Gay Purr-ee

I love Judy Garland. I have a few of her films. And I love movies that are set in Paris, like the musical "An American in Paris" starring Gene Kelly and also the Pixar animated film "Ratatouille." One last thing to say is that I am a cat lover, as I have said many times. Judy did a wonderful job as Mewsette, both in speaking and singing for her. And Chuck Jones did an excellent job with the production and animation of the film; Chuck Jones is one of my favorite animators. So overall, this film is an excellent piece of animation. It is colorful and beautifully animated, with songs you will remember and love.

I love this movie because the cats are so cute. To me this movie feels like a Golden Era Hollywood musical that got turned into a cartoon with music. Judy Garland's singing is superb. She hit all of her notes and the other voice over actors are good too. The artwork is very French and I liked the clip where Mewsette was being shown in multiple paintings. Major French artists got to have their works represented to children. There is not much violence so kids can easily watch this movie. I don't think this movie could ever be remade because the talent was there behind the scenes and on camera. It's not easy to make a film about singing cats and keep my attention. But they were able.

Animation historians may have heard of the studio called United Productions of America. They were best known for creating animated shorts such as the Oscar-winning Gerald McBoing-Boing, the suspenseful short adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart narrated by James Mason, and the Mr. Magoo television series. They've made two animated features during their run. The first was the 1959 loose adaptation of 1001 Arabian Nights released under Columbia. The second one became the 1962 film Gay Purr-ee, released under Warner Brothers and directed by Abe Levitow, who has worked on many a Looney Tunes short with his partner Chuck Jones prior to this. Set in France in the 1890s, also known as the Gay '90s as the title implies, the film is about Mewsette (Judy Garland in her only voice role), a country feline living on a farm with the mouser Jaune-Tom (Robert Goulet in his film debut) and his partner, a small blue kitten named Robespierre (Red Buttons). However, tired of her farm life, she hears about the beauty of living in the city of Paris, and decides to run away and catch the train. She is introduced by a black-and-white schemer named Meowrice (I swear, I'm not making that name up), not knowing that he has some rather slimy plans for her. Jaune-Tom learns of Mewsette's departure from Robespierre and they head for Paris to try and find her. Even though the film is animated, it is, at heart, a musical, on par with many other musical films released before this, including the ones that also star Judy Garland. In fact, all of the songs written for the picture were done by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, the same duo who wrote the songs for the beloved 1939 MGM classic The Wizard of Oz. Even after 23 years, their songwriting still held water, with songs like the uplifting "Roses Red, Violets Blue", and the slower ballads like "Take My Hand Paris", "Little Drops of Rain", and my favorite one of them all, "Paris is a Lonely Town", to name a few. For the animation, if you're familiar with the shorts made by UPA, the animation is limited, but visually appealing and influential in terms of design and style, with French expressionism being a large inspiration of how the final film is supposed to look. For an animated film made in the '60s, this is probably the most colorful and very much alive. This is further utilized in a later scene where the film's artists make parody portraits based on the works of Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Claude Monet, and, yes, even Pablo Picasso. After watching the scene, you'll know why UPA was known for their unique style that other studios weren't doing in their heyday. The sad thing about this film is that it is not as well recognized as a lot of other animated classics. Even the 1970 animated Disney film "The Aristocats", which also took place in France and focuses on...well...cats, became more popular. The only people that would remember this film is if they were film and animation historians or if you saw it via Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre back in the '90s. Thankfully, however, the film is being re-discovered, with airings on Turner Classic Movies and releases on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection. For me, this is an underrated piece of animated cinema that should've gotten more recognition over the years. If you enjoy classic animation, definitely pick this one up.

This is a G rated film that features the voice talents of Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, and a host of the best voice actors working in animation at the time, including Paul Frees (Boris Badinov), Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Barney Rubble, and many more) and June Foray (Rocky the Squirrel). It combines their voices with colorful animation and beautiful dream sequences put to songs. The story takes place in France during the 1890s and involves a beautiful young feline named Mewsette (Garland) who leaves her home on the farm to become the toast of Paris. Her boyfriend (Goulet) and his small sidekick (Buttons) come after her to bring her back, but the evil Meowrice (Frees) already has her in his clutches. I enjoyed this as a child and again as an adult.

Gay Purr-ee is the most beautiful movie I ever remember seeing as a child. Unfortunately I don't remember the story-line in great detail, because many years have passed but I remember some very touching scenes from this movie. The seemingly endless journey of two cats travelling to Paris: following the railway line they jumped from sleeper to sleeper through the long night, exhausted. The lure of this enchanting city of Paris spurring them on against great odds. The treat of a saucer of pure cream, as luxurious as the best caviar. The development of the characters and the actor's voices that brought them alive was superb. The incidental music during the movie lifted my heart, transported my emotions on a roller-coaster ride of delight and sorrow. I will hunt for this title in all the video stores in town because I absolutely must be enchanted again by this lovely work of art.

There are a few excellent points about this movie. Garland's voice sounds great here. The animation is quite unique, in that most of the backgrounds and such look like something out of an Impressionist painting, and are very beautiful. Red Buttons is very cute as Jaune-Tom's (Robert Goulet) small sidekick. The Harburg/Arlen songs are excellent, and they work nearly as well with Judy here as they did in The Wizard of Oz (1939), that marvel that truly started her entire career. The story is a little low on magic, but is pretty charming, and small children will like it. All in all, a treat for fans of Garland, Goulet, Harburg and Arlen, and original animation style.

Maybe I had advanced tastes for your average eight-year-old. I don't know. What I DO know is that, ever since I saw this underrated classic on TV at about that time, I fell in love with it, and that love affair has continued down the years since. First, there's the voice casting. You will never hear a better latter-day Judy Garland than here. She's in great voice and seems to be genuinely enjoying herself in the role of Mewsette. Ditto Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Hermoine Gingold, and company. The Harold Arlen - Yip Harburg songs, if not the classics they wrote for "Wizard of Oz," very enjoyable. In fact, I believe this was Arlen's last full-length score, after the Broadway flop "Saratoga," and, rumor has it, it was he who persuaded Garland to take the job. The animation excellent and imaginative throughout, especially the sequence where Mewsette is depicted in the styles of various artists, and even though ace animator Abe Levitow gets sole directorial credit, it's obvious that executive producer Chuck Jones had a pretty active hand in things as well. One final note: In addition to owning the video myself, we also have it in the video collection of the library where I work. When I recommend it to people as a good alternative to Disney&co for the kids, patrons will say they've never heard of it, but take it out on my recommendation. When they come back the next day, they always say almost the same thing: "Wow! This was great! My kids loved it and so did I. Why didn't I know about it before?" And I tell them "Because it's one of the great hidden treasures of animated features." Which, I think, says it exactly.

I personally absolutely love this movie. I do think the title is rather odd though, but everything else is simply terrific. Gay Purr-ee is sophisticated, witty and charming and I have never tired watching it. I love Judy Garland, and think her performances in The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis and A Star is Born are timeless. Chuck Jones is a terrific animation director as well, who has directed some of the best cartoons in existence in my opinion. And I love cats, they are cute, clever and lovely animals, and asides from Gay Purr-ee other great cat movies are The AristoCats(a film I always see this film compared to) and especially Felidae which is quite a different kettle of fish. Gay Purr-ee is simply terrific. The animation is lovely, the visual style is unique and colourful and I loved the character designs of especially Mewsette and Meowrice, Mewsette is beautiful and charming and Meowrice is quite sophisticated. The story is always engaging, it is a very simple story, but the simplicity works wonders, plus it is never devoid of charm. The dialogue has its fair share of wit too, very rarely does it feel forced or trite. The characters are likable, I have always had a soft spot for Meowrice myself and Robespierre is so cute. The pacing is brisk, and I loved the inspired scene with the impressionist painters especially Van Gogh. My favourite assets though of Gay Purr-ee are the music and the voice work. The music is simply terrific. Harold Arlen and EG Harburg are one of the finest songwriting collaborations, and I loved their work here. The incidental music is very nice, and the overture is wonderful. Little Drops of Rain and Roses Red, Violets Blue are delightful, but my favourite is Paris is a Lonely Town which is quite touching. And of course the voice work is superb. This film is more than a showcase for Judy Garland's talents despite what some might think. She sings beautifully and she gives Mewsette a certain modesty and humanity that came through either when she was speaking or singing. Robert Goulet has a beautiful voice and Jean Tom avoids being bland thanks to the charm Goulet brings. Red Buttons is like his character Robespierre, cute and funny, while the wonderful Paul Frees is outstanding as Meowrice. And it was nice to hear Mel Blanc's distinctive voice again too. Overall, charming, witty, sophisticated and I think unfairly underrated animated film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

It has everything! Action, romance (well, between two cartoon cats!)and adventure, in a family viewable arena! The children will adore this classic, I can practically gaurentee that! And the adults will laugh and cry along with it, cheering on the little Robespierre with his small body and lion's heart. Jon-Tom's tail and whiskers twitching as "The best mouse catcher in all of Paris!" spots a rodent hundreds of feet away (but never actually kills one). The pretty Mewsette who wants more than she can handle and ends up getting into trouble for it. Madame Rubinschottz, the large, pink cat of ill repute with the long eyelashes and big, red lips who sends out the despicable Meowrice, the scoundrel who is to bring a lovely kitty (Mewsette) into her fold. And lest we forget the "Money-Cats" (the scraggly, silly, bumbling black alley cats who shake their cat-behinds on the rooftops to the tune of "The money-cat knows where the money-tree grows"!). This cartoon feature is like those famous potato chips that claim you cant eat just one. Once you see this film, you will *always* want to go back!

I remember enjoying this movie as a child, but, after viewing it some 30 years later as an adult, I wonder why it ever appealed to me. The animation is second rate, at best - cheaply drawn, with static backgrounds. (The one touch of inspiration was to paint the backgrounds in the styles of the great impressionist painters - most notably, Vincent Van Gogh.) The music, though written by two of this century's greatest songwriters, is entirely forgettable. The story is extremely weak and entirely devoid of any charm or wit. The movie appears to have been produced for the price of a song - and not a very good song, at that. The movie's one redeeming quality is the impressive vocal talent behind it. This cartoon is best suited for young children. Anyone over the age of 10 will be bored with it. When there are so many wonderful family films from which to choose, both animated and live-action, why squander your time by watching this one?