Walt Disney Productions
Starring: Pinto Colvig, Lucille La Verne
Directed by: Burt Gillett

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: One of Disney’s Silly Symphonies, this is an unnerving retelling of Hansel and Gretel in which a boy and girl are lost in the woods, found by elves, seduced by a witch and her candy house and ultimately find themselves in danger of being turned into animals.

Cartoon Cats: When the little boy and girl are pushed into the witch’s home they see numerous animals in chains and cages.  In the background a black cat is chained to the wall and paces back and forth.

The witch grabs the little boy and then picks up a bottle.  We see a lot of the animals protesting, including a cat in a cage.

Another cat is chained to a wall and struggles to get loose.

The witch pours some liquid over the boy and changes him into a spider.  When she carries him closer to the cat chained on the wall, the cat reaches out and scratches at her.

Angrily, the witch goes over to a large bubbling cauldron and scoops up some of the sticky liquid inside.  She throws it at the cat, which gruesomly changes to stone and topples from the beam, its tail breaking off.

Later the little girl is able to change the little boy back to himself.  She then walks over to the stone cat and pours liquid on it, making it change back into a boy, seemingly intact (which makes us worry about which part of the little boy was broken off!)  They then herd the other animals into a large box where they pour liquid on them to change them back into children as well.

Final Mewsings: Normally we love cat statues but not like this!

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