ReFrederator Blog

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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Dave Kirwan