Felix the Cat gets hammered in Woos Whoopee and it is a total trip

You should absolutely watch this today if you have six minutes to spare and an appreciation for pure weirdness. It is great for anyone who likes seeing how dark old cartoons used to be before they got all cleaned up. If you hate black-and-white silent stuff or things that don't make much sense, you'll probly hate it.

Felix is at a New Year's Eve party and he is just... well, he's getting hammered. There is no other way to put it. 🍺

It is 1928 (or 1930 depending on who you ask about the sound version) and the 'Whoopee' in the title really means drinking until you see things. The movie is mostly just Felix trying to get home without his wife murdering him.

The way he walks is the first thing you notice. It is this rubbery, wobbly mess of a gait that feels more real than most CGI today. He is barely holding it together.

I love the moment when he looks at a grandfather clock and the face starts spinning. It is not just a gag; it feels like he is actually losing his mind.

The animation by Otto Messmer is just so expressive here. You can see the panic in Felix's big white eyes when the streetlights start turning into dragons.

It reminds me a little of the physical comedy in The Perfect Clown, but way more abstract. In that movie, the gags are grounded, but here, the whole world is just wrong.

There is a bit where his own shadow starts acting up. It is a bit spooky for a kids cartoon, honestly.

Everything in the house starts attacking him. The shoes, the stairs, the furniture. It is like a house of horrors but with a bouncy jazz beat.

I noticed a small detail where a poster on the wall seems to be judging him. Or maybe I just imagined that because the print I watched was a bit grainy. 🎞️

The film doesn't really have a 'plot' in the way we think of them now. It is just a series of escalating hallucinations.

It feels a lot more honest about being drunk than most movies from that era. Usually, they make it look fun, but Felix looks like he is having a terrible time.

If you have seen The Waltz Dream, you know that 1920s cinema could be really graceful. This is the opposite of that. This is messy and jagged.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Woos Whoopee (1928) through its definitive frames.

The ending is pretty abrupt. He gets home and his wife is waiting with a rolling pin, which is such a cliché, but it works here.

The transformation of the bed into a boat is a standout moment. The way the blankets ripple like water is actually pretty impressive for the time.

I think the reason this sticks with me is how *mean* the world feels. The inanimate objects aren't just alive; they are actively trying to ruin Felix's night.

Some of the gags go on a bit too long, like the bit with the stairs. It starts to feel a bit repetitive after the third time he falls.

Still, for a movie that is almost a hundred years old, it feels strangely modern. Like something you'd see on a late-night adult swim block.

It is way more interesting than something like Running Wild which is fine, but lacks this kind of fever dream energy.

The music (in the sound version) is really tinny and loud. It adds to the feeling of having a headache.

Felix is such a great character because he isn't always a 'good guy.' Here, he's just a guy who stayed out too late and is paying the price.

The background art is mostly empty white space. It makes the hallucinations stand out more.

I wonder if the animators were actually looking at real people trying to walk home drunk. The timing of the stumbles is just too perfect.

Anyway, it's a short one. You don't have to invest a whole afternoon into it.

Just sit back and watch a cat have a total breakdown. It is oddly relatable if you've ever had one too many at a party. 🐈⬛

I'll probably watch it again just to see that dragon sequence one more time. It's weirdly beautiful in a gross way.