{{short description|1929 animated film}} {{Infobox film | name = A Close Call | image = Title card of A Close Call (1929).png | caption = Title card | producer = The Van Beuren Corporation | distributor = Pathé Exchange | released = {{Film date|1929|12|1}} | runtime = 7:22 | country = United States | language = English }}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{italic title}} '''''A Close Call''''' is a 1929 animated short film which is part of the early sound cartoon series entitled ''Aesop's Sound Fables''.<ref name="Vintage Cartoons Channel 2016">{{Citation|last=Vintage Cartoons Channel|title=A Close Call (1929) Van Bueren|date=June 18, 2016|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf-LCeu0mXA|access-date=June 10, 2018}}</ref> It was produced by The Van Beuren Corporation and released by Pathé Exchange.<ref name="Vintage Cartoons Channel 2016" />
Copyrighted on December 1, 1929,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=M7vwCQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA286|title=The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926–1931|last=Bradley|first=Edwin M.|date=April 27, 2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476606842|language=en}}</ref> the film, like many other Aesop Sound Fables at that time, featured Milton Mouse and Rita as the main characters in this cartoon.<ref name="Motion Picture News 1929">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew40moti|title=Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1929)|date=1929|place=New York|publisher=Motion Picture News }}</ref> They are featured in a more simple mouse-like fashion, than the more complicated human-like fashion in cartoons like ''Circus Capers''.<ref name="Vintage Cartoons Channel 2016" /><ref>{{Citation|last=SignOffsGuy|title=Van Beuren Aesop's Fables Cartoon - Circus Capers (1930)|date=July 11, 2013|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU71qHtAaY8|access-date=June 10, 2018}}</ref> Despite being part of the Aesop series, it is not based on an Aesop fable.
== Plot == thumb|thumbtime=5|''A Close Call'' (1929) Milton and Rita are seen dancing together. A Birman cat, who is driving a car, sees Rita, and when Milton is not looking, kidnaps her. Milton notices Rita's disappearance, and starts to chase after the car.
The cat takes Rita to a barn, and tries to offer her some pearls. Outraged, Rita throws the pearls back at the cat, causing him to swallow them. She hides in another room.
thumb|Milton Mouse confronts the Birman cat, who is holding Rita captive. Milton arrives at the barn and kicks down the doors. He sees Rita and tries to reach her, but the cat kicks him down the stairs. The cat then ties Milton up to a log, and starts up a saw, with the intention of sawing him in half. The police notice the noise, and they circle the house. The cat is killed in the police ambush, freeing Rita. Milton is saved by a police officer, who shuts off the saw.
The mice agree to get married. During the wedding, the pastor sneezes into the book. The pastor ties Milton and Rita's tails in two, which is a pun on tying the knot. The choir sings "You're in the Army Now!". Milton and Rita then kiss.<ref name="Vintage Cartoons Channel 2016" />
It then cuts to an scene, which states that "2600 Years Ago Aesop Said, All's Well That Ends Well",<ref name="Vintage Cartoons Channel 2016" /> which is incorrect, as Aesop was not born 2600 years ago,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/aesop-9176935|title=Aesop|website=Biography|language=en-us|access-date=June 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140019/https://www.biography.com/people/aesop-9176935|archive-date=June 12, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the term "All's Well That Ends Well" was written by William Shakespeare,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/alls-well-that-ends-well.html|title='All's well that ends well' - the meaning and origin of this phrase|last=Martin|first=Gary|website=Phrasefinder|language=en|access-date=June 10, 2018}}</ref> not Aesop.
== Reception == ''A Close Call'' was well received by the cinema magazines at that time. ''The Motion Picture News'' stated that the cartoon was "right up to standard, and even a little higher than average" and also stating that it "furnishes plenty of laughs for the light spot on your bill".<ref name="Motion Picture News 1929" /> ''The Film Daily'' said that the film was a "''Fine Animated Film''", and that the film "succeeded in creating considerable suspense".<ref name="New York 1929">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily4950newy|title=The Film Daily (Jul-Dec 1929)|last=New York|first=Wid's Films and Film Folks|date=1929|publisher=New York, Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc.|others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{YouTube|tf-LCeu0mXA|''A Close Call''}} * {{IMDb title|tt0146563|A Close Call}} * {{Internet Archive film|a-close-call_1929|A Close Call}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Close Call, A}} Category:1929 films Category:1920s American animated films Category:1929 animated short films Category:Animated films about mice Category:Animated films about cats Category:Aesop's Fables (film series) Category:American animated black-and-white films