THE JAIL BREAKERS (1929) Animation, Comedy | Short | Free Movie

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The Jail Breakers is a prime example of early sound-era cartoon comedy — fast, funny, and full of visual gags. Part of Paul Terry’s long-running Aesop’s Fables series, it combines prison escape tropes with barnyard characters, rubber hose animation, and synchronized musical cues. Though largely forgotten today, it’s a charming piece of animation history from a studio that helped define the pre-Looney Tunes era.

Synopsis:
Behind the wobbly bars of a cartoon jailhouse, a gang of bumbling animal convicts — including a jittery mouse, a cocky rooster, and a sleepy-eyed pig — plot their grand escape.

With spoons for shovels and laundry lines for ropes, the crew makes one failed attempt after another: tunnels that lead back into their cells, catapults that launch them into the warden’s bathtub, and keys made of licorice that melt on contact. Meanwhile, a snoozing bulldog warden seems blissfully unaware… or is he?

In a final breakout attempt, the gang manages to reach the outer wall — only to discover they’ve tunneled into the city zoo! The film ends with the convicts back in cages, being ogled by laughing children, as the moral flashes on screen:
“Every crook digs his own trap.”

Cast & Crew:

Mugsy Mouse – The brains of the operation (sort of)
Rocko Rooster – Always ready to fight, never ready to think
Sleepy Sam the Pig – Snoring on duty, even during the breakout
Warden Growl – Grumpy bulldog with one eye always open
The Jailbirds – Background prisoners: goats, ducks, and a mole with a harmonica

Director: Paul Terry
Producer: Amadee J. Van Beuren
Story & Gags: John Foster
Animation: Mannie Davis, George Stallings
Music Synchronization: Josiah Zuro (uncredited)
Studio: Aesop’s Fables Studio
Distributor: Pathé Exchange
Release Year: 1929