell!)WE find it indeed interesting that the central theme of this one reel cartoon of 1925 was that of Labor Relations and the corruption of any legitimate Labor Movement by agents of Comintern (Communist International Movement). We don't say this because there weren't such problems right here in the good old USA as well as the rest of the World; for there were most definitely were many such major upheavals during this period. It's just that it seems to be an odd subject with which to tickle our funny-bones.IN its own little way, ALICE'S EGG PLANT remains a curious example of an irony that was born in the early Hollywood Animation scene. Possibly there had never been such a mixture of serious business of World Economics and Political unrest with the totally fluffy nonsense of a Theatrical Cartoon. AND just think of how this simple, little nearly forgotten Cartoon relates to Today's World; what with some of our top Political Candidates having such decidedly Socialistic leanings and the emergence of a Guy like 'Joe the Plumber' as a sort of counterbalancing Folk Hero.WE guess that some things never change, right Schultz? POODLE SCHNITZ!!