That Darn Cat!

What time is it Kitty Kat? That Darn Cat! is out of Disney Productions and directed by Robert Stevenson. Collectively written by Bill Walsh and The Gordons (Mildred & Gordon), it stars Hayley Mills, Dean Jones, Dorothy Provine, Roddy McDowall, Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin. Music is by Robert F. Brunner and cinematography by Edward Colman. When DC the Siamese cat is found to have a watch around his neck, one of his owners, Pattii Randall (Mills), alerts the FBI to the possibility it's a clue to a recent kidnapping. Cue much malarkey as humans and cat try to solve the crime whilst staying one step/paw ahead of the criminals... Utterly harmless fluff from the House of the Mouse, That Darn Cat! is basically a live action cartoon. Away from the wonderful cat(s) performance - and the skillful capturing of said cat(s) reactions to situations - there's no great technical genius here. Nothing wrong with that, this is good old fashioned entertainment for the kids to chuckle along with and for the adults to smile at. Yes some of the performances are twee or precious, and the story is silly, but it's honest family fare that's also boosted by Ed Wynn and Elsa Lanchester in secondary support slots. 6.5/10

Funny, probably the most I've laughed at a Disney film so far. 'That Darn Cat!' is an entertaining production. The premise, whilst not incredibly executed, is amusing and very watchable. Cast-wise it's terrific, Hayley Mills and Dean Jones certainly raise everyone else up but all the characters are astutely cast. DC the cat is adorable, too. Mills plays Patti while Jones portrays Kelso. They both work very well together, I enjoyed both performances. Ed Wynn has, like in 'Those Calloways', a good short showing. No others stand out per se, but they all bring little things to their respective roles. I do wish they would've done more with the villains though, given they were nicely cast. What they give is decent, but they definitely could've played a bigger part. The film probably runs 10-15 minutes too long also. You should watch this if you get the opportunity, it makes for fun viewing.

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John Chard

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