Felix in the Swim is a 1922 Felix the Cat cartoon, directed by Otto Messmer and produced by Pat Sullivan.
The cartoon stars with Felix coming across a mouse, whose tail is caught in a mousetrap. Felix gets ready to eat him, but the mouse begs Felix to spare him. Felix reluctantly complies and frees the mouse. Grateful, the mouse tells him "Anytime i can do you a favor Felix - call on me!" They both shake hands and go their seperate ways. Felix runs off to a house and whistles for Willie, a kid friend of his upstairs, with Felix inviting him to go with him to the old swimming hole. The kid agrees, but notices his mother nearby washing clothes. Felix takes notice, but urges the kid to come on down anyway. Willie tries to climb down on the roof, but his mother yells at him to go right downstairs and practice playing the piano. Willie goes back inside, and think this puts the kibosh on them going swimming. Felix paces around, thinking of what to do, and comes across the mouse from earlier. The mouse notices Felix is concerned, and asks what the problem is. Felix explains the situation, and the mouse offers a plan and to get his brothers to help Felix. They head off to Willie's house, where Willie is still practicing piano, and Felix whispers for him at the window nearby. Felix gets Willie to step out the window, and the kid discovers that the mice Felix brought with him are playing the piano for him. Giddy, they both head off to the swimming hole. As they go off, Willie's mother hears the music and thinks he's improving, so she goes to check on him, thinking about offering him a piece of pie—only to find a quartet of mice playing the piano in Willie's place, much to her anger.
At the swimming hole, Felix and Willie get into their swimming trunks and go diving. But while they're playing, a goat comes along out of nowhere and eats Willie's clothes. Later that night, Felix and Willie show up at the house, both wearing barrels. Willie sneaks into the window of his house, only to fall right into the mercy of his mother, who immediately starts beating him behind the curtains. While Felix looks on, the mouse from earlier shows up behind him and asks "Didn't I fix it for you?" Felix reaches back to sock him as the cartoon ends.
The cartoon is in the Public Domain and can be viewed here.
Tropes:
- Bankruptcy Barrel: After Willie's clothes get eaten by a goat, both Felix and Willie go to Willie's home in barrels. It's pretty odd, since Willie was still wearing swim trunks when their clothes got eaten, and Felix usually doesn't wear clothes to begin with.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The mouse Felix frees in the opening, who helps out Felix later on.
- Downer Ending: Willie is caught and punished for sneaking out while Felix looks on.
- Extreme Omnigoat: When Felix and Willie are swimming, a goat shows up out of nowhere and eats Willie's clothes, leaving him nothing to wear but his shorts.
- Stock Animal Diet: Felix almost eats a mouse in the opening, but he relents when the mouse begs him to spare him.
