The Three Lives of Thomasina
Encyclopedia
The Three Lives of Thomasina is a 1964 British-American Disney fantasy feature film
starring Patrick McGoohan
, Susan Hampshire
, and child actress
Karen Dotrice
in a story about a cat and her influence on a family. The screenplay was written by Robert Westerby
and Paul Gallico
and was based upon Gallico's 1957
novel Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God. The film was directed by Don Chaffey
, and shot in Inveraray
, Argyll
, Scotland
, and Pinewood Studios
, England
. Thomasina has been broadcast on television and released to VHS and DVD.
in 1912, the story centers around Andrew MacDhui (Patrick McGoohan
) a coldly-scientific, atheist veterinarian, his seven year old daughter Mary (Karen Dotrice
), and her cat Thomasina (voiced by Elspeth March
). Thomasina the cat narrates the movie. (Thomasina was originally called "Thomas" by her adoptive family. She explains that they amended her name "after they . . . um . . . got to know me better.")
MacDhui is a widower. His wife's death killed his belief in God, as well as his empathy for others. He has little sympathy for people's pets, preferring "useful" animals such as hard-working farm beasts and the blind man Tammas' dog, Bruce.
One night Thomasina is chased by dogs in the marketplace and falls off some boxes sustaining an injury. Mary and her friends find her the following day. Meanwhile MacDhui is operating on Bruce (who was struck by a car). He is interrupted during the surgery by his daughter begging him to help her cat. He sees that Thomasina's muscles are stiff and diagnoses tetanus
.
Although tetanus is treatable and even if untreated is fatal only 73% of the time ), MacDhui, as with other pets brought to him in similar situations, considers it easier to simply have the cat euthanized. He orders his assistant Willie Bannock (Wilfrid Brambell
) to put Thomasina to sleep.
Mary is completely shattered by Thomasina's death, and loses faith in her father, who had promised to save her cat. She turns emotionally cold to MacDhui and declares her father dead, refusing to speak to or look at him.
Meanwhile, Thomasina goes to "cat heaven" in a surrealistic scene where cats who have used all of their nine lives are transformed into Siamese and live with the Egyptian cat-god Bast for eternity. But Thomasina has only lived once, and is returned to her body alive but in a coma.
Mary and her playmates Hughie Stirling (Vincent Winter
), and Jamie and Geordie McNab (Denis Gilmore and Matthew Garber
) and other friends give Thomasina a funeral. They take her out to the glen beyond the town, but are (unintentionally) frightened away by "Mad Lori" MacGregor (Susan Hampshire
), a beautiful and kindhearted young woman who lives in the glen and was attracted by the children's singing and bagpipe playing. The children believe she is a witch, one reason being that she seems to have a magic power to calm and cure animals. Lori brings Thomasina back to her makeshift animal hospital, but although the cat recovers she has no memory of her "First Life" with Mary. Thus begins her second life.
Lori doesn't have the surgical skill needed to repair a wounded badger she finds in a trap, and she asks God to give her help. Immediately after that, MacDhui comes to give her a piece of his mind because the children have told the townspeople to boycott his practice and to bring their pets to her instead. But that is forgotten as he treats the animal's wound while Lori watches in amazement.
Lori (and later, MacDhui) realizes that they each have half of what is needed to treat sick animals. He has the science and surgery, and she has the power of love. They start to bond emotionally when they fight gypsies who have been treating their animals cruelly.
Meanwhile, Thomasina's memory is slowly returning. She realizes she misses something very important, but she doesn't know what. She does remember the way back home, but doesn't recognize Mary, who chases her into a rainstorm. Thomasina returns to the safety of Lori's cabin in the woods, but Mary contracts pneumonia
after MacDhui finds her lying in the street in the rain.
MacDhui prays for the first time in four years that God will somehow cure his daughter. Off in the glen, a lightning bolt (which may be a miracle from God) strikes a tree next to Thomasina and her memory is suddenly restored. Lori comes to the house, as does Thomasina, who is the only one able to save Mary as she has lost the will to live. However the cat sees MacDhui (who had her killed) and refuses to enter through the window despite MacDhui's pleas.
At this point, Thomasina realizes that she could get revenge on MacDhui by not entering, but (she tells us as the narrator), Lori's love has changed her, and she no longer desires revenge.
MacDhui places Thomasina in Mary's arms, thereby restoring Thomasina to Mary, Mary's life, and Mary's love for her father.
Lori's love has changed MacDhui too, and they get married, making the perfect veterinary team. Thomasina now begins her "Third Life" with all of them together.
(12 December 1963) found the film "a nice one, but...far from top-drawer Disney." He thought it was a "sentimental and extremely genteel little movie...best suited for small girls," but praised the major performers (including the cat) and the settings. He concluded by describing the film as "mighty, mighty cosy." Film critic Leonard Maltin (in his book The Disney Films) on the other hand, refers to this film very highly; calling it "delicate and charming", and very deserving of a larger audience if ever reissued. One scene in particular that he highly praised, was Thomasina's trip to Cat Heaven, calling it: "a wondrous piece of movie magic". In another article written by Maltin, he includes this film title among the lesser known gems of Disney Movies, (along with other film titles like Darby O'Gill and the Little People
).
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 Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
, Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, OBE is an English actress, best-known for her many television and film roles.-Early life:Susan Hampshire was born in Kensington, London, the youngest of four children. She had two sisters and one brother...
, and child actress
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Karen Dotrice
Karen Dotrice
Karen Dotrice is an English actress known primarily for her role as Jane Banks in Walt Disney's feature film adaptation of the Mary Poppins book series. Dotrice was born in Guernsey to two accomplished stage actors...
in a story about a cat and her influence on a family. The screenplay was written by Robert Westerby
Robert Westerby
Robert Westerby , was an author of novels and screenwriter for films and television....
and Paul Gallico
Paul Gallico
Paul William Gallico was a successful American novelist, short story and sports writer. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures...
and was based upon Gallico's 1957
1957 in literature
The year 1957 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Lawrence Durrell publishes the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet. The final of the four volumes will be published in 1960....
novel Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God. The film was directed by Don Chaffey
Don Chaffey
Donald Chaffey was a British film director, writer, producer, and art director.Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained active in the industry until his death in 1990 from heart failure...
, and shot in Inveraray
Inveraray
Inveraray is a royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is on the western shore of Loch Fyne, near its head, and on the A83 road. It is the traditional county town of Argyll and ancestral home to the Duke of Argyll.-Coat of arms:...
, Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Thomasina has been broadcast on television and released to VHS and DVD.
Plot and cast
Set in the town of Inveranoch, ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1912, the story centers around Andrew MacDhui (Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
) a coldly-scientific, atheist veterinarian, his seven year old daughter Mary (Karen Dotrice
Karen Dotrice
Karen Dotrice is an English actress known primarily for her role as Jane Banks in Walt Disney's feature film adaptation of the Mary Poppins book series. Dotrice was born in Guernsey to two accomplished stage actors...
), and her cat Thomasina (voiced by Elspeth March
Elspeth March
-Early years:She was born as Jean Elspeth Mackenzie in Kensington, London, England, the daughter of Harry Malcolm and Elfreda Mackenzie.-Career & marriage:...
). Thomasina the cat narrates the movie. (Thomasina was originally called "Thomas" by her adoptive family. She explains that they amended her name "after they . . . um . . . got to know me better.")
MacDhui is a widower. His wife's death killed his belief in God, as well as his empathy for others. He has little sympathy for people's pets, preferring "useful" animals such as hard-working farm beasts and the blind man Tammas' dog, Bruce.
One night Thomasina is chased by dogs in the marketplace and falls off some boxes sustaining an injury. Mary and her friends find her the following day. Meanwhile MacDhui is operating on Bruce (who was struck by a car). He is interrupted during the surgery by his daughter begging him to help her cat. He sees that Thomasina's muscles are stiff and diagnoses tetanus
Tetanus
Tetanus is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani...
.
Although tetanus is treatable and even if untreated is fatal only 73% of the time ), MacDhui, as with other pets brought to him in similar situations, considers it easier to simply have the cat euthanized. He orders his assistant Willie Bannock (Wilfrid Brambell
Wilfrid Brambell
Henry Wilfrid Brambell was an Irish film and television actor best known for his role in the British television series Steptoe and Son. He also performed alongside The Beatles in their film A Hard Day's Night, playing Paul McCartney's fictional grandfather.- Early life :Brambell was born in Dublin...
) to put Thomasina to sleep.
Mary is completely shattered by Thomasina's death, and loses faith in her father, who had promised to save her cat. She turns emotionally cold to MacDhui and declares her father dead, refusing to speak to or look at him.
Meanwhile, Thomasina goes to "cat heaven" in a surrealistic scene where cats who have used all of their nine lives are transformed into Siamese and live with the Egyptian cat-god Bast for eternity. But Thomasina has only lived once, and is returned to her body alive but in a coma.
Mary and her playmates Hughie Stirling (Vincent Winter
Vincent Winter
Vincent Winter was a Scottish film actor who was successful as a child actor.-Career:Winter was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and made his first film appearance at the age of six in The Little Kidnappers winning, along with his co-star Jon Whiteley, an Academy Juvenile Award...
), and Jamie and Geordie McNab (Denis Gilmore and Matthew Garber
Matthew Garber
Matthew Adam Garber was a British actor best known for his role as Michael Banks in Walt Disney's 1964 film Mary Poppins...
) and other friends give Thomasina a funeral. They take her out to the glen beyond the town, but are (unintentionally) frightened away by "Mad Lori" MacGregor (Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, OBE is an English actress, best-known for her many television and film roles.-Early life:Susan Hampshire was born in Kensington, London, the youngest of four children. She had two sisters and one brother...
), a beautiful and kindhearted young woman who lives in the glen and was attracted by the children's singing and bagpipe playing. The children believe she is a witch, one reason being that she seems to have a magic power to calm and cure animals. Lori brings Thomasina back to her makeshift animal hospital, but although the cat recovers she has no memory of her "First Life" with Mary. Thus begins her second life.
Lori doesn't have the surgical skill needed to repair a wounded badger she finds in a trap, and she asks God to give her help. Immediately after that, MacDhui comes to give her a piece of his mind because the children have told the townspeople to boycott his practice and to bring their pets to her instead. But that is forgotten as he treats the animal's wound while Lori watches in amazement.
Lori (and later, MacDhui) realizes that they each have half of what is needed to treat sick animals. He has the science and surgery, and she has the power of love. They start to bond emotionally when they fight gypsies who have been treating their animals cruelly.
Meanwhile, Thomasina's memory is slowly returning. She realizes she misses something very important, but she doesn't know what. She does remember the way back home, but doesn't recognize Mary, who chases her into a rainstorm. Thomasina returns to the safety of Lori's cabin in the woods, but Mary contracts pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
after MacDhui finds her lying in the street in the rain.
MacDhui prays for the first time in four years that God will somehow cure his daughter. Off in the glen, a lightning bolt (which may be a miracle from God) strikes a tree next to Thomasina and her memory is suddenly restored. Lori comes to the house, as does Thomasina, who is the only one able to save Mary as she has lost the will to live. However the cat sees MacDhui (who had her killed) and refuses to enter through the window despite MacDhui's pleas.
At this point, Thomasina realizes that she could get revenge on MacDhui by not entering, but (she tells us as the narrator), Lori's love has changed her, and she no longer desires revenge.
MacDhui places Thomasina in Mary's arms, thereby restoring Thomasina to Mary, Mary's life, and Mary's love for her father.
Lori's love has changed MacDhui too, and they get married, making the perfect veterinary team. Thomasina now begins her "Third Life" with all of them together.
Reception
Howard Thompson of The New York TimesThe 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...
(12 December 1963) found the film "a nice one, but...far from top-drawer Disney." He thought it was a "sentimental and extremely genteel little movie...best suited for small girls," but praised the major performers (including the cat) and the settings. He concluded by describing the film as "mighty, mighty cosy." Film critic Leonard Maltin (in his book The Disney Films) on the other hand, refers to this film very highly; calling it "delicate and charming", and very deserving of a larger audience if ever reissued. One scene in particular that he highly praised, was Thomasina's trip to Cat Heaven, calling it: "a wondrous piece of movie magic". In another article written by Maltin, he includes this film title among the lesser known gems of Disney Movies, (along with other film titles like Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a 1959 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery and Jimmy O'Dea, in a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with leprechauns. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and its screenplay written by...
).
Cultural references
- In Grant MorrisonGrant MorrisonGrant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
's comic book The InvisiblesThe InvisiblesThe Invisibles is a comic book series that was published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics from 1994 to 2000. It was created and scripted by Scottish writer Grant Morrison, and drawn by various artists throughout its publication....
, the character Mason Lang makes the claim that the movie The Three Lives of Thomasina "explains 'Everything'". He is later given a statue of the goddess Bast by Lady Edith Manning.