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6.1/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Sure-Locked Homes remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
You should definitely watch this if you have six minutes and a soft spot for rubber-hose animation. It is perfect for people who like seeing physics get ignored. If you cannot stand silent films or black-and-white fuzziness, you will probably hate it and find it boring.
Felix is sitting there reading a Sherlock Holmes book and he gets way too into it. Otto Messmer has this way of making Felix look genuinely stressed out by a book. He starts seeing things in the dark and his tail keeps twitching like it has a mind of its own.
The title is a total dad joke. Sure-Locked Homes. It is so bad it is actually good.
There is this one moment where Felix's shadow gets detached and starts acting like a separate person. It is creepier than some of the stuff in 13 Washington Square. The way the shadow moves is just... off. 🐱
The animation is super bouncy. I noticed that every time Felix walks, his whole body compresses like a spring. It is way more expressive than the stiff characters in Pedigreedy.
I love how Felix uses his question mark thought bubble as a physical object. He literally grabs it out of the air to use as a hook. Why don't we do this in movies anymore? It is so much more fun than realistic CGI. 🎈
The spooky house he wanders into feels like a fever dream. Doors lead to nowhere and the stairs turn into a slide for no reason. It reminded me a bit of the weird logic in A Truthful Liar, just with more cats.
One gag with a skeleton goes on a bit too long. Like, we get it, he is scared. The skeleton just keeps dancing and it stops being funny after the third loop. 💀
I forgot how much these old cartoons relied on pure visual rhythm. You don't need a script when a cat can turn his own ears into binoculars. It is just smart filmmaking without the ego.
The ending is kind of abrupt. He just wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. It is the oldest trick in the book but for 1928, I guess people weren't tired of it yet. 💤
It is not a masterpiece like The Strong Man but it is a nice little snack of a movie. You can feel the animators just having fun at their desks.
Some of the background art is really lazy though. Just some black lines that are supposed to be a wall. I guess they ran out of ink or time. Or both. 🎨
Watch it for the question mark gag alone. It is worth it.
IMDb —
1916
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