Felix Saves the Day (1922)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Release Date:

1 February 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Boys playing back alley baseball improbably hold their afternoon game at the Polo Grounds. Felix the Cat takes action when his favored team seems poised to lose.

Plot Keywords:

Polo Grounds | Jail | Baseball | Train | Crowd

Runtime:

7 min (2007 alternate version)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:TV-G (2007 alternate version)

Company:

Pat Sullivan Cartoons

Trivia:

In his 1988 autobiography, "That's Not All Folks!," voice artist extraordinaire Mel Blanc states this was the first cartoon he could recall ever seeing.

Marks

This is seldom seen these days, one of a number of cartoons through the fifties that has disturbing racial characterizations.

But its a remarkable piece of art notwithstanding. I'm not an expert on the work of Sullivan, so I can't say how this falls in comparison. I suppose that many from this period are the same.

What you'll see is all sorts of what I call folds. The process shifts from live action shots, to cartoons, to cartoons drawn on top of real photos. You'll see the same scenes rendered in both modes.

You'll see Felix with the hand and pen that draws him, with several types of associated jokes.

You'll also see some conflation of the Felix of the printed comic with the Felix of the animated cartoon, with drawn thought balloons, sightlines, and emotional signage.

All three of these sorts of folds will be reflected and extended in the jokes. The best for me is when Felix encounters a situation. He is puzzled and question marks appear overhead. They become part of the landscape like the drawn buildings, allowing him to climb them to solve his problem. Its a sweet joke, the expression of puzzlement being the solution to the puzzle.

The main joke structure in the story has to do with height, and various riffs on the idea.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.