George Herriman's brilliant and quirky Krazy Kat comic strip ran in American newspapers for over thirty years (1910 – 1944), and during that period there were several attempts to translate his style into animated cartoons. In some of these films the characters and settings resemble Herriman's, while in others, such as the series produced by Charles Mintz for Columbia Pictures in the early '30s, there is no evident relationship with the source material beyond the name. When the Mintz series was produced Mickey Mouse was at the peak of his vast popularity, so, naturally enough, most of the Disney studio's competitors turned out cartoons that followed the familiar template. The "Krazy Kat" we find in these shorts looks rather like Mickey, and has a girlfriend who resembles Minnie. There's no sign of Ignatz Mouse, Offisa Pup, or any of the comic strip's other characters, so you'll find no traces of Herriman's style in these cartoons, despite what it says in the opening credits.
Russian Dressing is a lively and fairly amusing entry in the Mintz series, driven by a vigorous musical score, and it also gives us a sense of how Russia was perceived when the short was released in 1933, the year that the Soviet Union was officially recognized by the U.S. government. It's not exactly a plot driven film; this is one of those early talkie cartoons where the characters simply dance and sing for most of the running time.
Our setting is a Russian village. Krazy races along in a horse-drawn sleigh, playing his balalaika guitar, accompanied by the sleigh's jingle bells. In the village he serenades his lady friend with the familiar ballad "Ochi Chernye" (i.e. "Dark Eyes"), and a nearby tree joins in on the chorus, or so it would appear; as it turns out, the tree's foliage is comprised of several bearded men, who sing. This is the funniest gag in the picture, especially when thousands of birds fly out from their beards.
Krazy and his girl enter a tavern, where Cossack pigs—and I mean that literally—play romantic music. The couple dance. One of the pigs, an especially wicked looking one with bullets for teeth, gets drunk and summons Krazy. This villainous pig turns out to be the "Pegleg Pete" of the cartoon. Unexpectedly, he produces a bomb and orders Krazy to carry out a bombing. (Forget about motivation; for the purposes of the plot this is simply generic terrorism.) A frantic Krazy tries to dispose of the bomb without hurting anyone, but can't rid himself of it. Eventually, he's able to deal with the bomb and the villain, and rejoin his girl in time to sing a final chorus at the fade-out.
And that's Russian Dressing. It ain't Herriman, and it ain't Disney either, but it's okay.