Produced by Pat Sullivan Cartoons
In One Good Turn, after being momentarily mistaken for a clock by his groggy owner, Felix is begrudgingly put outside for the night. He works his way back into the house, but his owner launches him into the woods. There, he encounters a boxing bear, but is rescued by a fox. Our feline hero heads home, but spies a hunting party looking for his new friend? Can Felix repay his new friend's kindness and save the fox?
In Forty Winks, Felix is conducting a chorus of cats as they attempt to sing. A nearby homeowner objects to the cacophony and succeeds in knocking all of the cats out (except Felix) with a cloud of ether. Our feckless feline in not unaffected by the gas and tries to grab some shuteye on the couch. His sleep is soon interrupted by everything from a screaming baby to a rambunctious bear. (At least I think it's a bear. It has mouse ears so... a bear mouse? Ursa rodentus?) Can Felix find a quiet spot for a nap?
These Felix shorts have everything I want out of my 1920s animation. You get a real sense of the cat as a character in these, but you also get some really clever and funny ideas in the animation itself.
Felix of course is both a troublemaker and has a heart of gold. He's willing to leave the anthropomorphic clock out in the dreary night, but risks his life to save the fox from the hunters. He falls squarely into that long tradition of Bugs Bunny-like cartoon heroes.
Where the Felix cartoons really shine is in how they present Felix' world. You feel like there is never a missed opportunity. After saving the fox, Felix orders a couple of beers from a mosquito. The bug goes to a barrel, uses its needle-like nose to drain it, then returns to fill up a couple of barrels.
That sight gag would be funny enough, but then the fox blows the head of the beer of the mug and onto Felix' face. The cat turns it into an opportunity to shave. The gags are constantly building on each other in ways that made me smile, if not laugh.
The other great thing about the Felix shorts is their timing and pace. The jokes are well-constructed and the shorts really motor along. The animators only linger on moments for as long as necessary.
If I had to put Felix and Mickey Mouse in a steel cage death match based on their 1929 films, the cat would wipe the floor with the mouse.
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