That Darn Cat! *** (1965, Hayley Mills, Dean Jones, Dorothy Provine, Frank Gorshin, Neville Brand, Roddy McDowall, Elsa Lanchester, William Demarest) – Classic Movie Review 8576

Director Robert Stevenson’s 1965 Disney live action family crime comedy movie That Darn Cat! stars Hayley Mills as Patti, whose pet Siamese pussy cat uncovers a kidnapping when he follows the buyer of a salmon to a strange flat.

That Darn Cat! is over-loaded with scene-stealing thespians, all apparently enjoying themselves. But even Frank Gorshin and Neville Brand as the villains Iggy and Dan, Dean Jones as FBI federal agent Zeke Kelso, Dorothy Provine as Ingrid Randall, Roddy McDowall as neighbour Gregory Benson, and Elsa Lanchester and William Demarest as Mrs and Mr MacDougall cannot stop the purrfectly miaouvellous cat from upstaging them.

Thanks partly to the pleasant situation and the purringly smooth story and screenplay by The Gordons [Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon], but largely to the high spirits of the amiable cast, That Darn Cat! is darn goodish fun, even if at 116 minutes it is around 20 minutes too extended.

Also in the cast are Grayson Hall, Ed Wynn, Richard Eastham, Tom Lowell, Richard Deacon, Iris Adrian, Liam Sullivan, Don Dorrell, Gene Blakely, Kary Held, Larry J Blake and Ben Lessy.

The screenplay is by producer Bill Walsh, Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon [The Gordons], based on the novel Undercover Cat by Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon.

That Darn Cat! is Haley’s last movie for Disney. The cat also starred in the 1963 The Incredible Journey. That Darn Cat! was remade in 1997 with Christina Ricci.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8576

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