Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

TheLittleSongbird Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.'The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg' is most interesting for being a Felix the Cat cartoon that is in colour and has sound. As far as the Van Beuren "Rainbow Parade" cartoons go, all three Felix the Cat cartoons, of which 'The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg' is the first, are among the best of the "Rainbow Parade" series. Not great as such, being fairly bland compared to the earlier silent black and white Felix the Cat cartoons which had more vigour and humour of the surreal/absurdist kind. Also worth the while, despite how all of the above sounded.A lot of strengths in 'The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg'. The best being the pretty great animation, one of the best looking of the "Rainbow Parade" series, having more refinement in the drawing than usually seen, and one of the best looking Felix the Cat cartoons. Compared to the animation in the Cubby the Bear, most of the (human) Tom and Jerry and other cartoons of Van Beuren, their production values came on a long way when switching to colour. The background detail is meticulous and even better are the ravishing colours that pop out at you.Just as good is the music score, it is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The synchronisation is sharp and neat. Wasn't bored, while not completely excited, watching 'The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg', with the final battle being a lot of fun and Captain Kidd a suitably dastardly antagonist. There is a charm and it never gets overly sugary. The goose character is nice and the Great Depression element was intriguing and not laid on too thick.However, the story is over-familiar, with not an awful lot new brought to the table. The ending can be seen from quite some distance away. Felix is likeable enough but there is a preference too for his original personality, one that was much stronger and one that set him apart from other silent animated characters from that era.In the laughs department, 'The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg' is lacking. Not completely humourless, but there isn't enough and not much that sticks in the mind anyhow. For Felix the Cat, with the surreal/absurdist humour missing, this was pretty tame, how he caught up with the boat was an exception. The cartoon takes a little too long to get going, with the climactic moments being where things most come alive, and comes close to being on the sugary side.On the whole, nice enough and passes the time more than decently but no classic. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "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.

Michael_Elliott 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.

MartinHafer This short is a definite commentary on the Depression more than anything else. Felix has started his own social welfare program--handing out free gold from his goose to all the people of his town. However, the jerk, Captain Kidd*, wants it all for himself and steals the amazing bird. So, it's up to Felix to rescue his pet and save the day.I am a fan of the early Felix the Cat cartoons. I am talking about the silent ones they made from 1919 to about 1929. The films were, more than anything else, fun--with a strange surrealistic style about them. Felix was a joker--and occasionally a bit of a jerk--and I liked it that way. Well, the series petered out in the talking picture era--mostly because the cartoons lost their zip. The surrealism was gone and the cartoons became dull. A few years after their initial demise, Van Beuren Studios attempted to revive the series. Now considering that they only made three Felix cartoons, you can pretty much guess what the public thought. As far as I am concerned, the public got it right. Although the Van Beuren cartoons looked a lot better (with color and really nice animation), they changed Felix--making him a nice-guy. The public didn't want a nice-guy--they wanted FELIX! And, even though there was a strong welfare component to this film, even Depression era folks didn't take to the films.So what is there to like about this film? Well, the animation is probably the best of the three Van Beuren films. Also, I liked how Felix caught up with the boat--that was something the old Felix would have done. But otherwise, it's just a pretty film with absolutely no humor about it at all...none.*It's interesting how movies often feature Captain Kidd. As a history teacher who taught about pirates, I think it's odd how he is often talked about when he was actually one of the most pathetic and unsuccessful pirates in history. He didn't even willingly become one! He served with the British Navy and was sent to capture pirates. However, his crew mutinied and forced him to piracy. His career as a pirate only lasted about a year or so--then was caught and, much later, executed.