The Mad Dog

A neighborhood thinks Pluto is mad because he was coughing up bubbles; he actually swallowed a bar of soap by accident after refusing a bath from Mickey. The crazy people go after the dog and eventually gets the attention of Peg-Leg Pete the dog catcher, who attempts to eliminate Pluto. What results is a pretty exciting chase, with Mickey and Pluto trying to escape Pete's grips.

One of the more exciting earlier Mickey cartoons and not a bad story.

Grade B

"The Mad Dog" begins with Mickey giving Pluto a bath. However, Pluto is a bad dog and fights from getting bathed. In fact, he's so bad that he eats the bar of soap. Then, when he runs away, folks think he has rabies and begin to panic. When the dog catcher (Pete) arrives, he pulls out a gun and tries repeatedly to shoot the mutt. Thankfully, Mickey is eventually able to calm everyone down and takes Pluto back home to finish the bath.

This is an odd cartoon and one I liked, but have reservations that keep me from enthusiastically recommending it. On one hand, it's very well animated and quite clever--so there's a lot to enjoy. But, on the other, it's a very dark idea for a story if you think about it--rabies and putting down a dog suspected of having this terrible disease!! This might upset small kids but otherwise it's worth seeing, though dark...dreadfully dark.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Everyone flees from THE MAD DOG, not realizing it's just good old Pluto.

Here is another fine Mouse film from his black & white days. Peg-leg Pete plays the ruffian dog catcher. Is that Clarabelle Cow as the first pedestrian to encounter Pluto on the street? Walt Disney supplies Mickey's voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Peter Pan and Mr. Toad. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

The Mad Dog is not one of Disney's or Mickey's best, however it is still a very good short. The story is somewhat paint-by-numbers in structure in spots, but has great energy and doesn't have any dull spots, plus it was interesting to see Pluto causing mass chaos in a city which I haven't seen done before in the Mickey/Pluto shorts. The animation is crisp and clean with slick character designs if not having much that stands out. The music is vibrantly orchestrated and has a lot of character. The gags are great fun, the one with the Chinaman is one that some might take offence to nowadays but I did find it amusing, but the ones with the cow and the police phone and the giant pig and the whiskey barrel are even better. Mickey is likable, and Pete is a great antagonistic foil, but it is cute and funny Pluto who steals the show.

All in all, a very good short that falls slightly short of greatness. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The feature begins with Mickey giving Pluto a bath (not with quite a bit of resistance). Pluto finds a bar of soap on the floor and swallows it. Soon he is regurgitating bubbles and foaming at the mouth. An old lady sees him and jumps to the conclusion that he has rabies. What ensues is an effort to stay alive as an angry mob tries to kill our favorite canine. It is well done but quit sad in many ways.