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4.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. I've Got Rings on My Fingers remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Is this worth watching today? Honestly, only if you have five minutes to spare and you really like seeing how weird early cartoons could get. 🍀
People who love the history of animation or just want to see something that feels like a fever dream will dig it. If you need things like 'logic' or 'a plot that makes sense,' you’re gonna hate this one.
It starts with this Irish cop. He’s just standing there in the sky, directing traffic. There are no roads. There are no cars. Just him waving his arms around like it's a normal Tuesday at a busy intersection.
The cop’s mustache is huge. It practically has its own zip code. I kept waiting for him to fall, but he just floats there like gravity is a suggestion he decided to ignore. 👮♂️
Then a plane shows up. It’s being flown by a mouse. Not a big mouse, just a regular-sized mouse in a tiny cockpit. Why is he flying a plane? Where is he going? The movie doesn't care and neither should you.
The mouse drops an anchor. It looks more like a bent paperclip than a real anchor. It catches the cop right by the belt. This part is actually pretty funny because the cop doesn't even look scared, just mildly annoyed that his workday got interrupted.
They fly over some squiggly lines that I think are supposed to be the ocean. It reminds me a bit of the drawing style in The Little Intruder, but maybe a bit more rushed. You can tell they were just cranking these out back then.
Suddenly, they are in Africa. The transition is basically non-existent. One second they are over the water, the next there are palm trees and lions. 🦁
The lions look very polite. They don't look like they want to eat him, they just look confused. Can't blame them.
I wonder if the animators actually knew what a lion looked like. They kind of look like big dogs with bad haircuts. It’s charming in a janky sort of way.
The movie is named after a song, but since it’s silent, you just have to imagine the music in your head. Billy Murray is credited, and he was a big deal singer back then. I guess people were supposed to hum along?
It’s not as polished as something like Camping Out. That one felt like it had a bit more of a plan. This feels like someone had a dream after eating bad cheese and decided to draw it.
There is a moment where the cop lands and his legs just sort of wobble for ten seconds. It goes on way too long. It stops being a gag and starts being a test of patience.
I noticed that the clouds in the background don't move. They just stay in the same spot while the plane 'flies' past them. It makes the whole thing feel very flat, like a puppet show.
If you've seen The Woman and the Beast, you know how weird these old jungle tropes can get. This one is milder, but still has that weird 'travel to a far-off land' vibe that everyone was obsessed with in the twenties.
The ending is very abrupt. He gets there, things happen, and then... black screen. No real resolution. It’s like the animator ran out of ink or just wanted to go to lunch. 🥪
Does it hold up? Not really. But it’s a fascinating look at what passed for comedy a hundred years ago. It's short enough that you won't feel like you wasted your life watching it.
I think the mouse is the best character. He has this look on his face like he’s done this a thousand times. Just another day kidnapping traffic cops and taking them to different continents.
Check it out if you’re bored. Just don't expect it to make any lick of sense. 🌀
It’s definitely better than some of the dry dramas from the same era, like The Dawn of a Tomorrow, mostly because it’s so fast. You don't have time to get bored before it's over.
Just a weird, little relic of a time when cartoons were just starting to figure out what they wanted to be. Most of the time, they just wanted to be chaotic.
IMDb —
1918
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