User Reviews

A mouse is watching a television show about a mysterious man in a black car and his black kitten. He's getting scared by this and his bulldog friend turns off the television and tells the mouse to go to sleep in his mouse hole. Then the kitten from the television program somehow manages to walk in the front door, and finds milk in a bowl marked "Fido." The bulldog thinks he will be able to scare and bully the kitten, but the kitten reacts by constantly swiping him in the face, and causes him no end of trouble. The mouse tries to help his pal out, but this usually results in a hit on the noggin for the dog. Children may find the abrupt appearance of the Kilroy like mystery man with his flashing eyes kind of scary, but the kitten is cute. The animation of the kitten drinking milk is reused rather a lot.

'Mystery in the Moonlight' is one of only three Terrytoons cartoons from 1948 to not feature a recurring lead character, up to this point of the studio's output that is quite low ('Felix the Fox' had regular Heckle and Jeckle character Dimwit so doesn't count). The other two being 'Seeing Ghosts', which to me is the best cartoon, and 'The Wooden Indian' (pretty weak). The non-recurring characters Terrytoons cartoons are generally watchable, we are talking about the studio's whole output here, though quality-wise they are wildly variable. Some being quite good, others being quite lacklustre.

Regarding what extreme 'Mystery in the Moonlight' fits under, it's not really either. It is nowhere near being one of the quite good ones. It has also got just about enough to avoid it falling in the quite lacklustre category. Although a watchable cartoon and a reasonably interesting one, 'Mystery in the Moonlight' is for me one of the weaker 1948 Terrytoons cartoons and one of the strangest. Had a good deal of potential to be better than it turned out.

Quite a lot does work. Most of the animation is not bad, though it has been better in other Terrytoons cartoons from that year and overall. Did love the vibrancy and atmosphere of the colours and the meticulous background detail. The bulldog and mystery man are drawn well. The best asset of 'Mystery in the Moonlight' is the music, which is not a surprise. There is a suitably ominous atmosphere, but the typical vibrant character and lushness also remains.

There are a few amusing moments and moments of nice suspense. The kitten is very cute without being too much so, his actions towards the bulldog are surprisingly pretty brutal, and the bulldog is suitably intimidating while being the rootable character at the end.

Did feel though that the comedy and fright elements didn't always mix and that some of the cartoon tonally felt rather strange and disjointed, due to a few too many gear changes from one tone to another and at times happening too quickly. While both have moments, both the comedy and fright elements are not perfectly executed. Nothing is hilarious when it comes to the humour, which is also occasionally on the cruel side regarding the treatment of the bulldog, and the latter is underused.

Will agree that the mystery man is too abruptly introduced and that he is a little too scary for the story and considering that the fright elements are reasonably tame. A story which is a very slight and not always engagingly paced one. While most of the animation is fine, there is some noticeable and fairly distracting recycling on the animation for the kitten.

Concluding, watchable but a bit strage. 5/10.