The Chain Gang

In this black and white short, Mickey Mouse is in prison. God only knows what on earth Mickey Mouse could've done to deserve this. The first half is a musical sequence with the prisoners dancing around the prison yard. The rest of the short deals with an escape attempt by Mickey. All around, it's only mildly amusing.

The early Mickey Mouse cartoons show a Mickey different from the solid, dependable mouse we've grown to know in his later years. Could it be that, in his formative years, Mickey was a scamp and a rapscallion? Actually, Mickey displays the same irreverence the Marx Brothers display and The Chain Gang is a prime example. Very good cartoon and one that will see print again. It surely deserves to and soon. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

This is a rather odd Mickey Mouse cartoon, where he is part of a chain gang who likes to sing and dance. Old goodie-two-shoes Mickey ends up in prison, which is something very unconventional for the beloved mouse.

Definitely a different Mickey cartoon - a little suspenseful but minus the laughs.

Grade C

Obviously, our celebrity mouse has committed some atrocity to be put in prison and forced to break rocks on a chain gang. He never claims his innocence. Because of the boredom of his guard, Mickey is able to start playing his harmonica and getting all the other prisoners involved. Soon there is a jailbreak and he is caught in the middle. Good Mickey Mouse episode.

Not one of my favourite Disney shorts, but as ever likable enough. The story is somewhat unremarkable, and I don't think it is ever explained why Mickey was in the prison in the first place, for all I know it was just an excuse to put him in another setting and nothing else to it. This said, this short is still a lot of fun. The pacing is rapid without feeling too rushed, and there are some great sight gags, such as the prisoners speaking into the camera, the guards- who all look like Pete- shooting at one another and Mickey's means of escape. The animation is crisp and smooth, while the character animation doesn't stand out in the same way it does with other Mickey Mouse shorts, and the sequence with Mickey playing the harmonica does look as though it is from The Shindig, it is still very good. The music is energetic and beautiful, with the musical sequence in the middle actually tying in with the story and not taking too long either. Mickey is perhaps at his most cheeky and is always finding means of making us aware that he knows he has an audience(the point of the winking I think), and this persona pays off well for him, he is very charming for it. I also found it interesting that one of the bloodhounds looked remarkably like Pluto. All in all, a fun if not entirely short with a cheeky charmer in Mickey as well as great pacing and gags. 8/10 Bethany Cox