Thomasina

THE THREE LIVES OF THOMASINA, 1963. If you like orange or marmalade cats you will be in seventh heaven watching Thomasina as she tells us about her first three lives in this Disney classic, with a great cast of British players. Ably directed by Don Chaffey (who also did GREYFRIARS BOBBY and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS in a long career) from a Paul Gallico story, and set in some idyllic Scottish highland scenery, we watch Thomasina with Karen Dotrice as Mary, who lives with her widowed father, Patrick McGoohan, a no-nonsense vet, as we see when he brusquely puts old Nora Nicholson’s dog to sleep. 

Thomasina gets injured too and as father is busy saving a guide dog’s life he has no time to tend to the cat, who seemingly dies too. The children give it a proper funeral in the glen, but they do not know Lori McGregor, the local “witch” (Susan Hampshire) with that cottage in the wood where she heals and tends sick animals, discovers Thomasina just in time ….. 

Thomasina gets well but knows she belongs somewhere else – we also get her journey to Cat Heaven before she returns to her new life; meanwhile Mary blames her father for killing her pet and refuses all contact with him, even when he brings a delightful puppy home. Jean Anderson is the family housekeeper, and Laurence Naismith the local priest and there is also Finlay Currie, Wilfrid Brambell, Rita Webb and Francis De Wolff as the dastardly circus owner who neglects his animals. Things come to a climax one stormy night as Thomasina just has to return to her former home as wee Mary is very ill from pneumonia, and the cat has to go to the father who can return her to his daughter. 

There won’t be a dry eye in the house by this stage, but all is resolved as the happy new family, with Thomasina too of course sit around the dinner table. 
Matthew Gerber scores too as Mary’s friend who takes his frog with a broken leg to the witch to cure it – he and Karen Dotrice went into MARY POPPINS next, (what a shame he died aged 21). 
Thomasina is a screen natural, even when dressed up and wearing a bonnet -  how on earth did they train her? The cat’s thoughts are voiced by Elspeth March. 

This is a Disney classic for all ages, and another of those nice early '60s ones like SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, THIRD MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN, POLLYANNA and the afore-mentioned GREYFRIARS BOBBY. I can't though seem to find his 1965 one THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONEGAL with his MOONSPINNERS star Peter McEnery and Susan Hampshire again, its a fond memory. 

Vacation time: Holiday for Lovers / Bon Voyage!

HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS. Like Disney’s BON VOYAGE (below) this 1959 20^th Century Fox family comedy  (which I remember seeing as a child) starts out fun but soon gets tedious and one ends up begging for it to stop as it seems far too over-long and we lose patience with most of the characters. Jane Wyman coasts in both films, as the understanding wife and mother, but gets nothing much to do. Here, father is Clifton Webb, a consulting psychologist in Boston, whose older daughter Meg (Jill St John) a promising sculptor if you please, goes to Sao Paulo in Brazil to study with famous architect, Paul Henreid. She seems to be getting involved so parents and other daughter Carol Lynley are soon South America bound – cue endless airplane interiors, and lots of location shooting as our cast stand in front of lots of back projections of Sao Paulo, as it is obvious they never left the back-lot. Jill indeed seems smitten with the suave Henreid, but it turns out to be his boorish, beatnik son (Nico Minardos) she is romantically involved with, while Carol inexplicably falls for army fellow Gary Crosby. After trekking around Sao Paulo endlessly, the family head off to Rio and we see some of the carnival (maybe the same one used for the film BLACK ORPHEUS, also that year), and if that wasn’t enough local colour (all that’s missing is Carmen Miranda!), then it is off to Lima in Peru for a bull-fight. Then everything stops for a flamenco number or two from Jose Greco and the misunderstandings get sorted out, as we wind up in Trinidad – don’t ask! Directed by Fox reliable Henry Levin; at least Clifton gets to do a few South American dance steps. Fascinating though to luxuriate in air travel as it was over 50 years ago, and Sao Paulo certainly looks great, if not as teeming as it is these days. We like Clifton Webb a lot here at The Projector - see label, and Jane was certainly engrossing in that Sirk classic ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS. she was third choice here after Gene Tierney and then Joan Fontaine both had to drop out due to health reasons (or maybe they realised they really had nothing much to do here) - it would have been nice though to have seen Gene's LAURA re-teamed with her Waldo Lydecker! while Joan could raise those eyebrows and be more acerbic than bland Jane. 

BON VOYAGE!, 1962. Comic adventure awaits the Williard family from Terre Haute, Indiana, when Harry packs up the wife and kids and sets sail on a long-awaited “dream” vacation to romantic France. However, their trip includes some unforeseen adventures: his wife Katie is pursued by a Hungarian admirer, his daughter Amy meets a brash young playboy, and Harry himself gets hopelessly lost on a tour of the Paris sewer system (he is a plumbing contractor)! Join the Williards for a hilarious, whirlwind trip they’ll never forget!

So says the blurb, but this is Disney corn which at 132 minutes is way overlong, with terrible pacing from Disney hack James Neilson, but it looks like they really went to France on a transatlantic liner which takes up most of the first half of the film. Fred McMurray and Jane Wyman coast on autopilot, Deborah Walley (wasn’t she a GIDGET?) is a pallid daughter, while Disney kids Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran reprise their usual roles. Its all an over-long travelogue around Paris – Francoise Prevost has a good moment as the coded  working girl who tries to pick up Fred, and then his son; Ivan Desny pursues Jane, Michael Callan gets to dance a bit and finally Jessie Royce Landis has some fun as his overbearing snooty society mother (above), while British Richard Wattis also pops up, as it all finishes up on the Riviera. 

Fantasy double bill: The Moonspinners / Moonfleet

Here's an antidote to grey wintry snowy skies: THE MOON SPINNERS, a 1964 Walt Disney confection set in sunny Crete - its still a delicious entertainment. One of Walt's Hayley Mills films it boasts an incredible cast of various acting styles from silent star Pola Negri to method man Eli Wallach, plus cute young leads Hayley and Peter McEnery, intense Greek actress Irene Papas (who is wasted here in a nothing role), marvellous British stage and movie actress Joan Greenwood (whom I have rhapsodised about several times here, see label) and English farcuers John Le Mesurier and Sheila Hancock - now one of England's great dames.

Directed by Disney regular James Neilson from a Mary Stewart adventure story, it has Hayley as the sweet young thing travelling in Greece with her Aunt (la Greenwood) who is collecting local folksongs for the BBC!, and becoming involved with strange young chap McEnery who it turns out is spying on local crook Wallach as he (Peter, that is) lost his job at the bank due to some missing jewels which it turns out Eli is going to sell to the reclusive wealthy Madam Habib (Pola - who makes a splendid late entrance with her pet leopard) - dependable Andre Morell (Mr Greenwood) captains her yacht where everyone converges for the climax. Add in escapes from locked windmills and lots of local colour, plus of course Hayley's first proper kiss! So it is all sweetly amusing.



A grimmer view of Crete was also on view that year, in Cacoyannis's ZORBA THE GREEK, which at least had an iconic role for Papas. McEnery (who was the boy in VICTIM) went on to an interesting career, he did another Disney THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONEGAL, and Vadim snapped him up for LA CUREE (THE GAME IS OVER) with sex kitten Fonda, he was with Glenda Jackson in NEGATIVES, and well as ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE (as the enterprising Mr Sloane) and THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD etc. He was the first Hamlet I saw on stage in 1967, and also in an 80s revivial of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. I always liked Hayley back then, but she grew up to be perfectly ordinary as an adult - it was nice seeing her recently as the mother in law in an African medical tv series WILD AT HEART.

This is really a Joan Greenwood double bill - she is also fascinating in Fritz Lang's 1955 adventure MOONFLEET - which is totally different from the children's classic novel by J Meade Faulkner. It is also filmed in California but captures perfectly late 18th century England among the smugglers of the Dorset coast. Jon Whiteley is the little boy sent to stay with Jeremy Fox (Stewart Granger, at his most dashing) who of course is the leader of the smugglers. Add in churchyards, deserted tombs, a missing diamond, and intrigue with villains George Sanders and Joan Greenwood and one has a perfect period entertainment. Viveca Lindfors is also present. This is one I enjoyed as a child and still do now, its one of the high points (like ADVENTURES OF QUENTIN DURWARD) of the MGM '50s costume drama.