Book Review: Cats on Film

Today we are pleased to bring you our review of a book we have been wanting to read for months: Cats on Film, by Anne Billson. If you love movies and cats, and movies with cats, we think you’ll love this look into a selection of cat films that, unless you are some kind of super film buff, will surely introduce you to some movies you’ve never seen, and maybe some you’ve never heard of.

If you think about it, cats don’t always play the same role in movies. We’d never considered that before, but now that Billson has pointed it out, it’s rather obvious. Cats can be heroes, villains, or companions, or they can provide simple scares by jumping out at someone. They can play multiple roles in a single film. Sometimes the cat appears only during the film’s credits. Billson divides cats’ roles into 12 categories and lists several relevant films in each. Some of these films you’ve surely heard of even if you haven’t seen them; others, especially the foreign titles, may be unfamiliar. The films in which cats play a major role are marked as “Major Cat Films,” useful if you’re not that interested in watching two hours of movie for just 30 seconds of cat.

One thing we really appreciated was Billson’s warning at the beginning of the “Catrifice” chapter, which discusses films in which cats are mistreated or killed. “Sensitive cat lovers may wish to skip this section,” she advises—and we did skip it, except for making note of the titles in it so we’ll be warned ahead of time before watching any of those films, if we watch them at all.

Jones the cat in Alien (1979).

Not every section is a straight-up discussion of a film. One of our favorite parts was “My Day, by Jones,” a sort of diary entry allegedly penned by Jones, the excellent cat in Alien. In this description of the film’s events as seen from his point of view, the cat refers to the alien as “the hairless kitten” and later as “the giant killer-kitten.” Old SoLT found this terribly funny. We also loved the postscript discussing the White Cat of Evil you may know from James Bond films.

Billson provides interesting behind-the-scenes information, some of which might make you think differently about certain movies. For example, The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986) may be the cute story of a ginger kitten and a pug, but there are allegations (unverified, as far as we know) that several kittens died during its making. Additionally, the film’s makers put real cats in terrifying and dangerous situations. That was enough for us to scratch this movie off our list of things to watch. On the other paw, we learned that the famous Morris the Cat reportedly played Philip Marlowe’s cat in The Long Goodbye (1973), so this movie goes on our list.

We came away from reading Cats on Film with a long list of films that we are eager to watch. Many of them are classics that we didn’t even realize included cats, and we even added some foreign titles—usually not our thing, but if it’s a cat movie, we’ll give it a try. Our list includes a Korean ghost story, some anime, and French and other European films. Now we just have to find them all.

Be warned that this book includes graphic language (F-bombs and sexual language), mostly within quotes from films.

Cats on Film is a book that is both enjoyable and useful. We raced through it, staying up late to read about “just one more movie.” If you enjoy cats and movies even half as much as we do, we think you’ll enjoy this book. We read the Kindle version of Cats on Film, but the much pricier print version is going on our Christmas list. From what we’ve seen of the “Look inside” previews on Amazon, the print version has more pictures in it. Also, this is a book we know we are going to turn to again and again, and that’s the sort of thing we prefer to have in print. So if your budget will accommodate the print book, that is the version we recommend getting--and yes, we do recommend this book!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the book through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Cat Classics on Film: That Darn Cat (1997)

Today’s Cat Classic on Film is the 1997 version of the excellent 1965 film That Darn Cat. To know immediately how the two movies compare, just note where we placed the word “excellent” in the previous sentence.

The plot

The cat in the poster is cute, but he looks nothing like DC!

The movie’s plot got a makeover that in our opinion doesn’t have much life or fun in it. In the update, a stereotypically self-centered rich-but-broke Boston couple are the targets of a kidnapping scheme. The wife is supposed to be taken for ransom, but the kidnappers nab the maid instead.

Meanwhile, in small-town Edgefield, teenager Patti Randall (Christina Ricci) hates her life. When asked why she wears black all the time, she replies, “Because it matches my soul.” Things pick up for her when one morning her fluffy gray-and-white tabby, DC, shows up wearing a wristwatch around his neck. The letters “H-E-l-l”  are scratched into the back of it. Patti realizes the watch is a match for the one the kidnapped maid is shown wearing in a newspaper photo and the letters are meant to spell “Help” (but she does get her mother to say “hell,” which we guess is supposed to be funny).

Patti ditches school to take her story to the FBI office in Boston, where young goofball agent Zeke Kelso (Doug E. Doug) is assigned to deal with the cat. Kelso organizes agents to follow DC, hoping the furry informant will lead them to the kidnappers.

The cat

Our biggest beef with this movie is its two-dimensional, barely breathing characters, and sadly, that problem extends to the cat. DC is played by a cat named Elvis, who may be have been a talented cat actor, but he’s just not given a lot to do in this role. Sure, he does some fine running and jumping, but beyond the story of him leaving home every evening at eight o’clock to check out the town, his character is never developed. In the original film, DC was the star. In this version, he’s more of a side character.

We learned from Cinema Cats (an excellent site if you’re really into cats in movies) that Elvis was rescued from North Hollywood Animal Shelter by trainer Larry Madrid. Elvis was supposed to be a double for another cat in a project Madrid was working on, but the new rescue turned out to be a natural star. It’s too bad he wasn’t given a chance to shine in this role.

Our verdict

It wasn’t necessarily a bad idea to remake That Darn Cat, and we can see a lot of potential … with a script completely different from the one that actually resulted. Remember being at that age when you thought it was funny if your mom said “hell”? That’s the age group this 1997 version is aimed at. And honestly, we wonder if many of them would be all that entertained by it. Cristina Ricci does have her moments as Patti, but the movie is not titled Patti Catches a Kidnapper—it’s That Darn Cat.

We were disappointed by this film (in case you haven’t realized that by now). I am reluctantly raising half a paw for it, and that's only for Elvis the Cat. He did a fine job, and it's not his fault he had such a poor script to work with.

If you want to see a cat comedy that (a) features a cat actor in an excellent role and (b) is actually funny, we highly recommend the 1965 version of That Darn Cat!

Cat Classics on Film: Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Today’s Cat Classic is Disney’s animated version of Alice in Wonderland (1951), featuring, of course, the Cheshire Cat.

The plot and the cat

Young Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) is a rather silly daydreamer whose imagination is so much more interesting than the boring old real world. One day while she’s supposed to be listening to a reading about history, Alice sees a well-dressed White Rabbit run by declaring he’s late for a very important date. She and her kitten, Dinah, ditch the lesson and follow the rabbit to the rabbit hole. Alice falls down a deep shaft, and her adventures begin. Along the way, she shrinks and grows and shrinks again, she meets some talking flowers, and of course (most relevant to our purposes) she meets the Cheshire Cat.

This grinning cat can disappear whenever he wants to. He can also remove his head from his body. He can stand on his head (and not the way you’ve seen human yoga enthusiasts do it). As he is portrayed in this film (voiced by Sterling Holloway), he is pink with purple stripes and bright yellow eyes. He is mischievous and not exactly trustworthy. He likes to sing lines from the poem “Jabberwocky.” This is a cat who likes to poke a stick at trouble (as long as it’s trouble for someone else) and see what happens. It’s the Cheshire Cat who sends Alice on a shortcut that puts her in the path of the Queen of Hearts, a maniac who enjoys removing people’s heads from their bodies (and not the way the Cat does it).

A little history

We knew virtually nothing about this film before writing this post, and we were surprised by many things we learned. For example, Walt Disney had first thought of casting Mary Pickford in a film combining live action and animation. But then came Paramount’s 1933 live-action Alice in Wonderland, and Disney had to rethink things. Later in the 1930s, a Disney storyboard artist and an art director started working out the story and look of the film, but the boss wasn’t satisfied with the results. Then World War II intervened, and serious work didn’t resume on Alice until 1947, when Aldous Huxley (he of Brave New World fame) was hired to write a new script. But still Disney wasn’t satisfied, so the script was rewritten yet again.

But, even after all that work, Disney was said to be disappointed with the final film.

Our verdict

Somehow, old SoLT had lived nearly 50 years without ever seeing Alice in Wonderland—in fact, without reading the books it’s based on or seeing any other film adaptation of the story. This is another film the way they used to make them—only about an hour and a quarter long. But still, old SoLT managed to fall asleep during it. We think we can see why Disney wasn’t totally pleased with Alice.

There are a lot of characters, and while the non-computer-generated animation is a joy to watch, the story isn’t as cohesive as we would have liked. The end seemed abrupt to us—we were just suddenly at the “happily ever after” part (yes, even after we went back to watch the part someone slept through). Maybe 75 minutes isn’t long enough to tell this story, or maybe they could have done with fewer characters and created a tighter, more engrossing adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s work. And honestly, Alice mostly got on our nerves. She was over-the-top silly for much of the movie, and it would have been nice to see some more depth to her character.

Still and all, we can’t say we didn’t like this film. We have already mentioned the animation, which is filled with bright, bold colors. There are moments of humor, as when Alice suddenly grows and gets stuck in the White Rabbit’s house. The Queen of Hearts is insane in a horribly entertaining way.  Of course we love the Cheshire Cat character, with his wacky but dark nature. And let's not forget the cute kitten Dinah!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase anything through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Sources

“Alice in Wonderland (1951),” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043274/?ref_=ttawd_awd_tt

“Alice in Wonderland (1951),” Cinema Cats, http://www.cinemacats.com/?p=8586

“About Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ 1951 Cartoon Movie,” Alice-in-wonderland.net, http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/background/disneys-cartoon-movie/.

Cat Classics on Film: A Cat in Paris (2010)

How many cats do you know who lead a double life? We suspect that very few cats lead lives as full of contrasts as Dino the cat, star of A Cat in Paris, which is today’s Cat Classic on Film.

The plot

By day, Dino is the beloved kitty companion of young Zoe, a girl who stopped speaking after her police officer father was killed by a gangster. When night falls, Dino slips out the window and commutes the short distance to the home of his other friend, Nico (Steve Blum). Nico is, of all things, a cat burglar, and together he and Dino sneak across rooftops and precarious ledges to steal jewels from unsuspecting, sleeping people. Despite his criminal profession, Nico is a pretty nice guy. If you had to be robbed, you’d want Nico to do the job.

Zoe’s mom, Jeanne (Marcia Gay Harden), is a high-ranking police officer who is determined to capture the horrible Victor Costa (JB Blanc), who was responsible for her husband’s death. Jeanne is also tracking down a burglar (one who mysteriously leaves cat paw prints at the scenes of his crimes) and trying to protect a valuable art object that she is sure Costa will try to steal. She’s so caught up in her work she doesn’t have much time for her daughter. A nanny (Anjelica Huston), who is oh so sweet on the surface but rotten on the inside, watches Zoe when Jeanne is gone, which is most of the time.

One night Zoe follows Dino out the window when he leaves to meet up with Nico. Along the way, she overhears the gangsters plotting and discovers her nanny’s true identity. Now Zoe is in danger, and soon Nico is also in danger, accused of kidnapping the girl. Unfortunately, Zoe can’t speak to tell her mother what is really going on.

Action-packed animation

A Cat in Paris features plenty of action and suspense. Time Out Chicago Kids called it a “cartoon noir [that] distills Hitchcock into 64 brisk minutes for middle-schoolers and up” (Wikipedia). The animation style is unique (at least to us) and unforgettable. The night-vision scene is a favorite of ours, with its white-outline figures on a dark background. There is also plenty of emotional complexity for viewers of all ages. In her mind, Jeanne is haunted by an octopus-like monster with Costa’s face, and she has to overcome her fear to defeat him in real life. Zoe, of course, is dealing with the trauma of losing her father and feeling abandoned by her mother. The nanny who is supposed to protect Zoe is actually a danger to her, while cat-burglar Nico is a source of safety.

Zoe cuddling Dino.

See the trailer here.

By night, Dino accompanies cat burglar Nico.

Our verdict

This is one of our all-time favorite animated films, and of course it’s one of our favorite cat films. First, it’s just over an hour long. That’s plenty of time to tell the story in an engaging way, and it made us want to actually sit down and watch the movie (unlike the over-two-hour run times of so many of today’s films). Then there’s the animation, which we found as interesting as the story itself. And who could ever forget Dino, the cat who accompanies a cat burglar on his nightly jaunts?

This film is rated PG. There is some violence, as you’d expect from the presence of gangsters. Some younger kids might be frightened by the Costa character in particular, so we think the “middle-schoolers and up” suggestion is spot on. The soundtrack is pretty awesome too, featuring Billie Holiday singing “I Wished on the Moon.”

A Cat in Paris was first released in France in 2010 as Une vie de chat (A Cat’s Life) and opened in limited release in the US in 2012. It was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Animated Feature Film) in 2012.

Highly recommended!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Sources

"A Cat in Paris," IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1673702/?ref_=ttsnd_snd_tt

"A Cat in Paris," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cat_in_Paris

Cat Classics on Film: Cat People (1982)

Today’s Cat Classic on Film is the 1982 version of Cat People, directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinksi, Malcolm McDowell, and John Heard. You may recall that we featured the 1942 version in an earlier post. We liked that earlier version a lot. This later version is based on that film but adds some serious twists to the story.

The plot (contains spoilers)

Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski) arrives in New Orleans and is met by Paul (Malcolm McDowell), the brother she has not seen since they were children. They had been split up when both their parents died. From the start, Paul seems to have a distinctly unbrotherly interest in his younger sister. That night, a prostitute is attacked by a black leopard, and the next morning officials from the New Orleans Zoo arrive to tranquilize the cat and take it to the zoo. Meanwhile, Paul has disappeared, leaving Irena alone on her first day in the city. She goes out for a day of sightseeing and ends up at the zoo, where she comes upon the leopard in its new cage. Transfixed by the cat, she begins to sketch him, and that is how curator Oliver Yates (John Heard) finds her after the zoo has closed. Soon, Irena and Oliver have the beginnings of a romance, and Oliver has gotten her a job in the zoo’s gift shop.

The leopard is hard to control, and it soon rips off the arm of a zookeeper (Ed Begley Jr.). Old SoLT found this hilarious. First, the keeper was being a jerk and taunting the cat, so we didn’t have a lot of sympathy for him. Second, the actual ripping is so graphic it is a bit ridiculous. We think a really good sound effect, without the visual, would have been more horrifically effective. Anyway, the keeper quickly bleeds to death, and blood washes over Irena's shoes--in slow motion.

The leopard then escapes, and Paul returns home that evening (you will notice the connection between these events). It becomes crystal clear that his interest in Irena is sexual, but it’s not just because he’s a creep. Many generations ago, their ancestors sacrificed children to leopards. As the cats consumed the children, they became part human. These “cat people” were—and are—incestuous, able to mate only with each other because they would end up killing any regular human they were intimate with.

Ookaaay…

Let’s just say we couldn’t suspend our disbelief quite far enough to buy that bit of backstory.

Our verdict

We don’t want to tell the whole story, but we do want to touch on the swimming pool scene, which is very similar to the pool scene in the 1942 film, with a lone female swimmer in a darkened room being pursued by an unseen leopard. Only this version not as good as the original, we thought. Actually, nothing about this 1982 film was quite as good as the original. We found the 1942 story (in which Irena was from a village of witches who could transform into cats) more compelling in every way. The 1982 version of Cat People relies too much on gore and nudity, including some nudity that we found gratuitous and stupid.

We’re not trying to say that this is a horrible movie. We just thought it could have been a lot better if the psychological horror had been emphasized over the blood and the naked people. We're way more interested in people's motivations than in their breasts. Cat People does have some things going for it, though. If you're a fan of the sort of horror film that shows an arm being ripped off, you might like this. And if you take this film as its own thing rather than comparing it to the earlier version, it can be enjoyable. The relationship between Irena and Oliver is interesting, as you have to wonder if she's going to end up killing him. And then there is the song by David Bowie ("Putting Out Fire") on the soundtrack. That was easily our favorite thing about this movie.

Overall, though, this is just not our thing. We recommend skipping this version in favor of the 1942 version, which we found more gripping and better in every way.

Cat People is rated R for some language and graphic violence, a lot of nudity, and some sex. 

Click here to see the trailer, and to hear the David Bowie song from the soundtrack.

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The links below are Amazon Associates links. If you purchase anything through them, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Cat Classics on Film: The Rabbi’s Cat (2011)

Today we bring you our review of an excellent animated cat classic, The Rabbi’s Cat (originally titled Le chat du rabbin). This film is based on the 2007 graphic novel of the same title, by Joann Sfar. Before we get started, we would like you to note that, although this is an animated film, it does include some violent scenes and some not-so-subtle hints of sex, and it is in French with English subtitles, so it is not really suited for younger viewers. And just in case your eyes glazed over when you read “English subtitles,” I will add one more thing:

Cheeky talking cat who wants to convert to Judaism.

The plot

The Rabbi’s Cat is set in Algiers in the 1930s. You have probably guessed that the main characters are a rabbi (Rabbi Sfar) and his cat. The cat is a gray Sphynx who has no name other than “the rabbi’s cat.” There is also the rabbi’s daughter, Zlabya, whom the cat loves. Early on, the cat eats the family’s talking parrot, and he (the cat) begins to talk. Zlabya is delighted; her father is somewhat less delighted, especially when it turns out the cat can also read and begins reading things that the rabbi thinks are inappropriate for his daughter. So, the rabbi won’t allow the cat to be alone with Zlabya anymore. This separation causes heartache for both the cat and the daughter, and the cat determines that he must become a good Jewish cat so he will be allowed to be with his mistress again. He demands to know why he was never bar mitzvahed. And so the rabbi sets out to teach the cat about Judaism. By spending a lot of time together, the rabbi and the cat come to be quite close. The cat even helps the rabbi prepare for a French dictation test he must take and pass to keep his position.

This is not a simple film, and it includes several story lines, one of which is about the arrival of a Russian refugee who has fled his village after a pogrom. This man, who is also an artist, has heard of a mythical African Jewish city where everything is just wonderful. He, the rabbi, the rabbi’s cat, an Arab sheikh, the sheik’s donkey, and an eccentric Russian all set out to travel through Africa to find this city. Along the way, they have several adventures, and the rabbi’s mind is given a good stretch (something I think everyone needs from time to time). The Russian also meets a young African woman with whom he falls in love, and she joins the traveling party. Alas, the Russian finds that the mythical perfect city is not quite what he expected, and the cat, still trying to get his bar mitzvah, gets into some trouble with the locals.

Click here to see the trailer.

Our verdict

We loved this film, from the richly colored mosaic backgrounds behind the opening credits to the philosophical discussions between the rabbi and his talking cat. But don’t worry—these aren’t the sort of heavy discussions that just make your head hurt; they are instead fast-paced and witty. We found the discussions thought-provoking; however, if you’re put off by religious debates, this might not be the film for you. We enjoyed the changing relationship between the rabbi and the cat, and we were impressed by how quickly the rabbi accepts the fact that his cat can now talk back to him. (Admit it: you would be freaked out if your cat suddenly started speaking to you.)  Of course we love that the cat has his own ideas about … everything. As I said earlier, the story is not necessarily simple, but neither is it the sort of thing that you need Cliffs Notes to follow.

The Rabbi’s Cat has more-serious themes than you might expect from an animated film, but it is also often funny and is not a “downer” at all. We think it’s well worth a look.

Recommended!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Cat Classics on Film: Kedi (2016)

In Istanbul the cat is more than just a cat. The cat embodies the indescribable chaos, the culture, and the uniqueness that is the essence of Istanbul. Without the cat, Istanbul would lose part of its soul.

These are the words that open Kedi, the film about cats in Istanbul that is already a cat classic, although it only came out in the US last year. The film’s concept is simple: follow the daily lives of several street cats in the famous city. Through director Ceyda Torun’s lens, we see the daily comings and goings of several cats while their stories are told by the people who know them.

There’s Sari, the orange-and-white tabby who makes regular rounds of places where she knows she’ll get food, all so she can feed her litter of kittens. There’s the family of cats who hang out at a fish seller’s stall, where they happily eat up scraps of fish. There’s Bengü, another tabby with young kittens. And there are more. Cats, it seems, are everywhere in Istanbul. (We should note that old SoLT visited this wondrous and ancient city quite a few years ago, and she does remember seeing some cats hanging out around cafés and such, but patrons were encouraged NOT to feed them!)

But Kedi is not just about cats (although a movie strictly about cats would be fine with us!). It is also very much a film about the people who care for these cats, who look for a particular cat or two to show up every day for food and maybe some petting. One man feeds some small kittens by hand, another walks a certain route daily, taking food to one group of cats after another. That latter man says the cats give his life purpose; they saved him from what sounds like a serious depression.

That got us to thinking. Just as cats are cats the world over, even with their unique personalities, cat people are cat people the world over (and we’re talking about true cat people here, not just people who happen to have cats). These people are kind and gentle, willing to put themselves out in order to help another living being—a small, furry one. They are the ones who sense the cats’ intelligence, their souls. We like these people a lot. They do not “own” the cats they care for, but still the cats are like friends and family to them.

It might be upsetting to some viewers to see so many cats living on their own on the streets. It was upsetting to us at times. But we are trying hard to understand the culture in Istanbul, the one in which, as one woman in the film said (and we’re paraphrasing), to confine a cat to the indoors is to take something from him, to rob him of his autonomy. Our cultural viewpoint is really different from that, as here in the US, the norm these days is to keep cats inside to protect them from harm. But many places in the world do not share that view.

Our verdict

Our final word on Kedi is simple: If you haven’t seen it yet, you must see it! You will not see much of the more famous bits of the city, but you will get a glimpse into another culture and its cats. You will meet some pretty terrific cats, and we think you’ll be touched by some of the stories. We certainly were.

Very highly recommended!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Cat Classics on Film: Alien (1979)

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” That is the famous tagline of the 1979 film Alien, which, in addition to being a cat classic, is a sci-fi horror classic that has an enduring place in modern popular culture. Alien was directed by Ridley Scott and starred Sigourney Weaver as tough heroine Ripley, who also featured in three subsequent related films: Aliens (1986), Aliens 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997).

The plot (contains spoilers)

The crew of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo are on their way back to Earth when they’re suddenly awakened from hypersleep. They pick up a mystery signal coming from a strange planet, and they make a detour to investigate.  While on the surface of the planet, one of the crew (Kane, played by John Hurt) discovers a group of large egg-like things. Turns out they are in fact eggs, and Kane ends up with a, um, creature attached to his face. This is a problem. Kane, alive but unconscious, is taken back aboard the Nostromo, but there seems to be no way to remove the creature from his face. He does wake up eventually, after the creature detaches itself. It now appears to be dead and Kane seems no worse for wear, but we’re left wondering just what that thing was doing to him.

All of this has been a setup for one of the most famous scenes in sci-fi film. Even if you have never seen Alien, you probably have some familiarity with the scene in which the crew members are sharing a large meal when suddenly Kane starts coughing and choking, and then a whole new creature bursts through his chest, looks around, and jumps down and runs off, leaving Kane dead. At least now we know what that original creature was doing to him.

Things get even more horrific when another crew member, Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), goes searching for the ship’s cat, an orange tabby named Jones (more on him later). Brett finds Jones, but when the cat hisses at something over his shoulder, Brett turns around and finds himself face-to-face with the newly born creature, which has suddenly become much, much larger. Brett is killed, but Jones escapes.

There follows a lot of searching for the creature. Unfortunately, each time the search succeeds, someone else ends up dead. Eventually, only third officer Ripley and Jones are left. Knowing she has to destroy the alien, Ripley gets Jones into what looks like an industrial-strength cat carrier, and she sets the ship to self-destruct and heads for the escape shuttle. After some suspenseful moments with the alien as the destruct sequence counts down, Ripley and Jones get into the shuttle and they blast away from the main ship moments before it explodes. Safe, right? Well, no…because the alien has secreted itself in the shuttle. Hey, why would it want to stay on the exploding ship?

Ripley does get rid of the alien (there’s a pretty great alien-getting-sucked-into-space sequence), and now she and Jones are safe. Before she puts herself into hypersleep, Ripley records a log entry saying she is the only survivor of the Nostromo, but of course that is not true, because Jones survived too.

Jonesy the cat, at the moment Brett is attacked by the alien.

The cat

Jones, or Jonesy, is a pretty tough kitty cat. We see quite a lot of him throughout the film: hanging out with the crew, running to hide in inconvenient places so the crew can chase him and thus encounter the alien, being banged around in that industrial cat carrier. While he’s in the carrier, Jones also has a rather harrowing up-close encounter with the alien, and he does not flinch away (he survives, obviously). The film’s credits list Animals Unlimited as the cat actor’s trainer, but of course the actual cat (or cats—there were four of them, according to Cinema Cats) is uncredited. This is a shame, because those cats did an excellent job. Jones also appears in the follow-up Aliens (1986).

Our verdict

If you are not into sci-fi and horror things, Alien is probably not for you, even though there’s a cat in it. We don’t find it too terribly frightening, but there is something just creepy about this alien. And of course there is violence and blood—and alien slime. But it is all part of what we think is a pretty good story. There are parts we didn’t go into in the plot outline—such as, just why did these people knowingly bring the creature on board the Nostromo? (For the record, Ripley was against this, but she was overruled.) The answer to that question does come out as you get deeper into the movie and learn a few things about the science officer. The alien itself is quite a creation in every way, from its physical appearance to its life cycle. We like that Ripley is a smart, strong, and resourceful character. And of course we love Jonesy, the ship’s cat who faces down a horrific alien. 

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Cat Classics on Film: The Legend of Hell House (1973)

Today’s Cat Classic, The Legend of Hell House, directed by John Hough, is a haunted house movie that we did not find to be especially frightening. The cat is not a major player, and his supposedly horrifying scenes are (a) not horrifying and (b) kind of nonsensical. Nevertheless, Halloween is coming, and if you’re looking for a kind-of-good haunt film, this one is worth a look.

The plot

The movie is based on the book Hell House, by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay. It opens with physicist Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill) meeting with a millionaire to investigate whether it is possible to survive after death. The millionaire offers Barrett a large sum of money to spend one week investigating at a place called the Belasco House, also known as Hell House or the Mount Everest of haunted houses. Eight people have died in past investigations there, and the last time a team investigated that house, 20 years earlier, only one person made it out alive and sane. That survivor, a physical medium named Fischer (Roddy McDowell), will be joining the new investigation. Also going to the house are Barrett’s wife, Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), and a mental medium, Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin).

They arrive on an appropriately foggy evening, and it soon becomes clear that this place is weird. Tanner, the mental medium, begins experiencing things right away. She comes to believe she’s being contacted by the son of the house’s mysterious owner, Emeric Belasco. Belasco, reportedly six feet five inches tall and a violent sadist, disappeared after several people were massacred in the house. Lots of ghostly things happen, such as furniture moving and things being thrown.

Tension grows between the investigators as Tanner keeps having close encounters with what she thinks is Belasco’s tortured son (the others are skeptical of this), and Ann Barrett seems to be taken over by something that drives her to try to seduce Fischer. Fischer, meanwhile, refuses to open himself to allow whatever is in the house to affect him; he intends only to survive the week and collect his paycheck. And Dr. Barrett is busy measuring things and setting up the device that will drive the psychic energy completely out of the house. Let’s just say this “housecleaning” scheme does not work entirely as planned.

The cat

This movie includes a somewhat gratuitous black cat. And not just any old black cat. No, this is a killer black cat. Sort of.

Anyway, the cat is first seen when the team arrives at the house. A handsome black cat appears outside, sitting there among all the fog and gloom. Later, the cat is seen outside again, this time walking past the house. Then, somehow the cat gets inside the house and attacks Tanner in her room. The stuffed stunt cat used for these scenes is not especially convincing, and the cat paws seen reaching under the door are almost laughably fake. Tanner claims that the cat was obviously possessed by Belasco’s son, and of course no one believes her.

Later, Tanner finds the cat dead, and we do see a brief shot of the bloody body. The stuffed stunt cat played this scene about as well as he played the attack scene, so we did not find it particularly convincing, and you see the cat for such a short time, you may be left asking, “Wait—was that the cat?”

At the movie’s end, the black cat is again seen outside and very much alive…so go figure.

Our verdict

We did not find The Legend of Hell House scary or even all that engrossing. This isn’t the kind of film that grabs you and gets inside your head, which is probably a good thing, because that Belasco guy was a real creep. The cat does not play a big role and is of course uncredited. If you’re watching this movie mostly for the cat, you will likely be disappointed…unless you really want to be entertained by the stuffed stunt cat. Much of this film was as unconvincing to us as that stunt cat was. Which is not to say we didn’t enjoy watching it; it has a 1970s horror vibe that is fun in small doses, like around Halloween, with a big bowl of popcorn with candy mixed in. But if you want a great classic haunted house film, we think you’d be better off watching House on Haunted Hill (the 1959 version starring Vincent Price).

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Cat Classics on Film: Bell, Book and Candle (1958)

Bell, Book and Candle is yet another example of a movie in which everyone makes a big deal out of the human cast (notably James Stewart and Kim Novak in this case), while saying almost nothing about the real star: the cat. By the way, we found a copy of the Playbill for the 1950–51 production at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, and it doesn’t mention the cat either. Today we’ll be setting the record straight.

A witch, her cat, and their neighbor

Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) is an above-average New York witch who owns a cool shop featuring tribal masks and art and such things. She has her familiar, a Siamese cat named Pyewacket, and her slightly loony aunt Queenie to keep her company, as well as her brother, Nick (Jack Lemmon). But her world gets turned upside down when she gets a new neighbor, publisher Shepherd Henderson (James Stewart). It’s Christmas Eve, and Gil is in her shop alone at closing time when Shep walks in asking if he can use the phone (this because Queenie has cast a little spell on his phone). Of course Gil … well, she doesn’t fall in love with him, because according to this story, witches aren’t able to do that. They also can’t cry or blush. But she does decide she wants him, and she wants him even more when she finds out that his fiancée is her old college enemy, Merle. Gil and Pyewacket cast a little spell on Shep to make him fall in love with her, and the next thing he knows, he’s on top of the Flatiron Building on Christmas morning with Gil in his arms. All he wants is to be with Gil, so obviously he’s got to give his fiancée the old heave-ho. Which he does.

The witch-hunting author and the annoying brother

Kim Novak in a 1964 publicity photo.
Photographer unknown.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Earlier, Shep had mentioned that he would love to publish the next book of an author, Redlitch (Ernie Kovacs), whose current book on magic is making loads of money. So, Gil and Pyewacket cast a little spell to summon Redlitch to Shep’s office. Turns out his next book will be on witchcraft in New York. This, of course, is a problem, since now Gil is in danger of being exposed as a witch, so she (somewhat foolishly, we thought) sends her brother, Nick, to occupy Redlitch and steer him down the wrong path. Only Nick is sort of an idiot, and so he does just the opposite: he begins revealing the real world of witches in the city.

We won’t reveal all the ups and downs of Gil and Shep’s relationship after that, but let’s just say that there are some.

The important stuff: Pyewacket the cat

And now, finally, let’s move on to our main reason for being here: Pyewacket the rather extraordinary Siamese cat. He is (of course) uncredited, even though, as Gil’s familiar, he plays a major part in the film. His trainer, Robert E. Blair, is also uncredited, which we thought was equally unfair.

The cover of the Playbill for the 1950-51
production of Bell, Book and Candle. Yes, a cat
appears on the cover, but no cat is listed in the credits.
Via Performing Arts Archive.

Pyewacket’s “real” name appears to be unknown. The Deseret News reported on January 7, 1957, that the movie’s producers were doing a talent search for a Siamese cat to take on the role. Orangey, who had previously starred in Rhubarb, was reportedly considered, but the producers decided they really wanted a Siamese. Orangey “has a [Bo]gart personality and we [want] a cat with an Ava Gardner [per]sonality,” they said. A Siamese named Lady Grenadier Sarah had starred in the hit Broadway play that the movie was based on, but at 14 years old, Sarah was too old to take on the movie part. Producer Julian Blaustein said that Sarah the cat also “talks constantly” (although we don’t see the problem with that). This report also reveals how the producers planned to give Pyewacket a more active role in the movie. While in the Broadway version, the cat “mostly ambled about, perched on his mistress’ shoulder or snoozed in laps,” the movie would require him to jump about, dodge traffic, and walk on a window ledge.

 The cat who eventually played Pyewacket came from trainer Frank Inn, and he did such an outstanding job, he was awarded a PATSY (Performing Animal Television Star of the Year) in 1959. (Of course, as is usual in these situations, several cats were actually used in the filming.) Reportedly, Kim Novak loved cats and formed a bond with Pyewacket, whom she adopted as her own when filming was finished. How could you not bond with a cat who had helped you cast spells?

Throughout the movie, we see Pyewacket often perched on someone’s shoulder, jumping about, snuggling with Gil, and of course doing that mesmerizing spell-casting thing. In the scene where he runs away, he dodges cars as he runs across the street. There is also a scene where Gil shoos him down from a shelf by swatting at him, which we thought was kind of mean. Throughout, the cat actor lays down a masterful performance. You can get a glimpse of it in this clip:

Our verdict—contains spoilers!

Bell Book and Candle is an excellent film with an excellent cat. We enjoyed the story right up until the end. Of course Gil and Shep end up together (it is a romantic comedy, after all). This is great, but it requires Gil to not be a witch anymore. She falls in love and loses her powers. Her formerly cool shop becomes filled with a new, flowery type of art, and her manner of dress turns from classy modern woman to something more June Cleaver-ish. She also gains the ability to cry and blush—and loses Pyewacket, because he is no pet cat; he is a familiar, and he needs a witch. We thought this was all rather sad. Yes, Gil gets the man she loves, but she loses her whole identity in the process. She doesn’t just give up a bad habit; she gives up her whole self. Is that really love? At least we can admire Pyewacket for knowing who he is.

  

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good movie; two paws is for a great movie. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!

Sources

Cinema Cats, http://www.cinemacats.com/?p=4405.
IMDb, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051406/?ref_=nv_sr_1.
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell,_Book_and_Candle.

Cat Classics on Film: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Just so you know, there are no cats in this movie, unless you count the MGM lion at the beginning. I was very disappointed, because I expected to see a film about a cat overcoming his or her problems, but this movie is really just people screaming at each other in fake southern accents. Not entertaining. Definitely not a cat movie. Oh sure, Elizabeth Taylor’s character says she feels “just like cat on a hot tin roof,” and Paul Newman calls her "Maggie the Cat," but that doesn’t make her a cat.

Anyway, lots of people like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and consider it a classic. I did not like it at all, and even old SoLT didn’t much care for it, even with Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. She said the people were annoying, and she mostly just wanted them to shut up. The end was kind of good though, and we did enjoy seeing Burl Ives, who plays Big Daddy.

If you like watching people yell at each other, then you might like this film. Just don’t expect to see any cats, because you are not going to see any.

Zero paws up.

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the movie through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!