Felix the Ghost Breaker (1923) User Reviews

Sort of like watching an episode of "Scooby Doo"!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 September 2013]

Despite lacking sound and fancy animation, the Felix cartoons were among the most popular in the world during the 1920s. Much of this is because they have a wacky, surreal sensibility that even today is pretty weird. And, on top of that, they are funny and timeless.

It's odd, but the normally scared of the dark Felix seems quite at home hanging out in the cemetery in this cartoon. Soon a ghost appears and Felix follows it to see what it's up to. Soon, the ghost begins haunting a nearby house and even the police are unable to do anything to stop it. So, the ever-helpful Felix offers to lend the owner a hand and what follows plays out pretty much like an episode of "Scooby Doo"—but, of course, without that annoying Scooby, Shaggy or the rest of the gang.

While this episode is lower on laughs than most Felix cartoons, it also features more of a comprehensible and complete plot. Not great but well worth your time. As for me, I actually like the weirder and more disjoint episodes!

Lot Of Fun & Imaginative

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 3 May 2007]

This ancient Felix cartoon just about skips the opening credits. Obviously those couldn't be salvaged. Anyway, we first see Felix in the cemetery where he soon meets up with some ghosts. Felix and the ghosts throw stones at each other, and then Felix follows one to a barn. We see the ghost terrorize a donkey. He then goes back in and does the same to a bunch of pigs. All of them race out of the barn in terror, too. This is a very bizarre looking, primitive in the drawings but that's what you expect for a 1923 cartoon.

Things really get weird when the ghost suddenly appears in the upstairs bedroom of the farmer. The poor man is shaking in his boots. The ghost first tickles but then makes threatening gestures. Felix is outside the window taking in all of this. Finally, the man gets on the telephone and says, "Help! Send in the reserves. There's a ghost in the house."

What happens after that isn't exactly "Ghostbusters," but it is funny and this is a wild cartoon, start to finish. I liked how the "ghost" (and you'll know why I put that in quotes if you see this cartoon) suddenly appears - in a flash! Felix, by the way, calls himself "a ghost- breaker." Considering the year this was done, this is pretty inventive animation. This was very enjoyable to watch.

This cartoon was part of a collection of in the "Presenting Felix The Cat - The Otto Messmer Classics - 1919-1924" DVD, with original organ scores by Dave Wickersham.

Felix at it again!

[Paladinlover · 9/10 · 16 January 2006]

Another interesting Felix short. Felix is trying to get some sleep in a graveyard (which he believes is the 'ideal' resting place) and then a ghost starts to pop up and frighten him. Felix at first thinks he's seeing things as the ghost has a tendency to suddenly disappear. Felix realizes that it's a ghost and then follows him around as he scares people all over the town and haunts an old man's house, where Felix tries to get him out. The ending is pretty illogical considering what happened throughout the short, but it's Felix I guess, things are never normal when he's around! So that's the summary of it.

This short definitely has some interesting effects in regard's to the ghost appearing and disappearing suddenly, as well as the scene where he frightens the old man. It definitely creates an atmosphere of eerie frightfulness even better than some ghost flicks today and even the simple acts of just suddenly popping out of nowhere has a tendency to cause me to jump ever so slightly, a thing that never happened to me even when I watch modern horror movies that are full of gore and special effects. Two thumbs way up for our silent cat star!