a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

"The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg" is a 7-minute cartoon that has its 80th anniversary this year. Felix the Cat is probably mostly known for his black-and-white short films, in which he is a bit of a pioneer before the Golden Years of Animation, but he existed afterward too and this is his attempt at a transition. Not too successful in my opinion. This cartoon delivered almost more from a dramatic than comedic perspective. The locations and items used are interesting, but the comedy is almost non-existent or simply over so quickly that it does not stay in the mind. Maybe this character really works best with black-and-white silent films. I did not enjoy this short film here. Lacks completely the smartness that other films from that era had. Thumbs down.

The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg (1936) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Felix the Cat is in possession of a goose that can lay golden eggs so he has no problem sharing his wealth with the people of the community. Captain Kidd discovers this goose and steals it in hopes to give him riches so Felix must try and rescue his friend.As other reviewers have pointed out, this film was certainly meant to have an undertone in that people should be helping others during the Depression era. With that said, the movie manages to be quite entertaining thanks in large part to the animation and colors. I really loved the way the golden tone of the eggs looked and I especially enjoyed the design of the goose. There's a wonderful fight sequence at the end that helps keeping the acting moving along. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but it's an entertaining short.

Wow, this is the first cartoon I've seen that addresses The Great Depression in the 1930s. The first scene has Felix The Cat manning a little stand that says "Relief Bureau" and he's handing out a handful of gold coins to every person in line. "Don't thank me," he says; "thank him.""Him" isn't FDR or the government: it's a goose in the back of the booth who is laying golden eggs. After dishing out the coins, Felix goes back and tells "Goldie" that she's doing "good work, so keep it up!" Felix takes her eggs and grinds them into coins so he can dish out the next batch.It doesn't long for the villain, "Captain Kidd," disguised as a woman, to appear at the back window, seeing the goose and figuring out what's happening. So, moments later, he steals the valuable goose. Even though Felix knows who it is, Kidd succeeds and takes the goose aboard his pirate ship and sails away.The cartoon turns into a pirate adventure story when Felix, who figures out a way to get on Kidd's ship via turning himself into a human cannonball (hey, it's a cartoon!) battles it out aboard ship with the peg-legged and sword-wielding Kidd.Overall, more for kids but adults can enjoy this, too, almost like an old-fashioned Errol Flynn pirate movie, except in animated form. The duels between Felix and Kidd are well done.

In 1936 Felix the Cat was resurrected to the screen in three short animated films. This is one of them. In it, Felix, speaking audibly for the first time, must protect his goose who lays golden eggs for him from a band of pirates. The two other animated shorts produced in 1936 are "Neptune Nonsense" and "Bold King Cole." Besides talking for the first time, these three shorts also marked the first time that Felix was produced in color. One of the film's directors was Otto Mesmer, who also happened to be Felix's creator in 1919, though credit is also given to Pat Sullivan, the head of the studio that employed the young artist Mesmer. This is the era where Felix looks his best, and this is the second best of the three 1936 productions. "Neptune" is its superior, but this still is a splendid film for Felix fans of all ages!