Aristocats, The (1970)

An inventive cartoon feature by the Walt Disney studios about a cat (Duchess) and her three kittens (Berloiz, Toulouse and Marie) who are abandoned in the country and then rescued by the other animals there.

This enchanting tale begins in Paris in 1910 when retired opera singer Madame Adelaide Bonfamille – a kind and eccentric millionaire – wills her entire estate to her “family” of adorable high-society cats.

But when Edgar, the greedy and dastardly butler, overhears her plan, he catnaps Duchess (voiced by Eva Gabor) and her three mischievous kittens and abandons them in the French countryside.

Soon, they’re being escorted home by the charming Thomas O’Malley (voiced by Phil Harris), a rough-and-tumble alley cat, who takes them to his “pad” along the way where Scat Cat (voiced by Scatman Crothers) and his band of swingin’ jazz cats perform the memorable centrepiece song Ev’rybody Wants To Be A Cat.

The group are aided along the way by slow-witted dogs Lafayette and Napoleon, goose sisters Abigail and Amelia Gabble (“Think goose!”) and adorable little mouse Roquefort.

The deft influence of Walt Disney himself is noticeably missing and The Aristocats is the Disney Studios on autopilot.

The loss of Walt clearly was a blow to the organisation, and it may have been unrealistic to expect anything more than a semi-competent, workman-like effort right off the bat.

Duchess 
Eva Gabor
Berloiz
Dean Clark
Toulouse
Gary Dubin
Marie
Liz English
Thomas O’Malley
Phil Harris
Scat Cat
Scatman Crothers
Roquefort
Sterling Holloway
Lafayette
George Lindsey
Napoleon
Pat Buttram
Abigail Gabble
Monica Evans
Frou-Frou
Nancy Kulp
Chinese Cat
Paul Winchell
English Cat
Tim Hudson
Italian Cat
Vito Scotti
Russian Cat
Thurl Ravenscroft

Director
Wolfgang Reitherman