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Cats on the Hearth

Lovers of cute cats will lap up this RSPCA film, about how to make friends with your feline

Public Information Filler 1957 9 mins

Overview

Produced for the RSPCA, this public information film talks the viewer through a how-to of cat ownership, from basics such as feeding and baskets, to more complex issues like adjusting a cat to a new home. Much of the advice is timeless - even if the emphasis on traditional family values does help to age the film. The narrator stresses that a pleased puss only comes with a harmonious home.

British Movietone News, a long-lived producer of newsreel material, was commissioned here for a different kind of film with a polemical message. Effectively an appeal from a charity, its commanding tone is lent some authority by its voiceover artist - actor Howard Marion-Crawford - who may have been known to some 1950s audiences for his roles in Sherlock Holmes dramas.