There are certain so-called kids' movies out there that in my opinion seem anything but typical kids' fare. One such movie is The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T, written by none other than the genial Cat in the Hat's creator Dr Seuss (i.e. Theodor Seuss Geisel), which after watching again recently I reviewed here on Shuker In MovieLand. Another, which I shall be reviewing right now, is this one – Dougal and the Blue Cat, a distinctly strange and in parts surprisingly dark, creepy children's animated musical fantasy film released in its English-language version by EMI Films in 1972 (and in its original French version, Pollux et le Chat Bleu, by Valoria Films in 1970).
Conceived and directed by famous French animator Serge Danot, who also wrote its screenplay, Dougal and the Blue Cat features all of the favourite characters from The Magic Roundabout, the much-loved stop-motion children's TV show that began during the 1960s and was based upon Danot's original French version, Le Manège Enchanté. However, both in the latter and in the movie's French version, their names differ from those in the English equivalents.
Thus, in the Magic Garden, Dougal the dog is Pollux, Brian the snail is Ambroise, Dylan the rabbit is Flappy, Ermintrude the cow is Azalée, Mr Rusty the magic roundabout's owner is Père Pivoine, Mr McHenry the tricycle-riding gardener is Bonhomme Jouvence, Zebedee the unboxed magical jack-in-the-box is Zébulon, and Florence the little girl who visits the Magic Garden is Margote. Interestingly, three additional children who frequently visited the Garden with Florence in early episodes of the TV show also feature (albeit only briefly) in this movie – Rosalie, Basil, and Paul. How many of you still remember them?
Also, it is of course a well-known facet of The Magic Roundabout lore that Eric Thompson (father of actress Emma) who narrated the English versions of the show, as well as that of the movie (the French version of the movie has no narrator), never translated any of the original French scripts. Instead, he simply watched the shows, and the movie, and then made up his own stories, based entirely upon his visual interpretations of what was happening in them. This is why they differ so greatly from the French originals.
Returning to Dougal and the Blue Cat, its surreal storyline centres upon a mysterious, magical, and megalomaniacal Voice (in the English version enunciated with the seductive, fruitiest of tones by the incomparable Fenella Fielding), ensconced within a fortified castle that was once a disused factory (more about which later!) inside the Magic Garden. This disembodied Voice (aka the Blue Queen, or Madame Blue in the French version) has such an obsession with the colour blue ("Blue is beautiful, blue is best!") that she plans not only to enslave anyone or anything who is not blue, but also to eliminate all other colours from the face of the earth – and beyond!
Putting her nefarious schemes into physical practice is an equally mysterious, magical, and megalomaniac cat called Buxton (in the English version, but not given a name in the French original), whose fur is, surprise surprise, blue. Moreover (albeit again only in the English version), he speaks with a very broad Derbyshire accent (there is a town called Buxton in Derbyshire, England, so this may be why).
Buxton abruptly appears in the Magic Garden one day and swiftly succeeds in charming everyone he meets there – except, that is, for Dougal, who takes an instant dislike to him, and suspects that he is up to no good. How right Dougal is!
Before long, the Voice has made Buxton her king, and he in return has captured and imprisoned all of the Magic Garden's beloved characters in a dungeon beneath the castle – all except for Dougal, once again, on whose shaggy shoulders the fate of everyone else, not to mention all of the non-blue colours of the world, now depends. Will he succeed in his brave attempt to rescue them, or will a dastardly room piled high with his sweetest temptation, sugar lumps, prove to be his ultimate undoing?
I first saw Dougal and the Blue Cat on TV many many years ago, but although its sets are visually stunning, with more than a nod to Art Deco influences, and it contains a number of catchy songs and other musical accompaniments too (later released on an LP album), I was back then and remain today very shocked at just how sinister this movie is, in stark comparison to the joyful, whimsical, wholly enchanting, and singularly unthreatening TV show.
In particular, I am thinking of the decidedly macabre scene in which Florence & co have all been locked away by King Buxton and his minions in shackles and neck chains (honestly!) inside a dark, dank dungeon, with everyone weeping tears while Florence sings a despairingly sad song in which she wonders whether they will ever see the light of day and be free again. Happily, Dougal does ultimately rescue them all from the clutches of Buxton, and also returns to Zebedee his magic moustache that King Buxton had stolen earlier in order to prevent him from freeing them all.
Nevertheless, disquieting segments such as this one meant that Dougal and the Blue Cat apparently sent shivers through many an unsuspecting young child watching it back in the day. Just read the comments that viewers have posted beneath clips from it on YouTube!
And don't even get me started on the original French version! Let's just say that I finally got around to watching the DVD of this on Christmas Eve 2021, and was extremely startled to discover that whereas the Voice-engendered evil pervading the Magic Garden emanates from what is innocuously referred to in the English version as an abandoned treacle factory, in the French original it is identified in the English subtitles as a disused factory where whips had formerly been made with which to punish children!
This grim revelation early on in the film duly explains why the soldiers later being manufactured there on the Voice's instructions, in order to serve as Buxton's minions in carrying out the Voice's malevolent plans, all bear what I initially thought in my innocence were long plaits of hair or dreadlocks on their heads – but those aren't plaits or dreadlocks. Not at all – instead, they are thongs, because once armed with the knowledge of the disused factory's original heinous function, the soldiers can now readily be seen to be animated multi-thonged whips, just like the dreaded cat o' nine tails once utilized in corporal punishment!
Dungeons, neck chains, shackles, and whips – sounds more like an S&M nightmare than the cosy, inoffensive, happy little show that I still fondly remember from my childhood, that's for sure! Dougal and the Blue Cat is one of those cinematic oddities that is worth watching for its bizarre, idiosyncratic weirdness, but I wager that it is not what many viewers will have expected it to be.
Even so, if you'd care to experience a
taste of what awaits you in the Magic Garden once it falls under the odious
oppression of the villainous Buxton, please click here to view poor imprisoned Florence singing her sad tearful song in
Dougal and the Blue Cat. Hankies at the ready!
And finally – true trivia time: one of esteemed UK film critic Mark Kermode's favourite movies of all time is none other than Dougal and the Blue Cat, and he provides a detailed appraisal of it in an interview included as an extra on this movie's official 2-disc Special Edition UK DVD, which contains both the French and English versions. Also, British TV satirist Charlie Brooker selected 'Florence's Sad Song' from this movie as one of his chosen music tracks on the long-running radio show 'Desert Island Discs'.
"I didn't know that," said Florence.
"Time for bed," said Zebedee.
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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