Year: 1925
Director: Otto Messmer
Country: US
Language: N/A
Disney aficionados will tell you that animation in cinema goes as far back as Steamboat Willie (1928) the first sound picture featuring the beloved Mickey Mouse, but I'm here to not surprise readers by telling you that animation goes back even further! Felix Trifles with Time (1925) is an unusual picture starring Felix the Cat, a character who debuted in a Paramount Pictures short called Feline Follies.
Felix, the cartoon cat, travels back in time and encounters prehistoric monsters.
For lack of a better word, silent cartoons are weird. Even the most straightforward of narratives will leave you feeling like you've just had a fever dream or watched a surrealist Salvador Dali painting come to life. Felix's comedy was quite wacky; in one scene he turns the splash from a lake into an umbrella to float down a cliff from safety. Its absurdity is part of the characters' endearing charm.
The first cartoon of the series to be distributed by Educational Pictures, Trifles with Time embodies much of the comedic sensibilities of that era. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton had worn fur togas in some of their shorts; even D.W Griffith played the stone age for laughs in Man's Genesis. Though The Flintstones wouldn't be made until the 60's we see proof that audiences loved similar type of humor.
Despite its short run-time, I do love the time-travel narrative and prehistoric setting that our feline hero gets mixed up in. Felix the Cat may be under-appreciated today, but it's easy to see why audiences adored him back then.
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