Felix the Cat in False Vases is a weirdly fun relic from 1922

Is it worth the seven minutes?

If you like old cartoons where physics don't exist, yeah, you should watch this.

History nerds will dig it because it shows how much personality they could squeeze out of a black blob with white eyes. People who want a deep story will probably hate it because it's basically just a series of visual gags that barely make sense.

It’s a silent short, so you don't have to worry about bad voice acting. Just some scratchy music and a cat that acts like he’s on something.

The Piano and the Break

The movie starts with Felix playing the piano. He isn't just playing it; he is fighting it.

The way his body stretches while he hits the keys is still pretty cool to look at. It reminds me of the energy in The Strong Man, just very physical and over the top.

He hits a note so hard that a vase on top of the piano wobbles and falls. It shatters into like a million pieces.

Felix looks genuinely stressed for a second. His ears do this little twitch that felt really human for a drawing from 1922.

Instead of cleaning it up, he gets this idea to go to China. Why China? Because that's where vases come from in cartoon logic, I guess.

The Trip to China

Felix doesn't take a boat or a plane. He just kind of... goes.

The animation here is what people call "rubber hose" style. His legs turn into literal wheels at one point.

I noticed the background is super empty. Like, there's just a flat line for the ground and maybe a single house that looks like a five-year-old drew it.

It’s a bit like the minimalist vibe in The Doll, where you just accept the stage looks fake. You can tell they were saving money on ink.

There is a scene where he walks through the desert. He gets thirsty, and his tongue hangs out like a long piece of ham.

Then he sees a sign that says "China" and he's just there. Just like that.

The Cultural Stuff

Okay, we gotta talk about how they drew China. It’s not great.

It’s full of every 1920s stereotype you can imagine. Long braids, weird hats, and everyone looks exactly the same.

If you're sensitive to that kind of stuff, this part is gonna be awkward to watch. It’s a product of its time, but yeah, it's pretty blunt.

Felix meets a guy who is selling vases. They are all "false" or fake, hence the title.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Felix the Cat in False Vases (1929) through its definitive frames.

There’s a bit where Felix uses his tail as a question mark. Like, it literally detaches from his butt and floats in the air to show he’s confused.

I love that stuff. It’s so much more creative than modern CGI characters just making a confused face.

The Tail is the Real Star

Felix’s tail is basically a Swiss Army knife. It becomes a hook, a cane, and a weapon.

In one scene, he’s being chased and his tail turns into a literal door handle so he can escape. It makes zero sense, and I love it for that.

The way he moves is so much more interesting than the stiff characters in Mister Antonio. Even though this is just ink on paper, it feels alive.

There is a moment where Felix gets into a fight with a local. The fight is just a big cloud of dust with arms and legs sticking out.

Classic trope. It never gets old.

Random Observations

• The piano has way too many keys for its size.
• Felix’s laugh is just him opening his mouth really wide and shaking.
• The "false vases" are actually made of paper or something? They pop like balloons.
• I noticed a frame where the ink smudge is still visible. Real human hands made this.

It’s weirdly short. Just as things get interesting, it kind of just ends.

He gets a vase, I think? Or maybe he doesn't. The ending is a bit of a blur of motion.

It feels a bit like The Dreamer in how it just floats from one scene to the next without a lot of heavy plot.

The music in the version I watched was clearly added later. It was a bit too upbeat for a cat being chased by an angry mob.

I wonder if people back then thought this was the peak of technology. It probably was.

If you watch His Own Law from the same year, the contrast between live action and this cartoon is wild.

Animation allowed for so much more weirdness than film did back then.

Final Thoughts

It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a fun little time capsule. Felix is a jerk, but a funny one.

The pacing is fast. Blink and you miss a gag.

It’s definitely better than some of the other boring shorts from that era. At least stuff happens here.

Go watch it on YouTube or something. It’s only seven minutes. You've wasted more time than that just scrolling for something to watch anyway. 🐈‍⬛🏺