Who remembers Felix, the crazy cartoon cat that used to make every viewer happy with his doubtful journeys in the fantasy areas of silent films? Bosley Crowther said in his review, “Well, a live-action counterpart of Felix has been shamelessly conceived by the brownies who work for Walt Disney and is now making saps of human beings in "That Darn Cat," which opened at the Music Hall yesterday. What with his having an adventure that approaches fantasy, despite the fact that it includes talking people and has a firm look of reality, and what with this being the movie that goes with the Music Hall's big Christmas show, he will no doubt do just as well as Felix in delighting a multitude of young and old. This is said with a rational suspension of the usual severity that is exercised by this department in criticizing films about the miraculous capabilities of animals.”
It is said with full awareness that the people that were in this adventure are way over serious consideration as logical humans. They are a group of comedy characters, let by an intelligent teenager, played by Hayley Mills, who becomes involved in a case where her Siamese cat is sued to lead agents of the FBI to the hideout of bank robbers. It looks like the cat followed the robbers (impressionist Frank Gorshin and Neville Brand) to their apartment and came back wearing a wristwatch as a collar, put on by the kidnapped bank-teller (Grayson Hall) desperately calling for help.
Crowther said, “Needless to say, it is the wide-eyed and breathlessly imaginative Miss Mills who first figures out the significance of the mysterious watch and succeeds in recruiting the interest and then the activity of the F.B.I. And it is she who does most of the pushing and coaxing of her pet to return to the hideaway of the robbers, while the F.B.I. lads rally round with their paw-printing gear and walkie-talkies to tail the cat scientifically. It is a setup for criminal apprehension that becomes pretty wild before D.C.—that's short for Darn Cat—obliges and erratically leads the way. In these frenziedly farcical activities, it is not surprising to find the cat the coolest, most controlled, intelligent and, indeed, believable participant.”
The cat that plays the informant, as the FBI says, is great. Clark Gable at the prime of his career never played a tom cat more convincingly. Crowther noted, “This elegant, blue-eyed creature is a paragon of suavity and grace. And what is most commendable about him is that he doesn't deign to converse.” That must be the most offensive character of animals in films.
Along with D.C., the people are in a Disney film, whish is something between enjoyable fictions and intolerable crazy people. Crowther noted, “Miss Mills is one of the former—a well-scrubbed, energy-radiant miss who manages to be attractive even when she has to do the most fatuous things.” Dean Jones as the FBI agent is stuck with the funniest role, and he plays through it nicely. Dorothy Provine and Roddy McDowal play an elderly couple in a juvenile way, and Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin are funny as caricatures of thieves. As funny next-door neighbors Elsa Lanchester and William Demarest show that there’s no point in trying to teach an old dog new tricks.
Crowther credited, “Robert Stevenson did the directing from a screenplay by Bill Walsh and the Gordons, probably great ailurophiles. The color is good and Bobby Darin warbles a song at the start that may be amusing to humans but would probably fill Felix with disgust.” However, it’s an entertaining movie. I think people could take a look at the film and enjoy it.
If you can get over the fact that this film is from the 60s, then I would say check it out. It is a product of its time, but it is a very enjoyable film. Check it out and have a good laugh while watching it.
Look out tomorrow when I review a classic in “Disney Month 2021.”
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