The Old Can Mystery Review: 6 Minutes of Melodramatic Chaos

If you have six minutes to spare and love dusty, weird silent cartoons, The Old Can Mystery is absolutely worth a quick look today. Animation nerds will dig the scratchy charm, but anyone expecting a real plot or modern pacing is gonna absolutely hate it.

It is basically a parody of old stage melodramas, complete with a villain named Harry who wants to drown Fanny. Why is she named Fanny, who knows! 🤷‍♂️

The whole thing is written by Paul Terry, who did a million of these things back in the twenties. It feels a lot like his other stuff, maybe a bit weirder than Pat's Patents but with the same jerky movement.

Strongheart is supposed to be the hero dog here, but he is totally indisposed. I think he got stuck in a fence or something, I honestly couldn't tell because the drawing is so messy.

Frank Moser did the animation here and you can tell he was rushing, some of the background trees literally change shape between frames like they are melting. 🌳

The villain Harry has this hilariously giant top hat that defies gravity. He keeps twirling his mustache even when he is trying to carry a heavy rope.

It reminds me of The Wrong Track, where everything is just a setup for a cheap gag. But that is the beauty of these old silent shorts, they do not try to be art.

Some weird things I noticed:

• The water looks like moving spaghetti. 🍝
• Strongheart's tail wagging looks like a glitching black stick.
• Harry's face turns completely white for one frame when he falls.

It is not a masterpiece like Manon Lescaut or anything. But for a quick laugh at how ridiculous 1920s cartoons were, it does the job.