April Maze is a 1930 Felix the Cat sound cartoon, directed by Otto Messmer and produced by Pat Sullivan.
The cartoon starts with a butterfly flying around, hopping on some flowers in tune to the music. It flies off as two flowers sway in the breeze, sprouting feet and bouncing around, and then turning into hands and clapping. The cartoon cuts to Felix holding a picnic basket, with his nephews Inky and Dinky right behind him. Felix begins setting up the food, consisting of a quartet of barking hot dogs and a turkey, as Inky and Dinky bounce around happily. As Felix and his nephews say grace, a storm cloud comes rolling in, roaring like a lion and then turning into an angry old man, using a lightning bolt to steal Felix's turkey and eat it. The thundercloud then grabs another cloud and squeezes it, starting a rainstorm. Felix and his nephews hide under the picnic basket and run off, with the weenies trailing right behind them. Eventually, the hot dogs are forced to pull the picnic basket like a sled as a scared Felix whips them like sled dogs. Once they get home, Inky and Dinky are crying that the picnic was ruined, as Felix watches the weather outside. Suddenly, the weather improves, with the sun shining brightly and smiling, and a nearby bird plucks telephone wires like a string instrument. Felix decides to resume the picnic, and he and his nephews walk back outside. The thundercloud briefly returns and starts another storm, but just as soon as they start running back home, the weather improves yet again, so they continue on.
Meanwhile, a rabbit is sitting on a rock with a hole nearby, and grabs a flute to play some music, with a nearby bear dancing to the tune. The rabbit's flute summons a snake from the hole, scaring the rabbit up a tree. The snake goes back into its hole, just as Felix and his wards arrive to settle down for a picnic again. Felix sets the basket on top of the hole, and they start saying grace again. The rabbit, still up in the tree, notices their picnic basket and gets hungry, so he plays his flute again. The snake comes out of the hole, lifting the picnic basket all the way up to the rabbit on its head, which the rabbit grabs and makes off with. The snake goes back into the hole as Felix and Inky and Dinky are done praying, and they now notice the basket is gone, which gets them upset. Nearby, a tree is dancing around to the music, and the rabbit pops out of its hole, picnic basket in hand. The rabbit and the bear settle down for a picnic of their own, toasting with milk bottles in hand and drinking up. Felix and his nephews pace around, thinking about what to do—but see a stork carrying a basket up overhead. The bird drops off the basket at the step of a house, and leaves. Felix, believing the basket has food in it, gets ready to dig in, but finds out to his horror that the bag has no food in it, but eight baby kittens, who dance a circle around him, much to his exasperation.
Tropes:
- Chaste Toons: While Inky and Dinky were referred to as Felix's sons in previous cartoons, they're his nephews here.
- Delivery Stork: In the ending, a stork delivers one to a doorstep, and Felix assumes its full of food, but it turns out to have eight kittens in it instead.
- Downer Ending: Just when Felix and his nephews are about to have their picnic after the rainy weather subsides, they end up having their picnic stolen from them by a mischievous rabbit, leaving them all sad.
- Karma Houdini: The rabbit gets no repercussions for stealing the picnic from Felix and his nephews.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: The angry thundercloud uses a lightning bolt like a stick to reach down and steal Felix's turkey.
- Mickey Mousing: Because it's an early sound cartoon, a lot of the animation was timed to music. But unlike other sound cartoons, this one was post-synchorized, so the footage was padded out a lot to make it easier to do so.
- Picnic Episode: The whole cartoon is centered on Felix and Inky and Dinky having a picnic.
- The Prankster: The rabbit, who decides to screw around and steal Felix's picnic basket.
- Pun-Based Title: On the fact that the months April and May are right next to each other.
- Putting On My Thinking Cap: After the picnic basket is stolen, both Felix and his nephews perform Felix's famous thinking walk.
- Too Many Babies: Felix ends up with eight kittens in the ending, thanks to a stork dropping them off.
- The Unintelligible: Indy and Dinky are voiced, but their dialogue is baby like gibberish. Felix gets a couple of speaking lines, but they're likewise hard to understand.
- When It Rains, It Pours: When the rainstorm shows up, its so heavy that Felix and his nephews are forced back indoors.
