Made in France in 1970 and released in the UK in 1972, this film spin-off of The Magic Roundabout has been newly restored and released on DVD for the first time by the excellent Second Sight. This is a very good thing. Dougal And The Blue Cat is a truly bizarre and unique film that everyone deserves the chance to experience.
Terrier Dougal is woken one night by a strange, otherworldly voice that is loudly proclaiming, “Blue is Beautiful! Blue is Best!”. Puzzled by this, he visits various friends the next day to see what they make of it. When he goes to see Florence, she introduces him to a blue cat named Buxton that has just arrived in the magic garden where they all live. No one wants to listen to Dougal with his story about the Blue Voice, and everyone is taken with Buxton. But shrewd old Dougal takes an instant dislike to Buxton and his suspicious behaviour.
The design is strikingly psychedelic, almost to the point of being unsettling the colours are bright and beautiful, but also somehow clashy and sickly. The music is fantastic, too it includes some catchy songs, and, surprisingly, the funky score often sounds like Melody Nelson-era Serge Gainsbourg without the breathy vocals. Best of all are the vocal talents of Fenella Fielding, who plays the mysterious, reverb-laden ‘Blue Voice’ that emanates from a factory outside the garden, and Eric Thompson, who voices every other character including the fiendish Buxton.
This film on its own would have made for a good enough DVD, but here the special features really make all the difference. There’s an interview with critic Mark Kermode, who enthuses about the film and, more importantly, explains a little about its production. Like the original series, the film was a French production it was released across the Channel as Pollux et le Chat Bleu. Apparently, in adapting it for a British audience, Eric Thompson did not study the original screenplay in translation, but rather watched the images and made up his own interpretation of what was happening onscreen, writing new dialogue accordingly.
Luckily for us, Second Sight have gone the extra mile and actually included the original French version of the film, with subtitles, on the disc. Watching this version is just as entertaining as watching the British version, as it’s a substantially different film, and you can see exactly what Thompson changed (the French one actually makes a lot more sense in some places than the British one!). Two films for the price of one, really.
Overall Verdict: A hypnotically weird film that will appeal to viewers of all ages; and an exemplary DVD package.
Special Features:
Interviews with Emma Thompson, Phyllida Law, Fenella Fielding and Mark Kermode
Original French version with English subtitles
Lobby card/stills gallery
Reviewer: Tom René