Such a frustrating disappointment

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A different way of telling a story

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

When the old man (who looks like Paul Terry's long-time star character, Farmer Al Falfa) locks up the department store and leaves, the mice scurry to the toy department to fly in the toy air planes. They scorn the hard-to-handle toy helicopter in this well-executed if standard Terrytoon.The conclusion of this cartoon is foregone: the helicopter will save one of the mice. In various forms, this variation of the Ugly Duckling story appeared in a couple of Terrytoons every years. People mostly though it offered the moral that you should accept everyone. To me it looks like everyone loves someone who's useful.Nonetheless, this is a particularly well-handled variation of the story. When the cat punishes himself for not catching the mice, it's a bit that I've seen in four or five others. Nonetheless, the extreme in-betweening, if not quite at the Bob Clampett level of stretching, is funny, as are the sound effects that accompany it. Philip Scheib also offers a fine score based on variations of "Red Wing". Although there is nothing in this Terrytoon that had not been done several times before, it is put together in a fine manner.