In 1962,The Aristocats project began as an original script for a two-part live-action episode forWalt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, developed by writers Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe and producer Harry Tytle. Following two years of rewrites, Tytle suggested the project would be more suitable for an animated film, in which Disney temporarily shelved the project whileThe Jungle Book (1967) advanced into production. WhenThe Jungle Book was nearly complete, Disney appointedKen Anderson to develop preliminary work onThe Aristocats, making it the last film projectto be personally approved by Disney before his death.[3][4][5] Longtime Disney collaboratorsRobert and Richard Sherman composed multiple songs for the film, though only two made it in the finished product.
The Aristocats was released on December 24, 1970, to generally positive reviews from film critics. It was also a commercial success. Alive-action remake is currently in development, withQuestlove attached to direct.
Plot
In 1910, mother cat Duchess and her threekittens, Berlioz, Marie, and Toulouse, live inParis with retired opera diva Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, and her English butler, Edgar. The cats are pampered pets that live a luxurious lifestyle and are very cultured in art and music, like their owner.
While preparing herwill with elderly lawyer Georges Hautecourt, Madame declares that her vast fortune will be first left to her cats, then revert to Edgar once they all pass away. Edgar overhears this through aspeaking tube and, after erroneously calculating that he will die before he can claim his inheritance, plots to eliminate the cats. He sedates them by puttingsleeping pills in a dish of cream, then drives them on his motorcycle out to the countryside in a basket. There, he is ambushed by twohounds named Napoleon and Lafayette, losing his hat,sidecar, umbrella, shoes, and the basket before escaping. The cats are left stranded in the countryside, while Madame Adelaide, Roquefort themouse, and Frou-Frou thehorse discover their absence.
The next morning, Duchess meets an alley cat named Thomas O'Malley, who offers to guide her and the kittens to Paris. The group brieflyhitchhikes in a milk truck before being chased out by the driver. Later, while crossing a railroadtrestle, the cats narrowly avoid an oncoming train, and Marie falls into a river. O'Malley immediately dives in and rescues her, and is himself rescued by Amelia and Abigail Gabble, two Englishgeese on holiday. The geese lead the cats to the outskirts of Paris, then depart to reunite with their inebriated Uncle Waldo. Meanwhile, Edgar returns to the countryside to retrieve his possessions (the only evidence that can incriminate him) from Napoleon and Lafayette and, after some difficulty, ultimately succeeds.
Traveling across the rooftops of the city, the cats meet up with O'Malley's friend Scat Cat who performs the song "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat" with several other cat musicians. After the band has departed, O'Malley and Duchess converse on a nearby rooftop while the kittens listen at a windowsill. Duchess' loyalty to Madame prompts her to decline O'Malley'smarriage proposal. The next day, Duchess and the kittens return to Madame's mansion. Edgar finds them before Madame does, and places them in a sack, deciding to ship them toTimbuktu.
Roquefort catches up with O'Malley at Duchess’ instruction, and O'Malley returns to the mansion, sending Roquefort to find Scat Cat and his gang. Though he struggles to explain the situation to the alley cats, Roquefort successfully brings them to O'Malley's aid. O'Malley, the alley cats, and Frou-Frou fight Edgar, while Roquefort frees Duchess and the kittens. At the end of the fight, Edgar is locked in his own packing-case and sent to Timbuktu himself.
The Aristocats return to Madame Adelaide, who, unaware of the reason for Edgar's departure, rewrites her will to exclude him. After adopting O'Malley into the family, Madame establishes a charity foundation, housing Paris' stray cats in the mansion. Scat Cat and his gang are the first to move in, and reprise their song so loudly that the two hound dogs can hear it out in the countryside.
Voice cast
Phil Harris as J. Thomas O'Malley (full name: Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley) – aferal cat who befriends Duchess and her kittens, becoming a father figure and a step-father to the kittens and falling in love with Duchess. For cultural reasons, the Italian dubbing of the film changes him toRomeo, er mejo der Colosseo ("Romeo, the best [cat] of theColosseum" inRomanesco dialect), an Italian cat from Rome speaking with a strong Roman accent; the reason for this change is that alley cats were well known for frequenting the Colosseum at the time.
Eva Gabor as Duchess – Madame Adelaide's refined and elegantTurkish Angora cat[citation needed] and mother of the three kittens, who believes she is forced to choose between loyalty to Madame and her own attachment to Thomas O'Malley at the end of the film.Robie Lester provided the singing voice for Duchess.
Gary Dubin as Toulouse – the oldestkitten, who idolizes all alley cats, especially O’Malley. He wants to appear tough, but is actually fairly laidback and easygoing. He is also a talented painter, loosely based on French painterHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Liz English as Marie – the middle kitten and the only girl. She is a dreamer. She comes off as spoiled, often imperious, sassy or snobbish towards her brothers, but does her best to be like her mother. She is an accomplished singer. She is named after the queen of FranceMarie Antoinette.
Dean Clark as Berlioz – the youngest kitten. He may seem quiet, but is quite mischievous. He is sweet-natured, but easily annoyed and hard to impress, often the first to make a snide remark. He is a talented pianist, named after the French composerHector Berlioz.[6]
Pat Buttram as Napoleon – abloodhound who attacks Edgar when he intrudes on the farm where he lives. Whenever his cohort Lafayette makes a suggestion, Napoleon insists that he is in charge, then adopts Lafayette's suggestion as his own.
George Lindsey as Lafayette – aBasset Hound and Napoleon's companion. He sometimes proves smarter than Napoleon but is also more timid.
Hermione Baddeley as Madame Adelaide Bonfamille – a wealthy formeropera singer and the owner of Duchess and her kittens.
Charles Lane as Georges Hautecourt – Madame Adelaide’s eccentric lawyer, who is also her oldest friend. He is extremely lively, despite his advanced age.
Roddy Maude-Roxby as Edgar Balthazar – Madame Adelaide's greedy but dim-wittedbutler, who tries to get rid of her cats in order to inherit her fortune.
Carole Shelley as Amelia Gabble – Abigail's twin sister, a goose who befriends the cats.
Bill Thompson as Uncle Waldo – the drunkengander uncle of Abigail and Amelia. This was Thompson's final film role.
Peter Renaday as French Milkman/Le Petit Cafe Cook/Truck Movers (uncredited)
Production
Story development
On December 9, 1961, Walt Disney suggested that Harry Tytle and Tom McGowan find some animal stories to adapt as a two-part live-action episode for theWonderful World of Color television program. By New Year's 1962, McGowan had found several stories including a children's book about a mother cat and her kittens set in New York City.[7] However, Tytle felt that theLondon setting had added a significant element toOne Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) and suggested setting the story of the cats in Paris. Following a rough storyline, the story became about two servants—a butler and a maid—who were in line to inherit a fortune of an eccentric mistress after the pet cats died and focused on their feeble and foolish attempts to eliminate the felines.[7]Boris Karloff andFrançoise Rosay were in mind to portray the butler and the distressed Madame.[8] A subplot centered around a mother cat hiding her kittens to keep them out of danger in a variety of different homes and locales around Paris. During the filming ofEscapade in Florence (1962), McGowan brought Tytle the story that had been written by Tom Rowe, an American writer who was living in Paris.[7]
Before his death in 1966, Walt Disney contacted Phil Harris (pictured here) to voice Thomas O'Malley.[9]
By August 1962, they sent the completed story treatment to Burbank, where it was returned as "rejected" by the Disney studios. McGowan, upset at the rejection, suggested selling the treatment elsewhere, but later learned Disney was staying at theConnaught in London. McGowan then slipped the treatment into an envelope for Disney to read at the hotel desk.[7] Disney contacted McGowan, stating he had liked the treatment and would meet with Tytle inLisbon,Portugal. On August 29, during their flight back to London, Disney told Tytle to purchase the story for a live-action theatrical film, with McGowan as director. Disney also recommended further story revisions, one of which was eliminating one of the kitten characters.[10]
The script revisions were later made in January and February 1963. In June 1963, Rowe had written a letter to Disney addressing his displeasure of the script revisions, in which Tytle responded to Rowe that the changes Disney approved of would be kept. However, the project was temporarily shelved, and in August 1963, Tytle suggested thatThe Aristocats should be reworked into an animated feature, to which Disney agreed. At Disney's recommendation, Tytle presented the project toWolfgang Reitherman, who was directingThe Jungle Book (1967), who agreed it would work as an animated film.[11][12] For that reason, Disney temporarily shelved the project as the animation department was occupied withThe Jungle Book (1967).[13] In April 1964, story artist Otto Englander was assigned to work on the project. In November 1964, during a story meeting, Disney felt the cats should talk amongst themselves but never in front of the humans, in a similar approach as inOne Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).[11] Because of the production delays, studio producerBill Anderson advised Tytle to centralize his efforts onlive action projects, and he was subsequently replaced byWinston Hibler.[14]
In 1966, Disney assignedKen Anderson to determine whetherThe Aristocats would be suitable for an animated feature. With occasional guidance from Reitherman, Anderson worked from scratch and simplified the two stories into one that focused more on the cats.[13] Disney saw the preliminary sketches and approved the project shortly before his death.[15] AfterThe Jungle Book (1967) was completed, the animation department began work onThe Aristocats.[13] Reitherman assumed the producing duties, and later tossed out the more emotional story of Duchess's obsession to find human adopters befitting of her kittens' talents. Instead, the film would be retooled as an adventure comedy in the vein ofOne Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Furthermore, the character Elvira, the maid, who was intended to be voiced byElsa Lanchester, was removed from the story placing Edgar as the central villain in order to better simplify the storyline.[12]
Casting
As withThe Jungle Book (1967), the characters were patterned on the personalities of the voice actors.[13] In 1966, Disney contactedPhil Harris to improvise the script, and shortly after, he was cast to voice Thomas O'Malley. To differentiate the character fromBaloo, Reitherman noted O'Malley was "more based onClark Gable thanWallace Beery, who was partly the model for Baloo."[13] Furthermore, Reitherman castEva Gabor as Duchess, remarking she had "the freshest femme voice we've ever had", andSterling Holloway as Roquefort.[13]Louis Armstrong was initially reported to voice Scat Cat,[16] but he had to back out of the project due to illness.[17] Out of desperation,Scatman Crothers was hired to voice the character under the direction to imitate Armstrong.[18]Pat Buttram andGeorge Lindsey were cast as the farm dogs, which proved to be popular with the filmmakers that another scene was included to have the dogs when Edgar returns to the farm to retrieve his displaced hat and umbrella.[8]
Animation
Ken Anderson spent eighteen months developing the design of the characters.[19] Five of Disney's legendary "Nine Old Men" worked on it, including the Disney crew that had been working 25 years on average.[20] Originally, O'Malley was going to be drawn with stripes to have him resemble a tabby cat, but this was dropped after Reitherman remembered the difficulty in animating Shere Khan inThe Jungle Book.[12]
The Aristocats was the last Disney animated featureRobert and Richard Sherman worked on as staff songwriters, growing frustrated by the studio's management following Disney's death. While employed, the Sherman Brothers completed their work on the film, but they would not return to Disney until they were asked to compose songs forThe Tigger Movie (2000).[21]
Maurice Chevalier (pictured here) was brought out of retirement to sing the title song.
The Sherman Brothers composed multiple songs, but only the title song and "Scales and Arpeggios" were included in the film.[8] Desiring to capture the essence of France, the Sherman Brothers composed the song "The Aristocats". Disney film producerBill Anderson suggestedMaurice Chevalier should sing the title song.[22] Following the suggestion, Richard Sherman imitated Chevalier's voice as he performed a demo for the song. Chevalier received the demo and was brought out of retirement to sing the song. Deleted songs that were intended for the film included "Pourquoi?" sung byHermione Baddeley as Madame Bonfamille, its reprise, and "She Never Felt Alone" sung by Robie Lester as Duchess.[23][24]
For the show-stopping musical number, the Sherman Brothers composed "Le Jazz Hot", but "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat", composed byFloyd Huddleston andAl Rinker, was used instead.[25] Lastly, a villainous song was envisioned to be sung by Edgar and his assistant Elvira as a romantic duet, but the song was dropped when Elvira was removed from the story.[26] Another deleted song was for Thomas O'Malley titled "My Way's The Highway", but the filmmakers hadTerry Gilkyson compose theeponymous song "Thomas O'Malley Cat". Gilkyson explained, "It was the same song, but they orchestrated it twice. They used the simpler one, because they may have thought the other too elaborate or too hot. It was a jazz version with a full orchestra."[27]
The instrumental music was composed byGeorge Bruns, who drew from his background with jazz bands in the 1940s and decided to feature the accordion-likemusette for French flavor.[28]
On August 21, 2015, in honor of the film's 45th anniversary, anew soundtrack was released as part ofWalt Disney Records: The Legacy Collection. The release includes the songs and score as used in the film, along withThe Lost Chords of the Aristocats (featuring songs written for the film but not used), and previously released album versions of the songs as bonus tracks.[29]
The Aristocats was originally released to theaters on December 24, 1970. The film was released as adouble feature withNiok, the Orphan Elephant (1957).[30] It was re-released in theaters in 1980 and 1987.
Home media
It was released onVHS in Europe on January 1, 1990, and in the UK in 1995. It was first released on VHS in North America on April 24, 1996, as part of the Masterpiece Collection.
In January 2000, Walt Disney Home Video launched the Gold Classic Collection, andThe Aristocats was released on VHS andDVD on April 4, 2000.[31] The DVD contained the film in its 1.33:1aspect ratio enhanced with Dolby 2.0surround sound.[32] The Gold Collection release was quietly discontinued in 2006. A new single-disc Special Edition DVD (previously announced as a 2-Disc set) was released on February 5, 2008.
Disney released the film onBlu-ray for the first time on August 21, 2012.[33][34] The 2-disc Special Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo (both in Blu-ray and DVD packaging) featured a new digital transfer and new bonus material.[35] A single disc DVD edition was also released on the same day.[36]
In honor of Disney's 100th anniversary,The Aristocats was re-released on February 28, 2023 as a Disney100 Edition (BLU-RAY + DVD).[37] A Walmart-exclusive package, released the same day, contains a collectible commemorative pin.[38]
Reception
Box office
By January 1972,The Aristocats had earned $10.1 million in box office rentals from the United States and Canada.[39] Overseas, the film became the most popular "general release" movie at the British box office in 1971 with rentals of $2.6 million.[40][41]
The Aristocats was the most widely-attended film in France in 1971, with 12.7 million in ticket admissions. It is currently the20th highest-grossing film of all-time in France, earning $3.6 million in box office rentals.[42][41][43] That same year, the film was the most widely-attended film released in Germany with ticket admissions of 11.3 million. It is currently Germany's11th highest-grossing film of all-time.[44] By the end of its initial theatrical run, the film had earned domestic rentals of $11 million and $17 million in international countries,[45] for a worldwide rental of $28 million.[46]
The film was re-released to theaters in the United States on December 19, 1980, where it grossed an additional $18 million and again on April 10, 1987, where it grossed $17 million.[47] The film grossed $32 million worldwide from an international re-release in 1994, including $11 million in France.[48][49]The Aristocats has had a lifetime gross of $55.7 million in the United States and Canada,[50] and its total lifetime worldwide box office gross is $191 million.[2]
Critical reaction
Howard Thompson ofThe New York Times praised the film as "grand fun all the way, nicely flavored with tunes, and topped with one of the funniest jam sessions ever by a bunch of scraggly Bohemians headed by one Scat Cat."[51]Roger Ebert, writing for theChicago Sun-Times, awarded the film three stars out of four, summarizingThe Aristocats as "light and pleasant and funny, the characterization is strong, and the voices of Phil Harris (O'Malley the Alley Cat) and Eva Gabor (Duchess, the mother cat) are charming in their absolute rightness."[52]Charles Champlin of theLos Angeles Times wrote that the film "has a gentle good-natured charm which will delight the small-fry and their elders alike." He praised the animation, but remarked that the film "lacks a certain kind of vigor, boldness and dash, a kind of a hard-focused emphasis which you would say was a Disney trademark."[53] Arthur D. Murphy ofVariety praised the film writing the film is "[h]elped immeasurably by the voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers and others, plus some outstanding animation, songs, sentiment, some excellent dialog and even a touch of psychedelia."[54]Stefan Kanfer, reviewing forTime magazine, noted that "[t]he melodies in Disney's earlier efforts have been richer. But for integration of music, comedy and plot,The Aristocats has no rivals."[55]
Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribune felt the film's "artwork and story do not compare to the truly great Disney filmsSnow White,Pinocchio,Bambi andDumbo but there is enough juvenile humor to keep the children in their seats for the 78 minutes."[56] For its 1987 re-release, animation historian Charles Solomon expressed criticism for its episodic plot, anachronisms, and borrowed plot elements from earlier Disney animated features, but nevertheless wrote "[b]ut even at their least original, the Disney artists provide better animation--and more entertainment--than the recent animated features hawkingThe Care Bears,Rainbow Brite andTransformers."[57] Writing in his bookThe Disney Films, Disney historian and film criticLeonard Maltin wrote that "[t]he worst that one could say ofThe AristoCats is that it is unmemorable. It's smoothly executed, of course, and enjoyable, but neither its superficial story nor its characters have any resonance."[58] Additionally, in his bookOf Mice and Magic, Maltin criticized the film for re-using Phil Harris to replicateThe Jungle Book's Baloo, dismissing the character Thomas O'Malley as "essentially the same character, dictated by the same voice personality."[59]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 64% of 33 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.8/10, earning it a score of "Fresh". The website's consensus states, "ThoughThe Aristocats is a mostly middling effort for Disney, it is redeemed by terrific work from its voice cast and some jazzy tunes."[60] OnMetacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[61]
In 2021, the film was one of several that Disney limited to viewers 7 years of age and older on their streaming serviceDisney+, stating that the character Shun Gon was aracist stereotype of East Asian people.[62]
In 2005,Disneytoon Studios originally planned to make a follow-up to the film, along with sequels toChicken Little (2005) andMeet the Robinsons (2007).[65] Originally intended to be a 2D animated feature, Disney executives decided to produce the film incomputer animation in order to garner more interest.[66] Additionally, the story was meant to center around Marie, Duchess's daughter, who becomes smitten by another kitten aboard a luxury cruise ship. However, she and her family must soon take on a jewel thief on the open seas.[67] The project was cancelled whenJohn Lasseter was named Disney's new chief creative officer, in which he called off all future sequels Disneytoon had planned and instead make original productions or spin-offs.[65]
Live-action adaptation
In January 2022, it was announced that alive-action remake is in development withWill Gluck producing under his Olive Bridge Entertainment banner andKeith Bunin writing the script with Gluck.[68]Questlove was attached to direct the film in March 2023.[69]
Video games
Thomas O'Malley, Duchess, Berlioz, Marie, and Toulouse were added to the kingdom builder mobile gameDisney Magic Kingdoms in September 2023.[70]
^Thomas, Bob (August 3, 1968)."First Cartoon Minus Walt".Ottawa Citizen. p. 22.Archived from the original on September 17, 2024. RetrievedJune 13, 2016 – via Google News Archive.
^Champlin, Charles (December 24, 1970)."Cats Star in Disney Cartoon".Los Angeles Times. Section II, pp. 4,11.Archived from the original on September 17, 2024. RetrievedAugust 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^Kanter, Stefan (January 25, 1971)."Cinema: Top Bubble".Time. p. 50.Archived from the original on January 16, 2020. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2020.
^Siskel, Gene (January 1, 1971)."Movie Review: 'The Aristocats'".Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 21.Archived from the original on September 17, 2024. RetrievedAugust 24, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees"(PDF). Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. RetrievedAugust 19, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
