Jail Break!

The cry of “Jail break!” goes up in the Mickey Mouse cartoon The Chain Gang (1930). Prisoners run amok (some in cyclical animation amok). In one scene, we have running prisoners near the background and others running in the foreground. Some even stop and yell at the camera.



Later, we get prisoners running in perspective past the camera and some falling from the sky.



When in doubt, turn the drawing around and give it a different paint job.



It’s 1930, so there isn’t a plot. Mickey Mouse is in jail. For what crime, we don’t know. Maybe on a made-up charge of stealing his design from the Van Beuren studio.