WHEN MOUSEHOOD WAS IN FLOWER (1953)
Article 5139 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-25-2016
Directed by Connie Rasinski
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Mighty Mouse cartoon

In days of yore, an impoverished noblemouse is unable to pay the tax on his castle unless his heroes win the jousting tournament. However, the tax collector is the infamous Black Knight, who appears unstoppable. Can Mighty Mouse come to the rescue?

This is Mighty Mouse in full operetta mode, although it does dispense with the serial trappings of some of the others. It’s a fairly routine entry in the series. Having watched several of these fairly recently, I do find myself wishing that the Terrytoons era Mighty Mouse had been given a more elaborate character; as it is, he’s simply a superhero archetype embodied in a tiny animal, and it never really goes beyond the gimmick stage. All the other characters are standard melodrama stereotypes, and so the cartoons primarily have to rely on their gags, which are usually passable but rarely inspired. As a result, the cartoons in this series feel like mechanical regurgitations of the same plot over and over again. But then, we have to remember that many of the cartoons were made for children, who are more inclined to like repetition. For some of us, they get a little monotonous.