| The Aristocats | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Wolfgang Reitherman |
| Produced by | Winston Hibler Wolfgang Reitherman |
| Written by | Ken Anderson Larry Clemmons Eric Cleworth Vance Garry Tom McGowan Tom Rowe Julius Svendsen Frank Thomas Ralph Wright |
| Starring | Phil Harris Eva Gabor Liz English Gary Dubin Dean Clark Sterling Holloway [[Roddy Maude- Roxby]] |
| Music by | George Bruns Richard and Robert Sherman (songs) |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 11, 1970 (premiere) December 24, 1970 (regular) |
| Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, French |
| Budget | $4,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Aristocats is a 1970 animated feature produced and released by Walt Disney Productions. The twentieth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the story revolves around a family of aristocratic cats, and how an alley cat acquaintance helps prevent a butler from kidnapping them to gain his mistress' fortune. It was originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on December 11, 1970. The title is a pun on the word aristocrats. The film's basic idea - an animated romantic musical comedy about talking cats in France - had previously been used in the UPA animated feature Gay Purr-ee.
Contents |
Plot
Set in Paris, France in the year 1910, this is the story about a mother cat named Duchess and her three kittens: her cute daughter Marie, and her two sons Berlioz and Toulouse. The mother cat faces many obstacles raising her children. They live in the mansion of retired opera singer Adelaide Bonfamille, along with her big-nosed evil butler Edgar Mietzelfeld, Frou Frou the horse, and Roquefort the mouse, who is a good friend of the cats. Adelaide, who is nearing the end of her life, wants to settle her will with her lawyer Georges Hautecourt (a senile old man who denies his old age and refuses to accept Edgar's offer of taking the elevator instead of the long staircase). Adelaide tells Georges that she wishes to leave her entire fortune to her butler, but only after her cats reach "the end of their lifespans." Edgar overhears this plan through a speaking tube and is dismayed, as he worries that he will die before he is able to collect the inheritance (incorrectly assuming that the cats will each have nine full lifespans of twelve years, totalling 108 years). In the same evening, Edgar drops some sleeping pills in the cats' milk, putting them to sleep. After night falls, Edgar takes the sleeping cats in their travelling basket far away from home, hoping to drop them on the banks of a river near a farm. However, two farm dogs, Napoleon and Lafayette, hear Edgar approach. Believing him to be an intruder, the dogs attack him, biting him on the buttocks, rip his shoes and socks off, and bite his leg and feet. This causes him to drop the basket on the river bank. Edgar manages to escape, but is forced to leave his motorbike's sidecar, his prized hat, and an umbrella. Back at the mansion, Madame Bonfamille has a nightmare about the cats going missing. On going to their sleeping basket, she finds this fear confirmed. Roquefort, hearing the terrible news, goes out to look for them. Meanwhile, Duchess and the kittens awake to find themselves in unfamiliar settings. Worried, they decide to sleep in their basket and wait for morning. When the sun rises, Duchess meets a friendly, self-absorbed, worldly stray cat named Abraham DeLacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley, who befriends the cats and helps them get home. From the first, Thomas is smitten with the beautiful Duchess, and she with him. He takes on an indulgent, paternal role toward the kittens, who are quite awed with this handsome, seemingly knowledgeable newcomer. Roquefort returns to the mansion, and miserably tells the downhearted Frou Frou that he couldn't find the cats anywhere, even after searching all night. Edgar, the only happy person in the mansion, dances into the stable and tells Frou Frou (believing that she can't understand him) that it was he who kidnapped the cats. It is then that Edgar remembers that the only evidence left to convict him is the stuff he left at the farm the previous night, and that he must retrieve it before the police do. Thomas, Duchess and the kittens continue the journey home, and befriend some gossip-loving geese named Abigail, Amelia and Waldo on the way. Abigail and Amelia (possibly modelled after the sisters Gwendolyn and Cicely in the earlier movie "The Odd Couple") are bombastic English geese, who misinterpret Thomas' every move; Waldo is their uncle, a frivolous drunk with an obvious sense of humor. Even the very proper Duchess is amused by him. Later on, the cats find an old house to stay in with Thomas' musical alley cat friends led by Scat Cat. Meanwhile, Edgar sets off to the farm to find his things, and sees that Napoleon and Lafayette have made beds out of the things they stole from Edgar. Edgar lures the two dogs away from his things. After another fight, he manages to escape again, (on a one-wheeled haystack) this time with all the stolen items. Napoleon and Lafayette stare at the triumphant butler in horror. The next morning, the cats arrive at their home. Duchess says goodbye to Abraham DeLacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley. Edgar opens the door for them, letting them in. Before Roquefort can warn them, Edgar slams a sack over them, tying them up and hiding them in the oven. Horrified, Roquefort runs to get Thomas, who tells Roquefort to call his alley cat friends while he holds Edgar off. Thomas sneaks into the barn, where he sees Edgar lock Duchess and the kittens in a trunk, hoping to send them to Timbuktu. Meanwhile, Roquefort goes to the alley, nearly getting killed after misremembering Thomas's name as O'Toole, O'Brien, and O'Grady, but avoids getting impaled on Scat Cat's claw by shouting at the last second, "Why did I ever listen to that O'Malley cat?!" He tells the cats that Thomas needs them, and the cats rush off to help their friend. Thomas stops Edgar and closes the barn door. Edgar and Thomas fight over the trunk, but Edgar, being human, overpowers the stray cat and pins him to a wall with a pitchfork. To his surprise, Thomas finds himself not impaled and dead, but caught between two prongs. At that moment, Roquefort and the alley cats arrive and stall Edgar while Roquefort unlocks the padlock on the trunk. He yells quiet! everyone holds still and keeps quiet, then after the trunk opens the carrying on fighting again. After a fierce battle, Frou Frou kicks Edgar into the trunk, just as the delivery men arrive. They ship him to Timbuktu. That night, Adelaide accepts Thomas into the family, and erases Edgar from her will. She also gives the cats a surprise: her new cat foundation, which makes her house a home for all the alley cats of Paris. Adelaide urges Georges to make provision in the will "for their future little ones"; presumably the offspring of Duchess by Thomas (their future children). A party is thrown in the foundation room, involving nearly everyone from the movie: Scat Cat and his band, Frou Frou, Roquefort, Napoleon, Lafayette, Amelia, Abigail and Waldo. Napoleon and Lafayette get the last word in, breaking the fourth wall to humorous effect:
- Lafayette: Hey, Napoleon, that sounds like the end.
- Napoleon: Wait a minute, I'm the leader. I'll say when it's the end. [the words "The End" fly in and hit him on the side of the head] It's the end.
Note: This particular exchange is the third (and final) instance of a gag seen in the movie where Lafayette makes a suggestion, and Napoleon says that, as he's the leader, he is the one to decide the circumstance, and its demands, only to pause for a few seconds and go with Lafayette's suggestion.
Releases
International release dates
- Brazil: February 20, 1971
- Argentina: May 14, 1971
- Australia: August 5, 1971
- Italy: November 13, 1971
- Sweden: December 4, 1971
- Spain: December 6, 1971
- France: December 8, 1971
- West Germany: December 16, 1971
- Finland: December 17, 1971
- Denmark: December 26, 1971
- Norway: December 26, 1971
- Hong Kong: January 20, 1972
- Japan: March 11, 1972
- Portugal: October 25-27, 1977, February 6, 1978, February 10, 1978, February 14-16, 1978
- Mexico: December 6, 1978
Crew
Director:
Producer:
- Wolfgang Reitherman
- Winston Hilber
Sound Effects:
- Dan MacManus
- Dick Lucas
Directing Animators:
Music:
Songs:
Orchestration:
- Walter Sheets
Story:
- Larry Clemmons
- Vance Gerry
- Ken Anderson
- Frank Thomas
- Eric Cleworth
- Jullus Svendsen
- Ralph Wright
Production Design:
Character Animation:
- Hal King
- Eric Larson
- Eric Cleworth
- Jullus Svendsen
- Fred Hellmich
- Walt Stanchfield
Production Manager:
- Don Duckwall
Film Editor:
- Tom Acosta
Music Editor:
- Evelyn Kennedy
Theatrical re-releases and release on home video
The Aristocats was re-released to theaters on December 19, 1980 and April 10, 1987. This was released in Europe with the Sorcerer Mickey Classics (1988-94) logo, from the USA, on VHS (Jan. 1, 1990). It was first released on video in North America in the Masterpiece Collection series on April 24, 1996, and on DVD in 2000 in the Gold Classic Collection line. The Aristocats had its Gold Collection disc quietly discontinued in 2006. A new single-disc Special Edition, previously announced as a 2-Disc set, is currently slated to be released on February 5, 2008. [1] Duchess and Thomas O'Malley were featured as guests in House of Mouse.
Characters and Cast
The Aristocats uses the funny animals convention of talking animals who are understood by all other species except humans. Species featured include Cat, Dog, Mouse, Frog, Horse, Goose and Rooster. Specific characters are as follows:
- Abraham de Lacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley - an alley cat who befriends Duchess and the kittens and becomes Duchess's mate. Goes by simply "Thomas O'Malley" - Phil Harris
- Duchess - an "aristocat" that lives with Madame Bonfamille - Eva Gabor
- Marie - Duchess's white-furred daughter. As of January 2007, she has appeared at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL as a meetable character. She is also meetable at Hong Kong Disneyland - Liz English
- Berlioz - Duchess's black-furred son - Dean Clark
- Toulouse - Duchess's ginger-furred son - Gary Dubin
- Edgar Balthazar - Madame Bonfamille's evil, greedy butler.
- Roquefort - a mouse who lives with Duchess and her kittens - Sterling Holloway
- Scat Cat - a leader of an alley cat band and a friend of O'Malley's - Scatman Crothers
- Madame Adelaide Bonfamille - the owner of Duchess and her kittens.
- Napoleon and Lafayette - Two hound dogs who attack Edgar. Napoleon (not to be confused with Napoleon Bonaparte), is a Bloodhound, while Lafayette is a Basset Hound - Pat Buttram (Napoleon) George Lindsey (Lafayette)
- Frou Frou - Madame Bonfamille's horse - Nancy Kulp
- Amelia and Abigail Gabble - Two geese (twin sisters) who save O'Malley from drowning - Monica Evans and Carole Shelly
- Uncle Waldo - Amelia and Abigail's drunk Uncle - Bill Thompson.
- Georges Hautecourt - Madame Bonfamille's lawyer. Madame tells her lawyer her will (also heard by Edgar). Georges is old. In fact, the engine sputters, and backfires, and he sings, "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay....." while getting out of his car he says that "he was not as spry as he was when he was 80", indicating that he is older than 80, and perhaps is even older than Madame Bonfamille.
- Shun Gon - a Chinese Siamese cat, who plays the piano using chopsticks - Paul Winchell
- Hit Cat - an English cat, with wild blonde hair - Lord Tim Hudson
- Peppo - an Italian cat, wearing a look-alike Robin Hood hat and a red scarf - Vito Scotti
- Billy Bass - a Russian cat, who plays the double bass in Scat Cat's band - Thurl Ravenscroft
- The Frog - The frog who scares Berlioz in the river.
- The Milkman - Man who kicked O'Malley and Aristocats out of his milk truck, in which they had been hitchhiking.
Voice cast
- Phil Harris -- Thomas O'Malley the Orange Cat
- Eva Gabor -- Duchess the white Cat (speaking voice)
- Liz English -- Marie (kitten)
- Gary Dubin -- Toulouse (kitten)
- Dean Clark -- Berlioz (kitten)
- Sterling Holloway -- Roquefort the Mouse
- Roddy Maude-Roxby -- Edgar Balthazar the Butler
- Scatman Crothers -- Scat Cat
- Paul Winchell -- Shun Gon the Chinese Cat
- Lord Tim Hudson -- Hit Cat the English Cat
- Vito Scotti -- Peppo the Italian Cat
- Thurl Ravenscroft -- Billy Boss the Russian Cat
- Pat Buttram -- Napoleon the Bloodhound
- George Lindsey -- Lafayette the Basset Hound
- Hermione Baddeley -- Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, owner of Duchess
- Charles Lane -- Georges Hautecourt the Lawyer
- Monica Evans -- Abigail Gabble the Goose
- Carole Shelley -- Amelia Gabble the Goose
- Nancy Kulp -- Frou-Frou the Horse
- Bill Thompson -- Uncle Waldo the Goose
- Robie Lester -- Duchess (uncredited) (singing voice)
- Peter Renaday -- French Milkman the Driver/Le Petit Cafe Cook/Truck Movers (voice) (uncredited)
- Frank Welker -- The Frog/the Rooster
Soundtrack Listing
- "The Aristocats" - Maurice Chevalier
- Scales And Arpeggios - Liz English, Gary Dubin, Dean Clark, Robie Lester
- Thomas O'Malley Cat - Phil Harris
- Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat - Phil Harris, Louis Armstrong, Thurl Ravenscroft
- "She Never Felt Alone" - Robie Lester
On Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic, this includes Thomas O'Malley Cat on the purple disc and Everybody Wants to Be a Cat on the orange disc. And on Disney's Greatest Hits, this also includes Everybody Wants to Be a Cat on the red disc.
The Aristocats II
The Aristocats II was to be a direct-to-video sequel to the 1970 Disney animated film The Aristocats. It was scheduled to be released in 2007, but the production was canceled in early 2006 after Disney acquired Pixar and canceled all projects not related to a consumer product line.
References
External links
- Official Disney DVD website
- The Aristocats at the Internet Movie Database
- Aristocats at the Disney Archives
- Aristocats Name Origins at FilmSmarts.com
