by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Rats was produced by one of the many "independent" film firms which sprouted up in 1910 as opposition to the monopolistic Motion Picture Patents Company. Almost as repulsive as its title, the film was a record of a vaudeville act consisting of a team of trained rats. In fact, this sort of act was quite popular at the time -- as witness one of the more famous attractions on the "vaude" circuit, Swain's Rats and Cats, wherein several cats were ridden around a miniature racetrack by rodents dressed as jockeys. The name of the animal troupe appearing in Rats is not known, but if it had been Swain's Rats and Cats, this fact would no doubt have been cited by the Variety reviewer.
