November 21, 2006

The Cat Came Back (excellent short cartoon)

The National Film Board of Canada's Focus on Animation section is full of other good stuff, too, and well worth a good look around.

posted by dng 18 years ago
  • Aaarrhg... I saw that one on TV and as a non-cat-lover, it was infuriating. But very good.
  • Cute -- love the ending!
  • Holy cow! Talk about a blast from the [obscure] past... great find!
  • I had it (and a few other short ones) on a VHS tape for my kids ok, and me too, and we watched it many times. I just showed it to them and they wanted to watch it ... again! Great find!
  • The best on that site is The Big Snit. You looked at my letters. Did not. Did so. I did not! You did so! Stop sawing the table! What? I am not... You are so! Well you should stop SHAKING YOUR EYES! I.. I don't shake em... Yes you DO. You're always shaking your eyes here, shaking your eyes there! Who don't you go join some stupid... shake a rock a roll band, huh? Don't shake your eyes at me lady!
  • Lots of good stuff on the NFB site. Here in Toronto the NFP has set up a sort of museum where you can sit in relatively comfy chairs and watch any of a number of videos. Brings back childhood memories for me. Be sure and check out The Sweater for a real dose of Canadian content.
  • NFB, not NFP. Darn.
  • The Sweater is a great story. And The Cat Came Back was great. Going to see more.
  • Ahh, The Log Driver's Waltz! Good post, eh?
  • Some years later: The Frozen Logger Lyrics: James Stevens Music: Adapted from "When I Was Young and Foolish" Appears on: * LP Hard Travelin' * CD The Folkways Years As I sat down one evening, was in a small café A forty year old waitress to me these words did say I see you that you are a logger and not just a common bum 'Cause nobody but a logger stirs his coffee with his thumb My lover he was a logger, there's none like him today Well if you'd pour whiskey on him well he'd eat a bale of hay He never used a razor to shave his horny hide He'd just drive them in with a hammer then he'd bite them off inside My lover he came to see me was on a freezing day He held me in a fond embrace that broke three vertebraes Well he kissed me when we parted so hard that he broke my jaw And I could not speak to tell him he forgot his mackinaw I saw my lover leaving sauntering through the snow Well going grimly homeward at forty eight below Wll the weather tried to freeze him it tried its level best At a hundred degrees below zero why, he buttoned up his vest It froze clean through to China and it froze to the stars above And at a thousand degrees below zero it froze my logger love And so I lost my lover and to this café I come And here I wait till someone stirs his coffee with his thumb
  • To further the spirit of Auld Land Syne here: "I watched my logger lover going through the snow, he went strolling gaily homeward at forty-eight below. "The weather tried to freeze him and tried its level best; at a hundred degrees below zero he buttoned up his vest. "It froze clear down to China, and froze to the stars above; at a thousand degrees below zero it froze my logger love. "They tried in vain to thaw him, and if you'll believe me, sir, they made him into axe blades to chop the Douglas fir. "This is how I lost my lover and to this cafe come, and here I wait till someone stirs his coffee with his thumb." We did this act once before, on thread 9394.
  • I love that song. The cat one, that is.
  • oooh! NFB films! They are so brilliant. I love this one, and the big snit, and the Hockey Sweater. But where is "The Logdriver's Waltz"? They only have a little clip here.
  • If anyone ever runs across an animated short of real stuffed toys (teddys, mostly) performing Mozart's Turkish March with small musical instruments, pleeeeeeease let me know - I've been looking for that for a while. Might be NFB, might not. Pssst, bees - do you mean 11604?
  • IIRC, the creator of "The Cat Came Back" is from Winnipeg. Many years ago I saw an Animaniacs video for "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man" (I think) by They Might Be Giants. I have never seen it since ... I watched the show religiously for months hoping they'd repeat it so I could tape it, but they never did. Did anyone else see it?
  • You mean this?
  • Great toon! Ta.
  • Probably. I'll have to check it out at home. I had totally forgotten about it until just now, so it would never have occurred to me to check YouTube. Thanks Stan!
  • EVERYthing is on YouTube. Only some of it says 'this video has been removed'. Hey, the Particle Man one is there, too! It's not as good, though, for my money- the animation just does what the song says, whereas in the Istanbul one the video and the music are, uh, complementarily divergent. Or something.