The Aristocats (1970, dir. Wolfgang Reitherman, US) by Kymm Zuckert

We all have the Disney movies that belong to us, that are our own Disney movies that were new when we were kids. Of course, before video and streaming there were re-releases, but the ones that truly belonged to us were the brand new ones. Not to mention the fact that there usually were record albums that contained the story as well as the songs. Disney always knew how to catch us young. 

For me, first was The Jungle Book, when I was three, though I don’t remember seeing it in the theatre, I’m sure I did. And of course I had the album. Then was The Aristocats when i was seven, then Robin Hood when I was nine, and finally The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh when I was twelve. I love the Disney films that came before and after, but those were the ones that hit me right in the cerebral cortex and imprinted on me. 

Just in case you are not an Aristocat connoisseur, the basic story is as follows. Duchess the white cat (Eva Gabor), and her kittens Toulouse (Gary Dublin), Berlioz (Dean Clark), and Marie (Liz English) live in a mansion in Paris with Madame (Hermione Baddley). The butler, Edgar (Roddy Maude-Roxby) discovers that he is in Madame’s will, but only after the cats die, so decides to speed them on their way. He’s not very competent, so the cats get away, and with the help of Thomas O’Malley, the alley cat (the great Phil Harris), they find their way back home and, with the help of a jazz band made of cats, a mouse, and a horse, foil Edgar’s plan. 

I actually hadn’t seen The Aristocats in many years, though it doesn’t matter at all, because it lives in me. That said, there were definitely things I noticed watching it this time that were new to me. 

First of all, there were songs slightly different than on the record album that I practically wore out. The title song, sung by Maurice Chevalier over the opening credits, was a different take, and “"She Never Felt Alone” is more of a song on the album rather than a wistful poem in the film. 

Also, due to the fact that I have seen Lady and the Tramp every Valentines Day at the El Capitan, and rewatched 101 Dalmatians last year, the penny dropped that The Aristocats is a combination of the two films, but cats. Which includes the unfortunate racism. 

In both Lady and the Tramp and The Aristocats the various animals have the accents of their breeds, which is fine when it’s Jock the Scottie or Pat Buttram and George Lindsay all countrified as the hound dogs, but less fine when it’s the Siamese cats, or, kind of worse, Paul Winchell as the Chinese cat, which is a Siamese cat with an extremely stereotypical Chinese accent of the worst kind. It is, fortunately, only a very small part of the film, but it really didn’t age well. 

The more amusing thing with the accents is how, in all these Disney movies, they were just such a mishmash and nobody cares. So in Paris, a presumably French woman with an English accent has a cat with a Hungarian accent, who has three kittens, one English, two American. And then two geese show up with English accents, but they are from England on a walking tour! Why do they have the same accent as the kitten born in Paris with a Hungarian mother? Who knows?

So, the Chinese cat aside, this is a fun movie with great songs and voice acting, a wonderful piece of my childhood, still a treat today. 

Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog