In the 1920s, Walt Disney was hired by Winkler Studios to continue making Alice comedies. Walt and his staff had made an Alice cartoon before....but the studio was failing and Winkler's offer meant money...something Walt had little of at this point. And, since Winkler had just lost its big money-maker, Felix the Cat, I am sure that's why Alice was paired with Julius...a character who sure looked a lot like Felix.
"Alice's Tin Pony" does what the previous Alice films did...combined a real life child (in this instance, Margie Gay) with cartoon footage. Most of these films are cute and sweet and hold up reasonably well today.
The story begins with Alice running her own railroad, with help from Julius as well as an anthropomorphic train. Their job is to transport the payroll....but some scummy rats (literally) decide to try to rob the train. Can Alice and the gang manage to elude them?
While I'd never consider this one of the best Alice films, it's clever and fun. A nice little cartoon and ample proof that Disney himself could animate quite well....though later, he just stuck to directing and producing the films as well as providing a voice for Mickey instead of actually animating any of his films.