Grab Bag Friday Movie Vault: That Darn Cat

In honor of my beautiful brand new niece, Hayley Elsa, I thought I'd highlight another of my favorite Hayley Mills movies. (If you missed the last one, check out Summer Magic...it's a gem.)

That Darn Cat was Hayley Mills' last movie with Disney, and Dean Jones' first. To be fair, I'm completely biased from the get-go because along with Fred MacMurray (who is not in this film) these may be my favorite Disney actors of all time. I'll tell you right off, it's not an academy award winner. But if you are looking for something light and goofy with a solid story and a whole lot of hilarious physical comedy, That Darn Cat is definitely worth a watch.

The hijinks start when a cat belonging to Hayley Mills (Patti in the film) follows a bank robber to an apartment where a woman is being held hostage. The woman scratches "Help me!" onto the back of her watch and puts the watch around the cat's neck. Patti finds the watch, calls the FBI, enter Dean Jones and, well...to give you a taste, here's the original Disney trailer:

Grab Bag Friday's Movie Vault: Hayley Mills in Summer Magic

It's going to be a cold, rainy weekend here in Maine...perfect for curling up with popcorn and a movie in the middle of the day. And thanks to one of my favorite inventions of the internet age, Netflix, I can easily rent all my most favorite, most obscure movies from childhood (as long as someone has gone to the trouble to release them on DVD.)

Case in point: Summer Magic.

It will become quite clear to those of you who continue to read Please Come Flying that I had a bit of a childhood obsession with Hayley Mills. How could you not? Her characters are spunky, clever, a little willful, and always have "scathingly brilliant" ideas. And if that wasn't enough, her charming accent just puts you over the edge!

So, I will try to be brief though I'm already tempted to blather on about a hundred little details. Suffice it to say, this is a charming, well-built movie that some might peg as a fluffy Disney vehicle for Hayley Mills. I do not deny the fluff. All Hayley Mills' childhood movies have fluff...that is what they are. But it's very, very lovable fluff.

The basic story is about a family that moves from Boston to Beulah, Maine (perhaps this was an early trigger of my later desire to move to Maine?) under some interesting circumstances and due to various mistaken identities, well-intentioned lies, and other entanglements, lighthearted comedy ensues. As with all of my favorite Hayley Mills movies, the story is a good one, well-crafted, and surprisingly unpredictable for the genre. What I didn't know until recently is that the movie is based on a book, Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggins (of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm fame), which I am now going to have to check out.

Burl Ives plays the soft-hearted postmaster, and of course there are some songs. Highlights include:
The Ugly Bug Ball (which accompanies an odd nature-scene interlude that my siblings used to fast forward through)
On the Front Porch (my personal favorite)
Femininity, a hilarious family favorite which my sisters and I still delight in singing to each other in (very bad) Hayley Mills accents:
You must walk feminine, talk feminine
Smile and be girl feminine
Utilize your femininity
That's what every girl should know
If you want to catch a beau!

!!!! I was just searching around to see if there happened to be clips of these songs that I could post for you, and I just found out that you can actually download the entire soundtrack on iTunes! Wow. My husband is going to be thrilled about coming home to "The Ugly Bug Ball" blasting in the living room. :)

Which leads me to my final comment which is this: I recently made Kevin sit through Summer Magic, fully expecting that he would groan through the whole thing. However. Not a single groan. AND he said it was "pretty good." Which proves that either the movie holds up to my hype, or I have a very, very loving husband.

P.S. If you are not related to me and you have ever seen Summer Magic, please post a comment. I have never met a single soul who has seen this movie unless I foisted it upon them, and it would be interesting to know you. (If you are related to me, you're still allowed to put in your two cents, of course.)

P.P.S. For those of you who prefer thoughtful, deep, meaningful movies that can change the world, you can pretend this blog post never happened. But be prepared...I might just cover "That Darn Cat," "Parent Trap," or "In Search of the Castaways" in upcoming months. "Pollyanna," on the other hand, is actually surprisingly thoughtful and meaningful, so you've got that to look forward to, which is good.