Schalcken the Painter (1979)

by Mark Murton

Directed by: Leslie Megahey

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning for rough handling!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: In this BBC OMNIBUS Christmas Special, an aspiring young painter falls for his patron’s niece but forsakes love for ambition when a ghoulish stranger demands her for himself. This chilling tale, adapted from a J. Sheridan Le Fanu ghost story, weaves a fictional tale of terror around the work of real life seventeenth-century Dutch painter, Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer) with a Kitty Carnage Warning! As the trainee painters gather for their latest lesson one of them is seen holding a longhair calico cat which he forces to “dance” on the table despite the cat’s obvious discomfort . . .

Schalcken the Painter - close up of longhair calico cat being forced to dance
Schalcken the Painter - close up of longhair calico cat being forced to dance animated gif

. . . before passing it on to another student to continue the undignified dance.

Schalcken the Painter - students forcing longhair calico cat to dance on table
Schalcken the Painter - students forcing longhair calico cat to dance on table

This second student then passes the cat back to the original tormentor for more of the same as a third student looks on, seemingly amused.

Schalcken the Painter - students forcing longhair calico cat to dance on table
Schalcken the Painter - students forcing longhair calico cat to dance on table

The arrival of their teacher, Gerrit Gau (Maurice Denham), ends their fun and the cat is casually dropped to the ground where it runs across the studio floor, under the students’ feet.

Schalcken the Painter - longhair calico cat crossing room at painters feet

Like several other scenes in this production this one was based on a real painting by a Dutch artist of the period, namely ‘The Dancing Lesson’ (circa 1660-1679) by Jan Steen which depicts a group of children attempting to make a cat dance.

Schalcken the Painter - painting The Dancing Lesson by Jan Steen

The cat (which is presumably Gau’s) appears just once more, when Schalcken (Jeremy Clyde) is working alone in the studio one evening, engrossed in his painting and so he doesn’t hear the noise that sends the cat scurrying from the room and heralds the arrival of the ghoulish stranger.

Schalcken the Painter - longhair calico cat running out through door

The cat actor is the same one who appeared in the film The Monster Club but unfortunately we do not know this feline thespian’s name.

Final Mewsings: Humans can suffer for their art but they shouldn’t make cats suffer for it, too.

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