by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
I’ve always had a soft spot for animation. More years than not, at least a couple of animated features find their way onto my top 10 list. So, I’m setting out to shine a light on some films that may have passed you by. The idea with Animation Celebration is to take a look at some underseen gems — so no Toy Story or Frozen here.
Let’s get started.
When Turner Classic Movies were running their string of Judy Garland films for what would have been her 100th birthday, I was not expecting an animated entry (her only animated film) whose plot sounded broadly familiar.
In Gay Purr-ee, Garland plays house cat Mewsette, living in the French countryside in the 1890s, but is drawn to the big city. The naïve feline is coerced into a Parisian racket by Madame Rubens-Chatte (Hermione Gingold) and her henchman Meowrice (Paul Freese). She’s having anything but the gay time that the title describes. Her acquaintance from back home, mouse catching specialist Jaune-Tom (Robert Goulet), attempts to come to her rescue. As you can probably tell from the character names alone, this film loves its puns.
Besides the top-quality puns (and the fact it was another animated, jazz-themed, French-set musical featuring cats), the idea of a Garland-led animated feature intrigued me. As far as the general performance, there’s nothing that stands out, nor (at least on my first watch) were any of the songs themselves something I necessarily wanted to put on repeat immediately. However, despite nothing standing out in her character, every time the orchestra was struck, I perked up a bit to see what Garland could offer. Despite what they may lack lyrically, the songs were still made worth hearing because it was Garland who was singing them.
As a millennial whose only frame of reference for Goulet was his Will Ferrell parody, his inclusion intrigued me as well. He, obviously, has a good voice that fits with the jazz aesthetic that the film is going for, but he didn’t make much of an impression besides that. Certainly not enough to get out of Ferrell’s shadow.
As for the rest of the cast, our villainous felines (and their underlings) are suitably cartoony and add a fun dimension to the film.
When it comes to animated features, United Artists Productions studio produced just two of them — the other being an animated version of 1001 Arabian Nights — neither of which found box office success. From this era of animated filmmaking, if it’s not a Disney, it’s probably not on your radar. The animation studio is probably most famous for their Mr. Magoo cartoons and were famous for their pioneering of “limited animation,” which utilized fewer frames per second. Few studios had more of an impact on the cartoons you likely watched growing up.
However, the production did feature Looney Tunes veterans, being directed by Abe Levitow, and written by Chuck Jones. They both worked not only on Looney Tunes, but Tom and Jerry shorts. That influence was clearly obvious while watching. There’s a simplicity to the animation that characterized the style of the time, but as a feature film, animators weave in a great amount of color in every frame, and things have more texture compared to what you might see in a classic Saturday morning cartoon. You can see the brush strokes of each setting, and the colors really pop. The highlight may be during the villain’s tune “The Money Cat”, where a striking red sky, light blue moon, and shadowy building silhouettes really shine.
Not only are the way things are drawn reminiscent of the classic cartoons, but so too how the characters’ actions are animated. The mouse hunting scenes with Jaune-Tom feel like they came straight from a Wile E. Coyote short, though, admittedly with less disastrous results for our fearless feline. The score, too, gave me those kinds of vibes. Jaune-Tom’s young accomplice (voiced by Red Buttons) seems like he would be very much at home in one of those cartoons. Bugs Bunny himself (among other things), Mel Blanc even makes an appearance.
Overall, there are flaws in the simplicity in story, character work, and some of the songs. However, the film is elevated by the quality of the animation veterans working behind the scenes. The unique place it holds in Garland’s filmography should be enough to at least have you give it a shot. Though it did not find much of an audience with its contemporaries, there’s plenty worth exploring here for modern audiences.
I’m excited to continue to geek out on some great animated work you may not have had a chance to catch. Next month, Foster is back in control, but I’ll be back in October with possibly another feline-centric feature.
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