Alice in the Big League
"Alice strikes out in the Big League!"
Plot
Alice, a young live-action girl, finds herself in a cartoon world where she takes on the role of an umpire for a high-stakes 'Big League' baseball game played by various animated animals. The game is filled with surreal gags, including players using their ears to fly and balls that burrow underground, but Alice's officiating quickly draws the ire of the cartoon athletes. As she consistently makes questionable calls that favor the home team, the tension in the stadium reaches a boiling point. The film concludes with a chaotic riot as the animated crowd and players turn on Alice, hurling bottles and fruit at her until she is forced to flee the stadium in a frantic chase. This final escape serves as a literal and metaphorical exit for the character from the series.
Director
Cast
About the Production
Produced during a transitional period for the studio, the film was shot in March 1927 (live-action) and animated in April 1927. It was delivered to the distributor on April 30, 1927, and held for a summer release. By the time of its release, Walt Disney had already shifted his creative focus toward the development of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, leading to a noticeable decline in the production effort for this final Alice installment. The film was distributed by FBO (Film Booking Offices of America) for Margaret J. Winkler.
Historical Background
In 1927, the American film industry was on the cusp of the 'talkie' revolution with the release of 'The Jazz Singer' occurring just months after this short. Baseball was at the height of its 'Golden Age' in the 1920s, with stars like Babe Ruth making the sport a dominant cultural force, which explains the film's thematic choice. For the Disney Brothers Studio, 1927 was a year of massive expansion and risk as they moved from their small Kingswell Avenue office to the larger Hyperion Studio lot to accommodate the growing staff needed for the Oswald series.
Why This Film Matters
The film marks the end of the 'Alice Comedies,' the series that effectively put Walt Disney on the map after the failure of his Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City. It represents the final evolution of the 'inverted' Alice in Wonderland concept—where a real girl enters a cartoon world, rather than a cartoon character entering the real world (as seen in Fleischer's 'Out of the Inkwell'). The transition from Alice to Oswald, and eventually to Mickey Mouse, is visible in the character designs of the animals in this film, making it a crucial link in the evolutionary chain of American animation.
Making Of
The production of 'Alice in the Big League' was characterized by a sense of exhaustion within the Disney studio. Walt Disney and his lead animator Ub Iwerks were eager to move away from the technical limitations of the 'Alice' format, which required painstaking work to composite live-action footage with hand-drawn animation. The studio had recently secured a contract with Charles Mintz and Universal for the 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit' series, which offered higher budgets and the freedom of pure animation. Consequently, 'Alice in the Big League' relies heavily on recycled animation cycles and simplistic gags. Despite this, the film remains a technical curiosity for its use of 'perspective' shots, where the baseball appears to fly directly at the camera lens.
Visual Style
The film utilizes a stationary 35mm camera for the live-action segments, with Lois Hardwick performing against a white or neutral background to allow for later matting. A notable visual technique includes the use of 'coming-at-the-camera' gags where the baseball is animated to increase in size, creating a primitive 3D effect. The cinematography is credited to Rudolf Ising and Mike Marcus.
Innovations
The film demonstrates the studio's mastery of the 'double exposure' and 'matte' processes used to place a live actor into a drawn environment. While the integration in this specific short is considered less polished than earlier works, the ability to maintain the illusion of Alice interacting with animated objects (like the umpire's mask) was a significant feat for the mid-1920s.
Music
As a silent film, there was no original synchronized score. Modern restorations often feature new piano or organ scores, sometimes incorporating period-appropriate marches like the 'Gentry Triumphal March' to accompany the baseball theme.
Memorable Scenes
- The opening sequence where young animals try to peek through knotholes in the stadium fence, only to be chased and spanked by a cat policeman.
- The pitcher coiling his entire body like a spring before delivering a pitch.
- The climax where Alice is pelted with a barrage of animated objects and flees the stadium, her live-action form transitioning into a cartoon drawing as she runs into the distance.
Did You Know?
- This is the 56th and final film in the 'Alice Comedies' series, marking the end of Disney's first major successful franchise.
- Julius the Cat, a staple of the series and a precursor to Mickey Mouse, is notably absent from this final short.
- Several background characters in the film bear a striking resemblance to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who would debut just weeks later.
- The film was once considered lost for decades before being rediscovered and restored by film archives like the Eye Filmmuseum.
- Lois Hardwick, who plays Alice, was the fourth and final actress to portray the character in the series.
- The animation features early work by future industry legends Friz Freleng, Hugh Harman, and Rudolf Ising.
- The 'frozen' crowd animation in the opening scenes is often cited by historians as evidence of the studio's dwindling interest and budget for the series.
- Alice's transformation into an animated figure during the final chase scene was a common technique used to facilitate complex movement that live-action child actors couldn't perform.
What Critics Said
Contemporary reviews were sparse as short subjects were rarely given individual critiques, but modern animation historians generally view the film as a lackluster finale to a groundbreaking series. Critics often point out the 'sloppy' integration of live-action and animation compared to earlier entries like 'Alice's Spooky Adventure.' However, it is praised for its historical value and the glimpse it provides into the development of the 'Disney style' of character movement.
What Audiences Thought
At the time of release, audiences were reportedly growing tired of the Alice format, which had been running for nearly four years. The 'riot' at the end of the film, where the crowd boos Alice, is often interpreted by historians as a self-aware nod to the audience's own fatigue with the series. Today, it is appreciated by silent film enthusiasts and Disney completists as a rare artifact of the studio's infancy.
Film Connections
Influenced By
- Out of the Inkwell (Fleischer Studios)
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
- Major League Baseball (1920s era)
This Film Influenced
- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series
- The Barnyard Baseball (1928)
- How to Play Baseball (1942)
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Film Restoration
The film was long considered lost but has been recovered and restored. High-definition restorations exist, notably by the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam and the Walt Disney Archives.