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The Felix and the Carpet
'Arabiantics' is one of the better Felix cartoons from the Otto Messmer era. (I had the painful pleasure of meeting Messmer shortly before he died: painful, because -- long after his ill-paid career was over -- he was totally skint and dependent on charity whip-rounds from New York City's Collective for Living Cinema.) Most of Messmer's toons featured stark black and white compositions; 'Arabiantics' actually employs some shades of grey, and -- instead of the usual generic music -- the post-dubbed soundtrack of this silent cartoon features re-worked themes from Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherezade' and from the dance music used by the original Little Egypt at the World's Columbian Exposition. 'Arabiantics' isn't necessarily funnier than the average Felix cartoon, but it definitely LOOKS and SOUNDS better.
Here we have Felix the Cat in Arabia ... so, roll on the usual Arabian clichés. We get gags involving a flying carpet, a hubble-bubble and a camel. I was surprised that there weren't any gags based on turbans, scimitars or curly-toed slippers. I was also slightly disappointed that the camel in this cartoon is neither drawn to look like nor animated to move like a real camel. I fondly recall a Warners cartoon (much later, and with a bigger budget than this one) that featured a scene with a very realistically animated camel, rotoscoped from film footage.
At least one thing distinguishes Felix the Cat from most other cartoon quadrupeds who walk on their hind legs: when Felix is in trouble, he reverts to four-legged status and he scoot-scat-skedaddles on all fours, like an actual moggy.
Despite that camel, the animation in 'Arabiantics' is well above the usual Messmer standard. I was impressed by some jewellery sequences in which the gems sparkled convincingly. Unfortunately, the Felix cartoons tend to be very predictable. At one point, whilst Felix was going Arabian in the foreground (Abou ben Ali cat?), I noticed a peculiar object in the background which seemed to serve no purpose at all except for vaguely resembling a banjo. So I knew what was coming. Right enough: Felix reaches into the background, pulls the object into the foreground, and -- quick as you can say 'George Formby' -- our Felix is strummin' on the old banjo. With catgut strings?
I liked the animation of the Arabian women in this cartoon, which was more detailed than usual for a Felix opus ... although I couldn't see why Messmer drew the women's fingers bent at such bizarre angles. On a positive note, this cartoon doesn't contain any jokes about Arabs which are extreme enough to be racist. 'Arabiantics' even has a coherent plot, which is more than can be said for some of the earlier (and later) Felixes. Definitely an above-average Felix, and even its title is clever. I'll rate 'Arabiantics' 8 out of 10.
Here we have Felix the Cat in Arabia ... so, roll on the usual Arabian clichés. We get gags involving a flying carpet, a hubble-bubble and a camel. I was surprised that there weren't any gags based on turbans, scimitars or curly-toed slippers. I was also slightly disappointed that the camel in this cartoon is neither drawn to look like nor animated to move like a real camel. I fondly recall a Warners cartoon (much later, and with a bigger budget than this one) that featured a scene with a very realistically animated camel, rotoscoped from film footage.
At least one thing distinguishes Felix the Cat from most other cartoon quadrupeds who walk on their hind legs: when Felix is in trouble, he reverts to four-legged status and he scoot-scat-skedaddles on all fours, like an actual moggy.
Despite that camel, the animation in 'Arabiantics' is well above the usual Messmer standard. I was impressed by some jewellery sequences in which the gems sparkled convincingly. Unfortunately, the Felix cartoons tend to be very predictable. At one point, whilst Felix was going Arabian in the foreground (Abou ben Ali cat?), I noticed a peculiar object in the background which seemed to serve no purpose at all except for vaguely resembling a banjo. So I knew what was coming. Right enough: Felix reaches into the background, pulls the object into the foreground, and -- quick as you can say 'George Formby' -- our Felix is strummin' on the old banjo. With catgut strings?
I liked the animation of the Arabian women in this cartoon, which was more detailed than usual for a Felix opus ... although I couldn't see why Messmer drew the women's fingers bent at such bizarre angles. On a positive note, this cartoon doesn't contain any jokes about Arabs which are extreme enough to be racist. 'Arabiantics' even has a coherent plot, which is more than can be said for some of the earlier (and later) Felixes. Definitely an above-average Felix, and even its title is clever. I'll rate 'Arabiantics' 8 out of 10.
helpful•30
- F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
- Jun 4, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Felix the Cat in Arabiantics
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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