Felix Turns the Tide (1922) Online

Felix uses his brain's and daring to win a big war and his boss-friend saves the day with a lot of baloney. That about sums up this strange cartoon that was pretty entertaining.

The owner of a meat market, where apparently Felix The Cat was employed, shows our hero the newspaper headlines: "Rats Declare War On Cats." Felix reads all about it, shakes hands with his boss and marches off, ready to do battle in this latest war. Before he leaves, he proposes to his girlfriend, who promises to be there for him when he returns from the war.

The war is a wild one; kind of a cross between World War I and the Civil War. If you can picture thousands of sausages marching on a fort - hey, it's a cartoon! - you get the idea of the insanity here, which is fun to watch. This is pretty primitive, drawing-wise, but who's complaining considering when it was drawn? Not me.

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. It's up to the quality, transfer-wise, of some of the others but it's passable.

An early Felix the Cat short which has most of the hallmark's of Messmer's fantastic imagination. Felix is working in a barber shop when his boss shows him an extra: the mice have declared war against the cats. Although it does not show the 'playing with light' touch of the best Felix the Cat silents, there are plenty of good gags that made Felix the most popular cartoon series of the silent era.

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.

The cartoon begins with Felix at his friend's, the butcher, shop. The man tells Felix that the rats have just declared war on the cats of the world, so Felix is off to say goodbye to his sweetie and enlist. Unfortunately, despite Felix's efforts, the war is going very badly—that is until reinforcements arrive.

This is a rather violent and silly cartoon. My guess is that a lot of do-gooders and over-anxious moms hated this cartoon because of all the killing---and I assume kids loved it! While not among the best of the Felix cartoons, the action is swift and there are a few nice gags along the way. Well worth your time.

This is a Felix the Cat silent short, with an alternate title, "The Inventor". There will be spoilers ahead:

Felix is working at a meat market when his boss shows him a headline reading "War". The rats have declared war on the cats. Felix joins up and asks his girl to marry him when he gets back, to which she says yes.

Things are going badly for the cats and their general calls on Felix to take out an enemy balloon, which Felix does by firing himself out of a cannon. Felix cuts the balloon free of its mooring, jumps out and makes his way back to the command, where he finds the cat army basically wiped out. He calls on his old boss to send help, which he does-he sends an army of frankfurters over the wire to Felix, who marches his hot-dog army to victory.

Felix triumphantly returns home, greets his boss and then starts off to see his girl. His boss laughs and tells Felix that she's already married Felix's rival. The scene shifts to a rather henpecked looking chap being berated and slapped by Felix's intended. Not exactly domestic bliss for the poor guy. Felix joins his boss in laughing and the short ends.

This can be found online and is worth watching.