Alpine Antics (1936) Online

"She was only an ice skater's daughter....." goes the song that accompanies the first minute of this old-fashioned cartoon centered around animals enjoying winter sports. After a bunch of silly but funny sights of different species skating and skiing, we come to the main characters.

A sign says, "Notice: Annual Ski-Race Today - $100,00,000 in prizes or a cool $2 in cash to the winner!"

Some little guy - the star of this cartoon - wants to win the race but a big bully comes by, demolishes his sled and walks away. The little man is undeterred. "I'll show that big stiff," he tells his girlfriend, "Kitty." and quickly makes a new pair of skis.

The rest of it - the bulk of the cartoon - is the big ski race. It reminded me of a Popeye cartoon with Bluto doing everything he can to sabotage the Sailor Man. Here, the big brute sabotages everyone in the race but you just know the little guy will find a way to beat him. Overall, it's pretty entertaining with some decent sight gags. It's not hilarious, but it will keep your interest as it maintains a high level of action.

One of the early Looney Tunes cartoons - at this time, Porky Pig was their major star and Mel Blanc wasn't yet providing the voices - features a skiing race in which a bully does everything possible to sabotage everyone else's chances. But he didn't figure on Beans.

I noticed that the song played at the beginning ("She Was an Ice Skater's Daughter") had the same tune as the theme song in their later cartoon "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter". I wonder whether or not the tune influenced that song "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini".

Oh well. Whatever the case, this is an OK cartoon. Warner Bros. cartoons hadn't yet taken the completely zany path that characterized them throughout the '40s and '50s (I think that they set about that path once the animators created Daffy Duck). Worth seeing, if only once.

Alpine Antics (1936)

*** (out of 4)

There a skiing competition and Beans plans to enter so that he can win the grand prize. All is going well until a bully decides to try and cheat to get the victory.

ALPINE ANTICS is another charming film from the Leon Schlesinger Studios. While there really weren't any huge laughs here, the film itself was pleasant enough to make it worth watching for fans of animated pictures from this era. I thought the highlight of the picture was a scene early on when one of the characters decides to go swimming in the icy water. The majority of the film has plenty of nice action and there's a very good pace to it that keeps it moving quite well. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but it's a fun short.

. . . but what about Porkers whizzing along on ice skates and skis? Could as few as one viewer's unique nexus between these two entertainments provide a clue to the Fate of Human Civilization? Judge for yourself. What makes the biggest impression--watching a milk cow tracing a Figure 8 to open the 1930s Looney Tune ALPINE ANTICS or seeing Dexter Fowler hitting the first Game 7 Lead-off homer in 112 years of MLB World Series History for the Cubs, off the Ace Pitcher Corey Kluber of the Self-Proclaimed Racist Cleveland Indians Organization five minutes later? Elsie is no Tonya Harding (obviously, she's the spouse of the Bully), but then again Kluber would be hard-pressed to lift Mickey Lolich's rosin bag in his own attempt to be the second pitcher to start and win three games in one Series. ALPINE ANTICS features a cigar-chomping cheater ("Bully"), bringing the Clinton Crime Clan to mind, as do the nonstop Crooked Hillary TV Ads from Leader Trump (portrayed by the tiny-handed outsider race entrant "Beans" in ALPINE ANTICS) between innings of Game Seven. As every American alive in the fall of 2016 realizes, the Cleveland-nominated Racially Proud Trump will be elected president next week if the Racist Indians win Game 7. If the Cubs take advantage of an entire season rigged in their favor by Corrupt Baseball Insiders and a Biased Media, Chicago-reared Crooked Hillary will once again be chewing her cud in Our White House (aka, the Clinton Barn).

Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win! Trump loses! (But, as both the endless nature of the Extra Innings Game 7 and ALPINE ANTICS--which concludes as the Bullies, that is, Elsie illegally sneaking Bully UNDER THE ICE to foist her "tie" against the seemingly Triumphant Beans, representing Leader Trump, thereby snatching Clinton Infamy from the Jaws of Being a Good Loser, with the help of the bribed Finish Line Judges Rigging the Race) would indicate, American Courts will not "validate" Crooked Hillary's "victory" until about Jan. 19, 2017!

Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes went on to much better things since, but 'Alpine Antics' is a decent if unexceptional early effort.

It does have some great animation and some exciting race scenes with some inventive parts. The music is playful and dynamic, always fitting with the action and never distracting if not quite action-enhancing.

There is some genuine cuteness and some good tension with the villain. The voice work is very good, with Billy Bletcher clearly relishing the role of the villain.

'Alpine Antics' is lacking somewhat in laughs, and is only mildly amusing at best. The story is thin and routine, and of the characters only the villain and Porky stand out. Beans is a serviceable enough lead but is not particularly funny.

In summary, decent cartoon with a lot of good things but there has been better since as well as before actually. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Black & white Beans the Cat short featuring an early appearance from Porky Pig. Beans wants to join a skiing contest but a bully breaks his skis. So he fashions some more from the rails of his sled and joins the race, where he competes against the bully and several other animal characters, the only noteworthy one being Porky on a rocking horse (he doesn't speak). The animation is very nice, particularly the action. Good voice work and music. It's an enjoyable cartoon for what it is, made in the years when Warner Bros. was still sort of mimicking Disney. It's not that funny; more cute than anything else. It's worth a look if you're an animation buff and are a fan of the kinds of cartoons that were made in the 1930s.

"Alpine Antics" is a 1936 cartoon that runs for 7 minutes and was produced by Schlesinger Studios. Jack King is the director and you may have seen some of his later Disney cartoons. Bletcher and Hansen do the voice acting and the former is especially prolific in that area. IThis may sound weird, but this cartoons looks somewhat older to me than 80 years old and not only because of the black-and-white. Warner Bros. and Disney certainly were on a different level at that time shortly before World War II. However, "Alpine Antics" is not all bad. It's a solid film, some decent snow sequences and also an antagonist to make the whole thing a bit more dramatic. Of course, our hero wins the race in the end and everybody's celebrating, well apart from the hero himself who also lands in the icy water. Don't worry though, these cartoon characters won't drown. All in all, not recommended.