That Darn Cat!
Encyclopedia
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
starring Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...
and Dean Jones
Dean Jones (actor)
Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
, starring in his first film for Disney in a story about bank robbers, a kidnapping and a mischievous cat. The film was based on the book Undercover Cat
Undercover Cat
Undercover Cat is a novel by Gordon and Mildred Gordon, about a cat who assists the FBI in tracking down a pair of bank robbers. It was published in 1963.It has been adapted to film twice, as That Darn Cat! and That Darn Cat ....
by Gordon and Mildred Gordon and was directed by Robert Stevenson
Robert Stevenson (director)
Robert Stevenson was an English film writer and director. He was educated at Cambridge University where he became the president of both the Liberal Club and the Cambridge Union Society....
. The title song was written by the Sherman Brothers
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers are an American songwriting duo that specialize in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman ....
and sung by Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
. That Darn Cat! was the last of six films Hayley Mills made for the Disney Studios. The 1997 remake featured a cameo appearance by Dean Jones.
Plot and cast
"That Darn Cat" or "DC" is a wily, adventurous SiameseSiamese (cat)
The Siamese is one of the first distinctly recognized breeds of Oriental cat. The origins of the breed are unknown, but it is believed to be from Thailand. In Thailand, where they are one of several native breeds, they are called Wichian Mat...
tomcat who lives with two young women, suburbanite sisters Ingrid (Dorothy Provine
Dorothy Provine
Dorothy Michelle Provine was an American singer, dancer, actress, and comedienne.-Career:Provine was born in Deadwood, South Dakota, to Virgil and Kathleen Provine. She attended the University of Washington, where she majored in drama. In Washington she handed out prizes for a local television...
) and Patti Randall (Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...
), whose parents are traveling abroad at the time of the story. One night, while making his rounds around town, teasing Blitzy the Bulldog
Bulldog
Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
as usual, DC follows Iggy (Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...
), a bank robber, to an apartment where he and his partner Dan (Neville Brand
Neville Brand
Neville Brand was an American television and movie actor.-Early life:Neville Brand was born in Illinois. He was born to Leo and Helen Brand as one of seven children. Leo, was an electrician and bridge building steel worker in Detroit, where Neville was raised...
) are holding bank employee Margaret Miller (Grayson Hall
Grayson Hall
Grayson Hall was an American television, film and stage actress. She was widely regarded for her avant garde theatrical performances in the 1960s-80s. Hall was nominated in 1964 for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the John Huston film The Night of the Iguana...
) hostage, calling her "Moms" in the process. The robbers let the cat in and feed him. When Margaret is alone for a moment, she scratches "help" into the wristband of her watch, places it around the cat's neck, and releases him into the outdoors. At home, Patti discovers the watch and calls the FBI. Supervisor Newton (Richard Eastham
Richard Eastham
Richard Eastham, born as Dickinson Swift Eastham , was an American actor of stage, film, and television and a concert singer known for his deep baritone voice.-Tombstone Territory:...
) assigns Zeke Kelso (Dean Jones
Dean Jones (actor)
Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
) to follow DC in hopes he will lead them back to the robbers' hideout. Kelso sets up a headquarters in the Randalls' house and assigns a team to keep the cat under surveillance, but DC manages to elude them. Eventually a bugging device is implanted in DC's collar and the cat leads Zeke into a comical chase at a drive-in movie and several backyards. Eventually, Patti and Zeke rescue Margaret and bring the robbers to justice. A subplot involves a romance between Patti's sister Ingrid and Gregory Benson (Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
), Blitzy's master. Cast includes Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
and William Demarest
William Demarest
Carl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...
as nosey neighbors, the MacDougalls; Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
as Mr. Hofstedder, Richard Deacon
Richard Deacon (actor)
Richard Deacon , born in Philadelphia, was an American television and motion picture actor.-Career:The bald and usually bespectacled character actor often portrayed pompous or imperious figures. He made appearances on The Jack Benny Show as a salesman and a barber, and on NBC's Happy as a hotel...
as a drive-in theater
Drive-in theater
A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars.The screen can be as simple as a...
manager, Liam Sullivan as Graham, Iris Adrian
Iris Adrian
Iris Adrian was an American film actress.-Life and career:Born in Los Angeles, California as Iris Hostetter, Adrian won a beauty pageant and worked with the Ziegfeld Follies, before she entered films at the end of the silent era in Chasing Husbands and appeared as an extra or chorus girl in early...
as the landlady, and Tom Lowell as Patti's boyfriend Canoe Henderson.
Production
The exterior neighborhood scenes were filmed on The Walt Disney StudiosWalt Disney Studios (Burbank)
The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serve as the international headquarters for media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Studio's house offices for each of the company's divisions along with creative spaces designed for movie production. The Walt Disney...
backlot
Backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction....
in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, California.
The Incredible Journey
The Incredible Journey, by British author Sheila Burnford, is a children's book first published by Hodder & they travel 300 miles through the Canadian wilderness searching for their beloved masters. It reveals the suffering and stress of an arduous journey, together with the unwavering loyalty and...
.
Reception
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote, "The feline that plays the informant, as the F.B.I. puts it, is superb. Clark Gable at the peak of his performing never played a tom cat more winningly. This elegant, blue-eyed creature is a paragon of suavity and grace", and concluded, "...it's an entertaining picture. Even a king might profitably look at That Darn Cat."
The movie was well-received by critics, earning a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and a rating of 6.8/10 on the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
.
Awards and nominations
The film's writers, Mildred Gordon, Gordon Gordon, and Bill WalshBill Walsh (producer)
Bill Walsh was a film producer and screenwriter who primarily worked on live-action films for Walt Disney Productions...
, were nominated by the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
for Best Written American Comedy. The film was also nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture, and a Golden Leaf nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Elsa Lanchester). Mills won the 1966 second place Golden Leaf award for Comedy Performance, Actress. The Sherman Brothers won the third place Golden Leaf award for Best Song.