Over the years a number of animation studios have attempted to translate George Herriman's brilliant, surreal Krazy Kat comic strip into cartoons, but in almost every instance the results have fallen far short of the source material. The products vary considerably, depending on the personnel involved, but in some cases the characters scarcely resemble Herriman's original designs, while the prevailing tone in most of the surviving films is nothing at all like the dream-like, whimsical atmosphere so effortlessly sustained in the strip. Some of the so-called "Krazy Kat" cartoons (especially the Disney-influenced shorts of the early '30s) are so radically unlike Herriman's work, they suggest the animators either were unfamiliar with it—which is highly unlikely—or that they were compelled to come up with something wholly dissimilar.
But The Great Cheese Robbery, an entry in a short-lived series produced by the legendary Bray Studio and released through Goldwyn, is something else again. Although the animation quality is primitive, and the backgrounds are plain and unadorned, all of the characters (including Ignatz Mouse, Offisa Pup, Walter Cephus Austrich the ostrich, and of course, that gender neutral Kat known as Krazy) come straight from the source, and actually resemble their models. Moreover, the tone of the humor in this modest short is evocative of the comic strip, especially in one memorable and amusing scene.
Our story begins one night as Krazy reads a newspaper account of the mysterious cheese thefts that have "terrified" the community. (Our setting, meanwhile, looks rather more urban than the usual desert mesas of the comic strip.) As if on cue, Ignatz Mouse skulks past, wearing a bandit mask and carrying a satchel. Intrigued, Krazy follows him. Sure enough, Ignatz is the culprit, which becomes obvious when he enters a cheese warehouse, consumes a huge chunk of the stuff in one gulp, and then stuffs another chunk into his bag. When Krazy, who was lurking outside, knocks at the door, Ignatz swiftly hides; Krazy enters and is mistaken for the thief by Walter the security guard, who clubs him repeatedly and drags him away.
The next morning, Ignatz reads about Krazy's arrest in the morning paper and laughs heartily. But then, in a sequence that looks very much like something from the comic strip, his guilty conscience gets the better of him: one by one, inanimate objects in the rodent's household come to life. The wadded newspaper, the stolen cheese, a bedspread, a pillow, a potted cactus, and a mirror all rise up and point at him accusingly, striking the classic "J'Accuse!" pose, which intimidates the increasingly rattled Ignatz. (Amusingly, his goldfish rises from its bowl and joins in.) Hysterical and contrite, Ignatz rushes to the jail and bails out Krazy.
That's about all there is to it, but as simple as it is, it's a cartoon worthy of George Herriman, especially compared to some of the other efforts by lesser talents. On the debit side, the footage ends a little abruptly, and the scene in the jail is somewhat anticlimactic, but the sequence where Ignatz comes to terms with his guilty conscience is nicely realized, and worth the price of admission. I haven't seen any of the other 1920-21 Krazy Kat cartoons from the Bray Studio, but if they're as good as this one then they're definitely worth seeking out.
But The Great Cheese Robbery, an entry in a short-lived series produced by the legendary Bray Studio and released through Goldwyn, is something else again. Although the animation quality is primitive, and the backgrounds are plain and unadorned, all of the characters (including Ignatz Mouse, Offisa Pup, Walter Cephus Austrich the ostrich, and of course, that gender neutral Kat known as Krazy) come straight from the source, and actually resemble their models. Moreover, the tone of the humor in this modest short is evocative of the comic strip, especially in one memorable and amusing scene.
Our story begins one night as Krazy reads a newspaper account of the mysterious cheese thefts that have "terrified" the community. (Our setting, meanwhile, looks rather more urban than the usual desert mesas of the comic strip.) As if on cue, Ignatz Mouse skulks past, wearing a bandit mask and carrying a satchel. Intrigued, Krazy follows him. Sure enough, Ignatz is the culprit, which becomes obvious when he enters a cheese warehouse, consumes a huge chunk of the stuff in one gulp, and then stuffs another chunk into his bag. When Krazy, who was lurking outside, knocks at the door, Ignatz swiftly hides; Krazy enters and is mistaken for the thief by Walter the security guard, who clubs him repeatedly and drags him away.
The next morning, Ignatz reads about Krazy's arrest in the morning paper and laughs heartily. But then, in a sequence that looks very much like something from the comic strip, his guilty conscience gets the better of him: one by one, inanimate objects in the rodent's household come to life. The wadded newspaper, the stolen cheese, a bedspread, a pillow, a potted cactus, and a mirror all rise up and point at him accusingly, striking the classic "J'Accuse!" pose, which intimidates the increasingly rattled Ignatz. (Amusingly, his goldfish rises from its bowl and joins in.) Hysterical and contrite, Ignatz rushes to the jail and bails out Krazy.
That's about all there is to it, but as simple as it is, it's a cartoon worthy of George Herriman, especially compared to some of the other efforts by lesser talents. On the debit side, the footage ends a little abruptly, and the scene in the jail is somewhat anticlimactic, but the sequence where Ignatz comes to terms with his guilty conscience is nicely realized, and worth the price of admission. I haven't seen any of the other 1920-21 Krazy Kat cartoons from the Bray Studio, but if they're as good as this one then they're definitely worth seeking out.
