As a cat person I'm glad to see cats get their due in this film about a cat who inherits the Brooklyn baseball team. Being from Brooklyn and a cat lover Rhubarb is a film that can't go wrong for me. Even though there are a few things wrong with this film that someone from Brooklyn would know are wrong.
Fascinating that this film came out in 1951 and that was the season that the exact opposite of what takes place here happened in the National League. The Brooklyn Dodgers had a 14 game lead that the New York Giants overcame and won with that dramatic home run that Bobby Thomson hit in the bottom of the 9th inning of the playoff game. Here it's the Brooklyn team that comes from behind.
Irascible tycoon Gene Lockhart who among many things owns the Brooklyn franchise is fascinated by the toughness of a ginger feral cat who steals golf balls. He orders his public relations man Ray Milland to catch him and after a bit of difficulty, but with state of the art technology he does. Lockhart names him Rhubarb and he's tamed with a lot less time than feral cats normally take.
Then Lockhart dies and leaves his estate to the cat with Milland as guardian disinheriting his own daughter Elsie Holmes. The ballclub resistant at first adopts Rhubarb and the Borough of Brooklyn takes the former feral cat to their hearts.
Of course life isn't a bed of roses for Rhubarb, Milland, and his fiancé Jan Sterling. Sterling in fact is allergic to Rhubarb, but in the end that works in their favor in a couple of situations. In fact she's a regular bloodhound when it comes to tracking him.
Two more things though about the film, Rhubarb is of an amorous nature and Lockhart might have had him neutered lest his house start smelling like a urinal. And there ain't no way the speediest cat in the world could have gotten from midtown Manhattan to old Ebbets Field in the record time Rhubarb makes.
The adult cast looks a little bit silly playing second fiddle to a cat. But no cat owner would disapprove of that. Rhubarb is still a nice family film and a must for us cat owners.
Fascinating that this film came out in 1951 and that was the season that the exact opposite of what takes place here happened in the National League. The Brooklyn Dodgers had a 14 game lead that the New York Giants overcame and won with that dramatic home run that Bobby Thomson hit in the bottom of the 9th inning of the playoff game. Here it's the Brooklyn team that comes from behind.
Irascible tycoon Gene Lockhart who among many things owns the Brooklyn franchise is fascinated by the toughness of a ginger feral cat who steals golf balls. He orders his public relations man Ray Milland to catch him and after a bit of difficulty, but with state of the art technology he does. Lockhart names him Rhubarb and he's tamed with a lot less time than feral cats normally take.
Then Lockhart dies and leaves his estate to the cat with Milland as guardian disinheriting his own daughter Elsie Holmes. The ballclub resistant at first adopts Rhubarb and the Borough of Brooklyn takes the former feral cat to their hearts.
Of course life isn't a bed of roses for Rhubarb, Milland, and his fiancé Jan Sterling. Sterling in fact is allergic to Rhubarb, but in the end that works in their favor in a couple of situations. In fact she's a regular bloodhound when it comes to tracking him.
Two more things though about the film, Rhubarb is of an amorous nature and Lockhart might have had him neutered lest his house start smelling like a urinal. And there ain't no way the speediest cat in the world could have gotten from midtown Manhattan to old Ebbets Field in the record time Rhubarb makes.
The adult cast looks a little bit silly playing second fiddle to a cat. But no cat owner would disapprove of that. Rhubarb is still a nice family film and a must for us cat owners.