Walt Disney Productions
Starring: Émile Genest, John Drainie, Sandra Scott
Also Starring: Syn, Muffey, Rink
Directed by: Fletcher Markle
Synopsis: Based on the book by Sheila Burnford. Three animals, a young Labrador Retriever named Luath (played by Rink), a Siamese cat named Tao (played by Syn) and an older Bull Terrier named Bodger (played by Muffey), are being cared for by their owners’ friend, John Longridge (Émile Genest). When Longridge goes duck hunting the animals set off across the rugged Canadian wilderness in an effort to find their way home.
Cinema Cat: Syn the Siamese Cat shines in his role as Tao in this film and many of the scenes are devoted to him solely. There are several times when Tao causes trouble but then there are many times when Tao is a hero, stepping in to protect his canine friends or catching food for them.
Syn is a cat actor with real screen presence. Walt Disney must have noticed this as well, because Syn would later star in the Disney film That Darn Cat! alongside Hayley Mills. William Koehler was the trainer of Syn for both films.
Kitty Carnage Warning! Some people have pointed a harsh finger at this film as being a prime example of animal cruelty in films. Certainly there are notorious examples in these live-action Disney nature films where animals were reportedly injured or killed (the lemmings “suicide” in White Wilderness being a prime example). Some scenes in this film are certainly cringe-worthy for those who cannot stand to see animals in any kind of distress. Tao is shown many times hissing, fighting and screeching, something many a cat actor has been somehow cajoled to do on film. In all honesty, the worst offense in this film is the fact that they put animal actors together who really probably should not have been sharing the screen, seeing as how even in the best of circumstances there are chances for things to go wrong, i.e. the bear and the lynx scenes in particular. But by the same token we don’t see any real evidence onscreen of the animals hurting one another in these scenes. And the scene where Tao is washed downstream is honestly not as traumatic to see as the one in the later remake, but neither is as bad as the scenes in Koneko Monogatari. In any case, we can’t confirm or deny any harm coming to the animals in this film but if you are super sensitive to watching animals in peril you may want to give this one a pass.
Final Mewsings: Planning a long journey through the wilderness? Better bring a cat along!
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