That Darn Cat! (1965)

How can you make a comedy that’s a little too comedic? Here might be an example. That is, if you can describe clumsy slapstick as being actually “comedic.” When this movie plays it for laughs—really, when it desperately strains for laughs—it mostly falls flat on its face (a favored fate of many of the characters, it turns out). Even for a story that is clearly targeted for children, the humor here generally lands with a thud and can not be expected to entertain anyone. That isn’t surprising for a formulaic picture from the period of Disney’s decline. What is surprising is that, when the movie plays it relatively straight, the result is a film that is actually entertaining, engaging, charming, and even interesting. Given that the movie clearly runs at least a half an hour too long, the inescapable conclusion is that they should have excised the goofy slapstick, including the extraneous wacky neighbors, and just gone ahead with the core story, letting Haley Mills, Dean Jones, and a handful of clever Siamese kitties carry the thing through. I doubt I’d recommend this flick as anything other than a time capsule experience—the ‘60s really were a different world versus now—but maybe it stands as well as an example of what not to do when you’re making a lighthearted movie. Not necessarily litter box material, but hardly a dose of catnip, either.