The Cassandra Cat

The Criterion Channel

People, people, people! I have to tell you about this movie!

The Cassandra Cat (translated on IMDb as When the Cat Comes) is the most lighthearted critique of communism and its attitude toward art that you could ever dream up. Seriously, you will not see this film coming! A playful romp in the tone of Disney’s family films of the same period, The Cassandra Cat is a Czech film from 1963 with the most obvious of premises: the circus brings a bespectacled cat to a small town, where they demonstrate that without its glasses, the cat colors everyone it looks at according to their inner self. Surely you can figure out all that comes next…right? (If your answer involves a socialist twist on the pied piper story, you’re right on the money.)

This film is overflowing with whimsy and formal audacity. It tells its story alternately through a wise narrator, storytelling to children, a wonderful comic magic act, ballet, poetry, bare symbolism, song, and more. It’s unashamedly goofy and artsy at the same time, and despite holding all those different modes of storytelling within itself, it somehow coheres perfectly.

Obviously, I watched this because it centers around a cat, but it is a true delight of meringue-soft social commentary and just a wonderful family film. This might be a great way to introduce your children to subtitled movies (which you need to be doing). The 106 minutes fly by as the constant genre-swapping gimmicks keep the tale fresh and fun. The cinematic medium is used to its fullest, as night turns suddenly to day (and vice versa), editing tricks enhance the magician’s already great act, and…well, people turn colors, darn it!

Find this movie and watch it. Like all good fables, it entertains so much you almost don’t notice its very sincere underlying message: Art cannot help but reveal people’s hearts, and they will do anything to keep that from happening. Sadly, it’s a tale that’s gone past cautionary, but happily, it’s also rollicking and mischievous madcap fun.