Farmer Al Falfa has his property overrun with mice in this fine Aesop's Fables silent cartoon.
It's a well-focused effort, with only one subplot in which the cat, Henry, goes into business with one of the mice running a whetstone. Otherwise, it's all variations on the same theme, with some nice gags along the way, There's even an attempt at a rising arc of gags, although that is muted, and some handsome background artwork. That was a lot easier to pull off in the days before cartoons switched to color. However, given the inherently expensive nature of hand-drawn cartoon, good background work was a luxury, until everyone did it, and you had to do it too to compete.
It's a well-focused effort, with only one subplot in which the cat, Henry, goes into business with one of the mice running a whetstone. Otherwise, it's all variations on the same theme, with some nice gags along the way, There's even an attempt at a rising arc of gags, although that is muted, and some handsome background artwork. That was a lot easier to pull off in the days before cartoons switched to color. However, given the inherently expensive nature of hand-drawn cartoon, good background work was a luxury, until everyone did it, and you had to do it too to compete.
