The Aristocats

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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
Georges Bizet (songs)
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s) December 11, 1970 (premiere)
December 24, 1970 (regular)
Running time 78 minutes
Country

United States United States
France France
Australia

Australia
Language English
French
Budget $4,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile


The Aristocats is an animated feature produced and released by Walt Disney Productions in 1970. The twentieth animated feature in the List of Disney animated features, the movie is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe, and is about a family of cats, and how an alley cat helps them after their butler Edgar has catnapped them to gain his mistress' fortune which was meant to go to them. It was originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on December 11, 1970, with a regular release on December 24, 1970. The title is a pun on the word aristocrats. The VHS of The Aristocats was first released on April 24, 1996.

The movie's basic idea — an animated romantic musical comedy about talking cats in France — had previously been used in the UPA animated feature Gay Purr-e.

Disney planned to release a sequel, The Aristocats II, in December 2005, set to release in 2007, but production was canceled in early 2006.

The movie is noted for being the last movie to be approved by Walt Disney himself. Disney died before the movie was released.

Contents

The story [change]

The movie takes place in Paris, 1910. A mother cat named Duchess and her three kittens, Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse, are going to have their fortune when their owner dies. But Edgar, their butler, does not like this and plans to send the cats away.

He places sleeping tablets in their dinner. At night, he plans on dropping them off in the countryside, but two hound dogs, Napoleon and Lafayette, attack him, and the cats are now stranded.

In the morning, they meet an alley cat named Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley (called just Thomas O'Malley), who helps them on their way back home. He even lets them stay at his "pad" (the place where he and his "gang", or friends, stay).

They finally get back home, but Edgar recathes them in sack and shortly hides them in the oven, then plans to send them to Timbuktu, Africa. O'Malley, Scat Cat and his gang, Roquefort and Frou-Frou all fight Edgar, while Roquefort rescues Duchess and kittens. In the end, Edgar is kicked into the trunk, locked inside, and sent to Timbuktu himself. Madame Adelaide's will is rewritten to not include Edgar and include O'Malley, and she starts a charity foundation which gives a home to all the cats in Paris.

Production [change]

This movie was the last one to be approved by Walt himself, and the first one produced after his death in 1966. The movie took four years to produce, at a budget of 4,000,000. Five of Disney's legendary "Nine Old Men" worked on it, including the Disney crew that had been working 25 years on average.

Cast [change]

Crew [change]

  • Story adaptation: Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Gerry, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas, Ralph Wright
  • Based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe
  • Supervising animators: Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, John Lounsbery
  • Animators: Hal King, Eric Cleworth, Fred Hellmich, Eric Larson, Julius Svendsen, Walt Stanchfield, David Michener
  • Effects animators: Dan MacManus, Dick Lucas
  • Layout: Don Griffith, Basil Davidovich, Sylvia Roemer
  • Backgrounds: Al Dempster, Bill Layne, Ralph Hulett
  • Production manager: Don Duckwall
  • Assistant directors: Ed Hansen, Dan Alguire
  • Supervising sound editor: Robert O. Cook
  • Film editor: Tom Acosta
  • Music editor: Evelyn Kennedy
  • Music composed and conducted by George Bruns
  • Score orchestrated by Walter Sheets
  • Produced by Wolfgang Reitherman and Winston Hibler
  • Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Release [change]

The Aristocats was re-released to theaters on December 19, 1981 and April 10, 1987. It was released on VHS in Europe on January 1, 1990.

It was first released on VHS in North America in the Classics series on April 10, 1986 and January 1, 1992 and Masterpiece Collection series on April 24, 1996 and DVD on April 4, 2000 in the Gold Classic Collection line. The Aristocats had its Gold Collection disc quietly discontinued in 2006.

A new single-disc Special Edition DVD (previously announced as a 2-Disc set) was released on February 5, 2008.

The film will also be released on Blu- ray in August 2012. This release will contain all the 2008 DVD bonus features, but with more language tracks and special features.

International release dates [change]

Soundtrack [change]

  1. "The Aristocats" - Maurice Chevalier "The Aristocats" is the title song from the movie. It was written by Robert & Richard Sherman at the end of the eight year tenure working for Walt Disney Productions. Actor and singer Maurice Chevalier came out of retirement to sing this song for the movie's soundtrack. He recorded it in English as well as in French translation ("Naturellement - les Aristocats!").
  2. "Scales and Arpeggios" - Liz English, Gary Dubin, Dean Clark, Robie Lester
  3. "Thomas O'Malley Cat" - Phil Harris
  4. "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" - Phil Harris, Scatman Crothers, Thurl Ravenscroft, Vito Scotti, Paul Winchell This song is sung by Scatman Crothers as Scat Cat, Phil Harris as Thomas O'Malley Cat, and Thurl Ravenscroft as Billy Boss the Russian Cat. It was also released as a now rare 45 rpm single, in a version sung only by Phil Harris, which lacks the cartoon voices of the common release. The soundtrack CD released in 1996 contains an edited version of the song. The now politically incorrect lines sung by "Chinese Cat" voiced by Paul Winchell are removed.
  5. "She Never Felt Alone" - Robie Lester
  6. "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat (reprise)" - Phil Harris, Scatman Crothers, Thurl Ravenscroft, Vito Scotti, Paul Winchell, Ruth Buzzi, Bill Thompson

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. On Disney's Greatest Hits, this includes "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat" on the red disc.

Trivia [change]

  • At one point, O'Malley was planned to have stripes, as evidenced by some early pencil tests.

Sequels [change]

The Aristocats II was supposed to be a direct-to-video sequel to this movie. It was scheduled to be released in 2007, but the production was canceled in early 2006. It was announced on February 27, 2012, that the sequel being worked on for a 2014 release in theaters. A poster was released on July 11, 2012. On October 20, 2012, it was said judging by the completed script, that the film would be a bit darker than the original, similar to Madagascar (2005) and Madagascar 3: E'sMW (2012). On June 18, 2012, Disney said the possibility of seeing a 3rd film too, making it a trilogy.

Cast [change]

[1]

References [change]

  1. ↑ Disney Animation Archive: Deleted Movies/The Aristocats II/index.php

Other websites [change]
Walt Disney
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)  • Pinocchio (1940)  • Fantasia (1940)  • Dumbo (1941)  • Bambi (1942)  • Saludos Amigos (1942)  • The Three Caballeros (1944)  • Make Mine Music (1946)  • Fun and Fancy Free (1947)  • Melody Time (1948)  • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)  • Cinderella (1950)  • Alice in Wonderland (1951)  • Peter Pan (1953)  • Lady and the Tramp (1955)  • Sleeping Beauty (1959)  • One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)  • The Sword in the Stone (1963)  • The Jungle Book (1967)  • The Aristocats (1970)  • Robin Hood (1973)  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)  • The Rescuers (1977)  • The Fox and the Hound (1981)  • The Black Cauldron (1985)  • The Great Mouse Detective (1986)  • Oliver & Company (1988)  • The Little Mermaid (1989)  • The Rescuers Down Under (1990)  • Beauty and the Beast (1991)  • Aladdin (1992)  • The Lion King (1994)  • Pocahontas (1995)  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)  • Hercules (1997)  • Mulan (1998)  • Tarzan (1999)  • Fantasia 2000 (1999)  • Dinosaur (2000)  • The Emperor's New Groove (2000)  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)  • Lilo & Stitch (2002)  • Treasure Planet (2002)  • Brother Bear (2003)  • Home on the Range (2004)  • Chicken Little (2005)  • Meet the Robinsons (2007)  • Bolt (2008)  • The Princess and the Frog (2009)  • Tangled (2010)  • Winnie the Pooh (2011)  • Wreck-It Ralph (2012)  • Frozen (2013)
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The Reluctant Dragon (1941)  • Victory Through Air Power (1943)  • Song of the South (1946)  • So Dear to My Heart (1949)  • Mary Poppins (1964)  • Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)  • Pete's Dragon (1977)  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)  • Enchanted (2007)
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DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990)  • A Goofy Movie (1995)  • Doug's 1st Movie (1999)  • The Tigger Movie (2000)  • Recess: School's Out (2001)  • Return to Never Land (2002)  • The Jungle Book 2 (2003)  • Piglet's Big Movie (2003)  • Teacher's Pet (2004)  • Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)  • Bambi II (2006)
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