I found this Mutt & Jeff short really interesting for two reasons. First, it was directed by the obscure comedian, Charley Bowers, whose live-action shorts are among the funniest and most inventive of the silent era....period. And, it's nice to see one of his animated films--especially since it, too, has a weirdness that is refreshing. Second, I was shocked to see the beautiful full-color in a film released only in 1926---long before true color became common. In the 1920s, the only options for color I'd seen were the Pathe color process (where paint rollers and stencils were used to hand-color the cels) or Two-Color Technicolor--which worked okay but tended to make all the colors look very green and orange. Here, however, the colors are vibrant and truly ahead of their time.
As for the short itself, it was okay. Mutt & Jeff find themselves as detectives--something that only made sense at the very end. They spend the film chasing a weird shadow that can assume human forms (one of them a bit politically incorrect, but hey, this was 1926). All this is action is 'enhanced' with weird sounds that are hard to describe and were also supposed to be innovative--which they were, but also a bit crudely done as well.
All in all, cinemaniacs and film historians would adore this short. Others probably won't be so impressed.