Nice effects though.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Normally I don't say to read another person's review, but the one by F Gwynplaine MacIntyre is very good. He's right that this Felix the Cat cartoon is much like "Bimbo's Initiation" by the Fleischers...though the quality of "Bimbo's Initiation" is light- years better than "Skulls and Sculls".The film begins with all sorts of ghost-like characters chasing Felix about and playing tricks on him. Ultimately he learns that this is all part of some college initiation. This portion is decent but unfortunately lasts for only a small portion of the cartoon. The rest really isn't very funny and doesn't go anywhere.Poor animation for 1930 and sloppily added sound effects and music make this cartoon second or even third-rate for the era...which is a darn shame as the Felix cartoons for the early 1920s were the very best available. It just goes to show you that lack of innovation and stagnation can kill any once great character. A dull cartoon despite the wonderful premise.

'Bimbo's Initiation' (1931) is generally considered one of the very best cartoons from the Fleischer studio. Here we have 'Skulls and Sculls', a Felix the Cat cartoon made a year earlier at a different studio, yet using exactly the same premise. Felix the Cat is walking along when he is abruptly blindfolded and subjected to an elaborate ordeal which turns out to be (as the title hints) a fraternal initiation.The whole premise of this cartoon makes it a period piece. The peak years of fraternal organisations in the United States coincided exactly with the years of Prohibition. That's no fluke. During Prohibition, an American couldn't (legally) walk into a bar and sup some booze, but fraternal organisations were permitted to serve alcohol to their members at no charge ... so, naturally, a lot of thirsty men joined one secret order or another. Contrary to popular belief, it was not illegal to drink alcohol during Prohibition: what was illegal was the manufacture, transport and sale of spirits, not their consumption.In 'Skulls and Sculls', as in the later 'Bimbo's Initiation', most of Felix's ordeal is somewhat spooky. I was very impressed by one sequence in which Felix is menaced by a dangling blade which is clearly inspired by Poe's story 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. Here we have solid proof that a cartoon gag-writer has actually read Poe! Eventually, Felix is accepted into the feline fraternity (a cat house?) by two cats wearing letterman sweaters bearing the letter C ... but we're never told what this initial stands for. Cartoon Cat College, maybe.Like the other Felix cartoons from the Messmer period, 'Skulls and Sculls' was made on a very low budget. The Felix toons were post-dubbed with unsynchronised sound effects and music. I was very intrigued that the soundtrack here included a few bars of a song (very popular at the time, now obscure) called 'Collegiate'. This song was introduced by the Ritz Brothers during their vaudeville days; it's now best known -- if it's remembered at all -- as the tune Chico Marx played during his piano routine in 'Horse Feathers': the one and only occasion when the Marx Brothers paid tribute to the Ritz Brothers. I wish that a few of the Ritz Brothers' jokes had made their way into this cartoon. I'll rate 'Skulls and Sculls' just 6 out of 10. Try again, Felix.

Skulls and Sculls starts with two eyes in the dark going back and forth. When the lights come on we find Felix crying in front of a lot of people in sheets. He is in a fraternity initiation. Felix gets blindfolded and then a goat comes for Felix to ride on. The goat bumps Felix up and down before going down a flight of stairs. The stairs turn into a dragon. Felix tries to escape before he finds some window bars which he plays like a harp. Those bars turn into four ostriches' legs that run away. Felix then jumps some pond rocks one of which turn into a pelican's head with fish. Another turns into a sheeted person who chases Felix. Felix heads him off and comes to a bridge which shakes as he comes on. It turns into a tree branch pulled by another frat brother! Felix comes swinging to the house exhausted but now initiated! Two of the brothers hoist Felix singing "He's a Jolly Good Fellow". It is now time for the boat race. Now he's followed by his three frat brothers, each carrying an oar. His competitors are four giraffes and an elephant. At one point, Felix and his team go up a waterfall (or maybe it was the four giraffes, the cuts are confusing here). Felix and his teammates become exhausted. He detaches his tail which wakes up a fish who thinks it's a worm (I'm guessing by this point the tail becomes an outboard motor with the fish following, again confusing cuts). Felix wins the race and once again gets hoisted by his frat brothers for another round of "He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The End. As you can tell, this is confusing even for a Felix short. The fraternity initiation sets a good mood for a Halloween type cartoon but it falls apart with the boat race. I don't even know if the cuts were real or if somebody spliced too much frames! The synchronization seems to be a bit off too. Maybe they were trying to rush release this during Felix's waning days while Mickey Mouse was winning public adulation after Steamboat Willie (1928). Only see this if you're a Felix completist or animation buff. Otherwise, not recommended.