Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.
Not all the Walter Lantz cartoons are bad, 'Permanent Wave' and 'The Hash Shop' for examples are perfect proof of that, but some of them are not good representations of Oswald or Lantz and for historical interest only. 'Hells Heels' is another one of the better Lantz Oswald cartoons, a very good representation of both Oswald and Lantz, and one of not many Lantz Oswald cartoons to be as good as the best of the Disney and Winkler era.
Sound quality for a cartoon so old and techniques still in its early days is not as primitive as it could have been. Some of the gags do work, enjoyed a cameo appearance from a character that looked like Charlie Chaplin's tramp.
The music is as energetic as ever too, and Oswald, while having much better material and deserving of it, is still pretty endearing. 'Hells Heels' is better than most Lantz Oswald cartoons to capture his chaotic nature.
'Hells Heels' animation is quite good, pretty detailed, not as crude as in some of the Lantz Oswald cartoons and Oswald's movements, expressions and gestures are well done. The gags are very funny and mostly imaginative.
Weak link here, like most Oswald cartoons, is the thinly sketched story, which sometimes lacks sharpness. Most of the pacing is zippy and energetic though.
In summary, very good and one of the better Lantz Oswald cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox