Movie Review – ‘That Darn Cat!’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ and I’m Tim Bradley.

Last Friday, my parents and I saw the 1965 film ‘That Darn Cat!’ on Disney+. We greatly enjoyed this film and I’m amazed how much we laughed throughout this film. 😀 There is a 1997 remake of the film, but I haven’t seen it yet. I wanted to check out the original ‘That Darn Cat!’ first. I’m glad that I did.

Apparently, the film is based on the 1963 book ‘Undercover Cat’ by Gordon and Mildred Gordon. It focuses on a story about bank robbers, a kidnapping and a mischievous Siamese cat. There’s a good amount of comedy to enjoy throughout this film as well as thrills and suspense concerning a crime. 🙂

When my parents and I started watching the film, my Dad recognised the opening theme song by the Sherman Brothers, sung by Bobby Darin. Apparently, according to my Dad, the song was in the top charts back in the 1960s. I’m amazed my Dad knew about this song before we watched the film.

The film was directed by Robert Stevenson, who’s also directed films like ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ for Disney. Unusually, ‘That Darn Cat!’ isn’t a musical compared to ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’, despite the theme song at the beginning and at the end.

Starring in the film is of course the titular ‘darn cat’ called ‘DC’ (short for ‘Darn Cat’ of course). Funny. I thought DC actually stood for DC Comics. 😀 Who knows? DC could’ve been one of the cats that woke up Selina Kyle to be Catwoman in ‘Batman Returns’. 😀 In all seriousness, DC is a good actor. 🙂

There’s also Hayley Mills who plays the main female role, Patti Randall. I’ve seen Hayley Mills before as she was in ‘The Moon-Spinners’. This was apparently Hayley Mills’ last film for Disney. I find it funny to see an English girl living in an American suburb in the 1960s and owning a Siamese cat. 🙂

The film also features Dean Jones as FBI Agent Zeke Kelso. This apparently was Dean Jones’ first film for Disney in contrast to this being Hayley Mills’ last film for Disney. Dean Jones later appeared in the 1997 ‘That Darn Cat’ film, but that’s another story. I’ve also seen him in the first ‘Beethoven’ movie.

There’s also Dorothy Provine as Ingrid Randall, Patti’s sister, as well as Roddy McDowall as Gregory Benson, Ingrid’s boyfriend. I’ve come across Roddy McDowall before, as he’s also been in ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ and the films ‘The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin’ and ‘The Poseidon Adventure’.

The film’s two main villains are Neville Brand as Dan and Frank Gorshin as Iggy. I was amazed to see Frank Gorshin in the film, as he played the Riddler in the 1960s ‘Batman’ TV series. 🙂 There’s also Elsa Lanchester who’s the ‘nosey’ Mrs. McDougall and William Demarest as Mr. Wilmer MacDougall.

Tom Lowell stars as Canoe, Patti’s boyfriend in the film, who I found funny, especially when he wanted to eat sandwiches a lot, watch surfing movies and smoke his pipe a lot. 😀 There’s also Ed Wynn, who I’ve seen in ‘Mary Poppins’ and heard in 1951’s ‘Alice In Wonderland’, as jeweller Mr. Hofstedder. 🙂

There’s Richard Eastham as Mr. Newton the FBI supervisor, Liam Sullivan as Agent Graham, Grayson Hall as Ms. Margaret Miller and Iris Adrian as Mrs. Tabin the landlady. There’s also Richard Deacon (who played Mel Cooley in ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’) as the drive-in theater manager in the movie.

I was amazed to see Richard Deacon and I thought it was only going to be a cameo appearance with him. His scenes in the film are hilarious. There’s also Ben Lessy as Burton the drive-in concessionaire, Don Dorrell as Spires, Gene Blakely as Cahill and Karl Held as Kelly. All are really good in this movie. 🙂

I found ‘That Darn Cat!’ a film worthy of my time on Disney+. I enjoyed the comedy featured throughout the film as well as the suspense of a crime being solved involving bank robbery and a kidnapping with a Siamese cat. This is definitely a 1965 Disney film that I wouldn’t mind seeing again. 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂