"Mickey's Good Deed" is a black-and-white Mickey Mouse short released on December 17, 1932.
The short begins on the night of Christmas Eve with Mickey Mouse and Pluto begging for money as street performers by playing "Adeste Fideles" on a cello while Pluto howls along. Several people appear to throw coins in Mickey's collection cup, but when Mickey goes to buy some food from a restaurant, he discovers to his dismay that his cup is full of useless junk, nails, nuts, and bolts.
Throwing them aside, Mickey comes closer to the home of a rich family and begins to play again. Inside the home, a dimwitted and babyish child named Adelbert is destroying and throwing away the expensive toys his father and a butler got for him when the spoiled kid hears Pluto outside his house and demands his father to buy the dog by throwing a tantrum. The father gives a generous amount of money to the butler, who goes outside the home and chases Mickey and Pluto.
The butler persistently offers Mickey money for Pluto, but Mickey refuses the offer and Pluto bites him. While running away, Mickey slips on ice and accidentally drops his cello, which gets run over and destroyed by a horse-drawn sleigh. The apparently-oblivious party in the sleigh calls out a cheerful "Merry Christmas!" to Mickey.
Just as the duo laments the loss of the cello, Mickey hears the sobs of a poor woman. They follow the noise and discover that they were the cries of a single poor mother whose husband is in jail and is lamenting that her children won't get a good Christmas, as they are dreaming of Santa Claus. Emotionally moved by the scene and with no possessions left, Mickey returns to the rich home and sells Pluto.
Reluctantly, Pluto approaches the child when he calls him but is attacked by the spoiled brat, who hits him twice with a hammer and begins tormenting him with a small electrical train, running over him.
With the money, Mickey buys toys and food for the poor children and their mother, who is now sleeping, as he makes it back to their house dressed as Santa Claus. He sneaks inside it and quietly manages to leave all the toys inside the house until he leaves the house after accidentally making noise. The noise wakes up the children, who find all the toys Mickey left and gleefully play with them. Mickey leaves satisfied upon witnessing the joy of the poor children from a window.
Meanwhile, back at the rich home, Adelbert is tormenting everyone by throwing objects and destroying the house, including putting a roast turkey on Pluto's tail. Pluto attempts to climb to the top of a small Christmas tree to safety, but he's sent flying by the brat, hitting the father upon impact alongside the tree decorations, including a pointy one hitting the father's rear. The father finally explodes and orders the butler to throw Pluto out of the house. The brat tries to stop him, but his cries to keep Pluto are ignored as the father spanks Adelbert, much to the delight of the butler and Pluto.
The short ends with Pluto following Mickey's scent and tracks, finding the lonely mouse sitting at the top of a snow hill in front of a fire warming a lonely sausage alongside a snow sculpture of Pluto. Pluto burrows through the snow and pops his head out from the top of the sculpture, surprising Mickey. The two friends happily share the roast turkey Pluto sneaked out for a Christmas dinner.
"Mickey's Good Deed" provides examples of:
- Anonymous Benefactor: Mickey manages to give the poor family their Christmas presents without anyone knowing the gifts were from him, although he nearly gets caught when the toys make some noise.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Immediately after having Pluto, Adelbert starts abusing him by hitting him with a hammer and continues to do so throughout the whole night.
- The Cameo: Pete appears as the poor family's father, shown only as a photo (a mug shot, which suggests that he's in jail).
- Children Are Innocent: The poor family's children dream of Santa coming to their house and seem unaware of the reality that Santa may not come to their home due to their mother not having enough resources to provide them with a decent Christmas. This is one of the reasons why Mickey ultimately decides to help them, to preserve their innocence.
- Corporal Punishment: Adelbert's father inflicts one on Adelbert as a punishment for ruining the house and physically hurting them and Pluto.
- Crappy Holidays: The pig family ends up having their house damaged by Adelbert's wrath, and Adelbert faces punishment from his dad by neither having a single unbroken toy left nor having Pluto at his mercy anymore. On the other side, Mickey successfully averts this for a poor family by giving them toys and even reunites with Pluto, who brings him a delicious turkey big enough to eat well together in the end.
- Disappeared Dad: The poor mother's husband, who is spending Christmas Eve in jail.
- Dreaming of a White Christmas: The story takes place on a snowy Christmas Eve.
- Enfant Terrible: Adelbert takes delight in tormenting everyone around him, especially Pluto.
- Establishing Character Moment: Adelbert's first scene quickly establishes him as an ungrateful spoiled brat who breaks expensive toys during his tantrums and demands Pluto when he hears him singing outside the mansion.
- Extreme Doormat: Adelbert's father starts at this in the short, as he wants to please his insufferable brat's desires in order to have a peaceful Christmas.
- Foil: Adelbert is a spoiled brat who takes everything for granted, destroys toys, and demands more in contrast to the poor cat children, who are grateful for Mickey's presents and actually play with their toys.
- Foreshadowing: Before hearing Pluto's barks, Adelbert's father is briefly seen about to lose his composure in reaction to Adelbert's tossing away a ball, implying that he has limits on how much he can tolerate his son's behavior, those being surpassed at the climax of the short with his house being destroyed and his son unapologetically laughing at their suffering.
- Furry Confusion: This short has Mickey playing Santa Claus to a family of poor cats — smaller than him. Pete is apparently the absentee father, as there's a picture of him, in prison stripes, on the wall. You can tell they're poor as their empty cupboard is overrun with tiny, non-anthro mice. And why the cats just don't eat them is never addressed.
- Not only that, but the butler, who is himself a dog, demands Mickey to sell Pluto, a smaller dog, to him.
- Get Out!: A rare example that actually benefits the thrown out, as Adelbert's father orders his butler to throw Pluto out of the house, no longer forcing him to deal with Adelbert.
- Giggling Villain: Upon obtaining Pluto, Adelbert is overjoyed and is seen constantly giggling as he abuses both his new pet and his family.
- The Great Depression: The time when the story takes place, with Mickey and Pluto begging for money.
- Hate Sink: Adelbert, a rich ungrateful spoiled brat who is seen breaking expensive toys that many children would have yearned to have during the Great Depression and who torments both his family and Pluto, the latter who is sold against his will in order to help a poor family in need.
- Homeless Hero: Both Mickey and Pluto.
- Innocently Insensitive: The family that wishes Mickey a Merry Christmas, oblivious to the fact that their sleigh just ran over his cello, his only means of income.
- Karmic Jackpot: Mickey sells Pluto to donate toys and food to a more unfortunate family and ends the short reuniting with him and enjoying a roast turkey. In contrast, however...
- Laser-Guided Karma: Adelbert ends up with his Christmas ruined and punished due to the constant torment he gave to his father, their butler, and Pluto in his house.
- The Last Straw: Adelbert laughing at his father being hit by the sharp Christmas tree that he ruined becomes this to the abused father, who immediately grows a backbone and orders the butler to throw Pluto out of the house.
- No Sympathy: Both the butler and Pluto have this reaction upon witnessing Adelbert's punishment, with the latter laughing at his despairing cries under the snow.
- Oh, Crap!: Upon hearing that his father is about to throw Pluto out, Adelbert stops destroying the house and tries to stop them by demanding they keep the dog, but they are having none of it.
- Pain to the Ass: Adelbert's father is hit by a huge sharp Christmas tree ornament. This leads him to finally grow a spine and start disciplining Adelbert by spanking him on the butt.
- Pie in the Face: One of the items that Adelbert throws is a huge pie. The butler manages to barely evade it but not Adelbert's father, who is hit directly in the face by it.
- Pushover Parents: Adelbert's father is totally at the mercy of his son. Fortunately for Pluto, he grows a backbone when Adelbert pushes his limits.
- Rage Breaking Point: After suffering from Adelbert's abuse, his father has enough and orders Pluto to be thrown out, then spanks his ungrateful child.
- Saving Christmas: In the short, Mickey decides to save the Christmas of a poor family whose single mother doesn't have enough resources to provide their kids a decent Christmas.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Mickey initially refuses to sell Pluto to the rich family, telling the butler that he wouldn't sell Pluto for anything in the world. He eventually sells him but only because he wants to help a poor family more unfortunate than him.
- Shoo the Dog:
- A heart-wrenching moment where Mickey sells Pluto to the rich pig so he can afford to buy presents for the children of a poor family.
- The rich pig decides to throw Pluto out of the house, not only as a punishment to his spoiled child Adelbert but also to spare Pluto from Adelbert's torment.
- Sinister Swine: Adelbert is a bratty kid who breaks toys his father bought for him. He also abuses Pluto, Mickey Mouse's dog, for his amusement.
- Spoiled Brat: Adelbert is a bratty pig boy who, after breaking all of his Christmas presents, demands his father to buy Pluto for his own sick amusement.
- Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly: Mickey quietly enters the poor family's house and leaves after accidentally making too much noise near the doorstep, waking the children out to enjoy their presents.
- Struggling Single Mother: The mother of the poor children that Mickey hears has her husband in prison and doesn't have enough money to provide their children a nice Christmas.
- Tantrum Throwing: In his introduction, Adelbert breaks a monkey in a straw toy, destroys a wooden duck, and tosses a beach ball away as well as many other toys that were shattered on the floor of his house.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Adelbert doesn't even thank his father in the short for the expensive presents he gives to him or when he obtains Pluto for him.
- Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: Pluto doesn't last a night in the rich pig family's home, as Adelbert's father decides to throw him out of the house to teach his uncontrollable spoiled son a harsh lesson.
- Villainous Breakdown: Adelbert starts breaking down as his father orders Pluto to be thrown out of the house, crying and yelling at him in order to change his mind. This proves to be futile, as the father had enough of his son's destructive antics. Once Pluto is spared and out in the cold, Adelbert squeals in despair and tries to escape his father's strong arms, only to get spanked for his awful behavior.
