Holy Cats!
I guess when Felix the Cat became a big deal they hadn’t quite nailed down any expectations for cartoon stardom yet. He might pop up with a wife in one film or, as in today’s installment, as the single parent to a whole mess of kids. Because “April Maze” is lousy with little Felixes, we thought it would be a perfect addition to our Relatively Speaking Week.
Trouble is, “April Maze” is also a great example of the problems the Pat Sullivan Studio and cat creator Otto Messmer had getting hip with the sound revolution. The film is a talkie (barely) from 1930, but it has the rhythms and structure of an old silent cartoon. Doesn’t quite make it. Still, if you’ve got the patience to wait out the repetitive redundancies (this one re-e-e-e-e-ealy gets its money’s worth out of each animated cycle) there’s some lovely stuff here. I love the way Felix and his little kitten-kiddies sashay down the path to their picnic, only to run in horror from approaching weather!
You can always relate to ReFrederator! We’ve got more kissin’ cousins comin’ your way this week!
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On August 1st, 2006 at 12:00 am
I’m glad you found something to like about this cartoon. Compared to where Disney, the Fleischers, and Iwerks were at this time, the cartoon is horrible. The gags are awful, the bear’s dance is awful, and the backgrounds are very poorly done.
I think you’re right to post the cartoon, as well as others of the period, just so we get a sense of which studio went right and which went wrong, but you don’t need to praise a poorly done cartoon.
On August 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
I’m thinking Dave is kinda the Will Rogers of cartoons, never met one he didn’t like!
On August 3rd, 2006 at 12:00 am
Hmmm. Well, yeah, like I said, the cartoon doesn’t really work. But I guess I’ll stick to my guns — there are things in it that I like, although they are the sort of modest virtues one associates with an earlier era in animation. I like the clean design of some of the characters, the attention to detail in the flying stork, and the aforementioned prancing walk cycles used by Felix and his kids. Granted, these sort of things would seem more praiseworthy if they came from a film ten years older, but the charm of silent animation (and this is, in essence, a silent era cartoon) is a bit of an aquired taste. Hope you’ll find more to enjoy in the rest of this week’s films!
On August 4th, 2006 at 12:00 am
You’ve created a new phrase: “Heeeere, kitty-kiddies!” I think I’ll try that out when I get home.
PS: All cats are holy.
PPS: Wholly pretty.