Official PoCo Muse Film Critic Jeff Schultz revisits The Aristocats for his April 2021 Review.
Everyone who grew up near Valparaiso from the 1950s through the 80s probably remembers seeing a Walt Disney film at the Shauer’s Premier Theatre. For many, it was their first time in a movie theater and the experience of seeing “Cinderella,” “Pinocchio,” or “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” remains a vivid memory. They may also fondly recall seeing a program of Disney cartoon shorts at Christmastime or the 1979 Valpo Popcorn Festival when Goofy came to town.
Nothing could be more exciting as a kid than riding to the theater to see the latest Disney movie and that is why we’re revisiting one for this month’s entry of Going Back to the Movies. “The Aristocats” began its initial run in theaters on Christmas Eve 1970 and made its way to the Premier the following April. To understand how “The Aristocats”’ fits in the Disney canon, a quick study will show us how Walt Disney and his artists crafted their movies.
The name Disney has entertained audiences almost as long as the Premier opened one hundred years ago. Walt Disney made his first cartoon, a six-minute “Laugh-O-Gram” adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, in 1922. His creation of Mickey Mouse garnered him international fame and prestige and built his ambition to expand his animation into feature films. The initial idea that audiences would take a cartoon seriously for 80 minutes was balked at but Disney proved his critics wrong when he released his first animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” in 1938. Audiences liked it so much that it became the most successful movie ever at the time. While it’s arguably not the first fully animated movie in history, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” singlehandedly created the template for every animated movie that’s been made since, either by Disney or someone else.
What was Disney’s formula for success? Walt noted that to make a feature film out of a fairy tale, there needed to be an equilibrium of plot and character along with plenty of sight gags. Since the lead character is often the dullest, his team had to create a supporting cast that can provide antics when needed. This is evident in other Disney films like “Cinderella” where much of the first half includes comedic chase scenes with the animal characters. Plot is secondary when it comes to classic Disney charm.
Disney also set high standards for his animated films early on using a self-developed multiplane camera to create depth realistically into the image. Artists also used celluloid, or cel, animation with ink and paint which was an expensive and laborious process. After the disappointing box office performance of “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959, the studio opted for a less sophisticated hand-drawn technique and Xerox process with its next feature, “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” Even with its animation scaled back, the film was a tremendous success with its reliable sight gags along with a modern, hip feel that became the style for Disney’s films over the next few decades including “The Aristocats.”
That Disney charm I spoke of earlier, along with songs by the talented Richard and Robert Sherman, are some of the elements that keep “The Aristocats” afloat while its plot stands a little thin. A family of cats living in 1910s Paris is kidnapped by a jealous butler after the felines are appointed the heirs of their owner’s fortune. The butler, Edgar, carelessly loses the cats as he attempts to get rid of them in the French countryside. Not sure how to find their way home, Duchess and her three kittens feel lost until they meet the resourceful Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat. Thomas is voiced by Phil Harris who was an actor and bandleader and the voice of Baloo the Bear in the previous Disney movie, “The Jungle Book.” Adults in the audience would also recognize “Green Acres” star Eva Gabor’s voice for Duchess. Louis Armstrong was sought to be the voice of Scat Cat but due to ill health the role went to Scatman Crothers. Legendary French singer Maurice Chevalier sings the title song which was his last recording before his death in 1972.
Again in the Disney formula, it is the supporting characters that steal the show. Duchess and the kittens ambitions lie strictly in their daily exercises of how to be properly pampered pets. Even the villain Edgar is unremarkable. Besides his greedy plots, he is too bumbling to be a real threat. One of the best scenes include two minor characters, a bloodhound and a Bassett hound named Napoleon and Lafayette, who fail miserably at patrolling their turf because they can’t stop butting heads and as a result a “one-wheeled haystack” gets away. Then there’s the “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” scene which the movie is probably best remembered for with Scat Cat and his gang of cool cats literally bringing down the house in a colorful musical number full of trumpet blasts and jazzy clarinets. They definitely have swing.
For an added attraction, Disney released a 22-minute short “Dad… Can I Borrow the Car?” to accompany “The Aristocats” at the Premier. Since Disney animated films are usually less than 80 minutes long, shorts or cartoons have traditionally been added to pad the running time and it’s still a tradition today, particularly with Pixar releases. In “Dad...Can I Borrow the Car?” Disney took inspiration from avant-garde films of the time and made its own drivers training video that kids would actually watch. Narrated by a young Kurt Russell, it uses a potpourri of stock footage, animation and sound effects to poke fun at the agony of trying to get your driver’s license. This nearly-forgotten bauble you may have seen in your own driver’s ed class can be viewed on YouTube.
I give this combo of “The Aristocats” and “Dad,… Can I Borrow the Car?” 3 out of 4 stars. It’s not a higher degree of three stars I’d give some of the other Disney films from this period, but I’m sure the kids in the audience wouldn’t mind. I imagine many went home begging their parents for a cat, or a car, and were dreaming of what the next Disney film at the Premier would be.
Special Note: Some information in this review came from “The Disney Films,” 3rd Edition, written by Leonard Maltin and published in 1995 by Hyperion.
On Parade • Orville Redenbacher, Popcorn Queen Jennifer Van Natta, and Goofy stroll down Lincolnway to mark the official festivities of the inaugural Popcorn Festival in downtown Valparaiso on September 15, 1979.
Best Pals • Official Disney ambassador Goofy presented Orville Redenbacher with a Mickey Mouse wristwatch and a card, as Orville Redenbacher Gourmet Popping Corn was the official popcorn of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in September 1979.
Now Playing • Ad for The Aristocats at the Premier Theatre. This ad appeared in The Vidette-Messenger on April 3, 1971.