Tasty or Bitter: Van Beuren Felix the Cats

[kaseykockroach]

What are your thoughts on the three color Van Beuren Felix the Cat including
Goose that Laid the Golden Egg
Old King Cole
Neptune Nonsense
IMO, they are bitter. Felix is a bland goody two shoes in all of them, and all of his charm is gone.
NOTE:I accidently voted tasty:( :mad: . So that vote does not count.

[Geezil]

Everybody sing: "Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet/But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat."

Sad but true, 99 1/2% of the personality in this group of shorts comes out of all the characters except Felix. (For instance, when watching "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs," many first-time viewers in our living room have fancied Goldie Goose to be the starring character!)

(Well, she is cute next to Felix and Cap'n Kidd...) :)

[BloodyChamp]

When I first joined this forum, I found a post about the classic Felix the Cat cartoon. All I'd seen before were VB's PD cartoons. The post said something about Felix getting drunk and scary. I've since been meaning to get some of those DVDs that have those cartoons. It's a dang shame I haven't yet.

[CyberFox]

The Van Bauren Felix Cartoons are fun to watch

Hell, ALL of Felix The Cat's cartoons are fun to watch.. even the TV ones!

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Bitter, for the same reasons that everyone else posted here.

[Sogturtle]

Welllll lay blame for the weakness of the character of Felix in the Van Beuren toons at the doorstep of director Tom Palmer...:eek: You know, the same guy who made the first Buddy cartoon a couple years before...:p

And in the "I can't believe that survived" column...;) A few Van Beuren Felix animation drawings from "Neptune Nonsense" recently surfaced. Of course I guess for two or three Felix drawings to surface out of the THOUSANDS made for those three cartoons is not nearly as remarkable as the Toonerville Trolley model-sheets that popped up (no comment where those might be now:D ).

[dandu]

I voted Bitter, sure it's well drawn, but it's a little too disneyesque for my liking. If felix cartoons were made at van beuren just after Sullivan's demise (1930), WE WOULD SEE SOME GREAT CARTOONS LET ME TELL YOU!:cool: :felix:

[Tom Stathes]

hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmh hmmhmmhmhm,....Nature and me! la la la laaaa la la la laaa....Nature, and me! :D (I voted tasty, if you couldn't tell)

[Tom Stathes]

I voted Bitter, sure it's well drawn, but it's a little too disneyesque for my liking. If felix cartoons were made at van beuren just after Sullivan's demise (1930), WE WOULD SEE SOME GREAT CARTOONS LET ME TELL YOU!:cool: :felix:
Content wise, sure. But the only turn-off about the late Sullivans to me is that the stylization did not seem as uniform, design was becoming a bit "loose" like Van Beurens of the early 30s. Again, aside from entertainment value, what appeals to me especially about the early Felixes is the angular and uniform design...it is consistent.

[gdX]

Tasty.

I've certainly seen worse... and right there in that spotty Rainbow Parade series, to boot... Molly Moo Cow? – YIPE!

No, it ain't Messmer, but it's tons better than the 60s version.

Given that VB wanted / needed to showcase color and sound, a strict recreation of an edgy, experimental, cartoony, inventive Felix might have been awkward... or at least seen as backward by audiences that had experienced Disney cartoons... and competing with Disney was the objective of animation studios in the 30s.

They hold up purty well... check the great effects animation!

:felix:

[OurGangAlfalfa]

Tasty. Much better than the poor, overrated silent Felix the Cat cartoons, which demonstrate imagination, but not much else. These Van Beuren cartoons are skilfully animated, albeit the Felix character is light on personality. But the original Felix didn't have much personality either, perhaps with occasional glimpses of a stereotypical Chaplin, but not much else.

[Popeye!]

When I first joined this forum, I found a post about the classic Felix the Cat cartoon. All I'd seen before were VB's PD cartoons. The post said something about Felix getting drunk and scary. I've since been meaning to get some of those DVDs that have those cartoons. It's a dang shame I haven't yet. From my Felix knoledge, it was probably Felix woos whoopee (1930).
Tasty. Much better than the poor, overrated silent Felix the Cat cartoons, which demonstrate imagination, but not much else. These Van Beuren cartoons are skilfully animated, albeit the Felix character is light on personality. But the original Felix didn't have much personality either, perhaps with occasional glimpses of a stereotypical Chaplin, but not much else. The "Poor Overrated silent Felix The Cat Cartoons" demonstrate the cleverness of the artist and the writer and the have great, funny, entertaining plots. The reason for the poor animation is that IT WAS THE 20's! They didn't have all the technology they had in 1936. Times have change from 1919 to 1936. And furthermore, the Felix in those cartoons had a big, unmistakeable personality, even known today! :felix:

Now, my opinion on the VB Felixes: I find them classic and entertaining (not as much as the pat sullivan/otto messmer age), but they lack personality as previously said. In Bold King Cole, Bold King Cole takes the star role, in Neptune Nonsense, Annabelle the Fish and King Neptune take the star role, and in Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, Goldie the Goose that laid the golden eggs take the star role. But not Felix, the character for which this short lived series is named, takes star role (depending on point of view, anyway).

[Popeye!]

hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmh hmmhmmhmhm,....Nature and me! la la la laaaa la la la laaa....Nature, and me! :D (I voted tasty, if you couldn't tell) "This Afternoon, we're Right in tune, nature and me," etc etc.

[Tom Stathes]

Tasty. Much better than the poor, overrated silent Felix the Cat cartoons, which demonstrate imagination, but not much else. These Van Beuren cartoons are skilfully animated, albeit the Felix character is light on personality. But the original Felix didn't have much personality either, perhaps with occasional glimpses of a stereotypical Chaplin, but not much else.
Although your statement may be only a matter of opinion, I need to stress that Felix was perhaps the first character who had a wide range of emotions and situations to face. Not to mention, he also had a large following. Felix in this period would be helping a poor sap down on his luck, going off to war, solving a mystery, and other things of that nature...which are usually more in-depth narratives than the Van Beuren Felixes.

[Jack G.]

The "Poor Overrated silent Felix The Cat Cartoons" demonstrate the cleverness of the artist and the writer and the have great, funny, entertaining plots. The reason for the poor animation is that IT WAS THE 20's! They didn't have all the technology they had in 1936. Times have change from 1919 to 1936. And furthermore, the Felix in those cartoons had a big, unmistakeable personality, even known today! :felix:I echo your sentiments.

The handfull of Felix silents I've seen are excellent.
While I enjoyed the Van Beuren shorts, they aren't anything special.

One thing though, it helps a lot to have a good print and quality soundtrack.
If you've watch a version of these cartoons without those, you may not get the full impact - something I've experienced myself.