There are cat trainers in the movie industry: the Briton John Holmes and the American Frank Inn, who selected cats in several different categories: humpbacked cats who appeared to be arching their backs, scary-looking cats with bristly hair, yawning cats, cats who licked their chops, etc. According to him, "The best feline actors are big eaters" because they work not for petting, but only for cat food.
Among the cat actors in 1920 was Pepper the Cat, a character in the movie "Down on the Farm" who was very attached to Mak Sennet. Pepper was affectionate and got along wonderfully with Frederich the Mouse and Teddy the Great Dane.
In 1952, a cat named Rhubarb played the main character in a movie by the same name. He was an aggressive, vicious, perfidious cat. Arthur Lubin used this skittish cat, the sole heir of an old, misanthropic billionaire, to caricature American society with its gangsters and conciliatory police, its flashy advertising and its fetishism.
Rhubarb, a true star in his time, was paid a very high salary. He also received two Patsy Awards (equivalent of the Oscar for animals).
Many cats, some more interesting than others, have appeared in films of varying quality. On screen, they represent the traditional themes associated with cats:
The supernatural: "The Cat From Outer Space" by Norman Tokar, "Un jour, un chat" by Jasny Jones, the cat in Ridley Scott's "Alien", "La féline" by Jacques Tourneur, "Cat People" by Paul Schrader, "Black Cat" by Edgard George Ulmer, based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe.
Sensuality, sexuality, women: La "feline" by Jacques Tourneur, "Cat People" by Paul Schrader, "La femme du boulanger "by Pagnol with the cat Pomponnette.
Still, despite this handful of films, it seems that cats have not yet found their true place in the movies.
Log in
