Synopsis
Alexander Hammid's intimate study of a female cat and the birth and maturation of her five kittens.
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 22 minutes
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Excellent · trafalgar · 2004-03-09
Some of the most fascinating cat footage you'll ever see. The cinematography is excellent, but the filmmakers stay out of the way and let the cats tell the story. Very highly recommended.
★★★★★ · A rare film · Michael Loebenstein · 2005-07-20
Indeed, the fluidity of the camera work has a lot in common with Deren's early films. Mind you, it was Hammid (her then husband) who taught Maya Deren cinematography. He, a czech-austrian film artist who fled Europe from fascism has then had a career of working in the movies; additionally he was the lone author, cameraman and editor of a beautiful experimental film AIMLESS WALK. In the US he shot Maya's MESHES... and AT LAND before they divorced. There's several other films (educational and promotional) in the collection where Hammid is credited as a cameraman, editor or director, and all are…
★★★★★ · A Rowring Good Time · Dmitri Gheorgheni · 2012-12-23
I would compare this to the work of Joe Camp, without the need for training, because - let's face it - dogs are great actors when trained, but cats are natural stars. The animal's-eye view is striking. You don't need sound if you know cats. You know exactly what she's saying. I particularly enjoyed the sly humour. Thanks to other reviewers for the background on the cinematographer - I'm now going on a search for the elusive Mr Hammid.
★★★★★ · Very Touching · RadioBilly · 2004-12-25
I really liked this film. It reminds me of the kitty situation up here in New York State where many barns house families of cats making more kittens. No doubt the same scenario played out in this film is duplicated here in the semi-wild. In fact my latest addition to my kitty collection came from a barn. He was rescued, neutered, given his shots and landed with me. This film depicted a much kinder situation as compared to barns that are never heated. I really enjoyed this film and am glad it has been added to the Prelinger Collection. I can't believe it is only instinct that drives the…
★★★★★ · correction to previous review by Marysz from July 14, 2004 · Julia H · 2006-11-17
Reviewer Marysz wrote: "It could be that Deren did a lot of the filming and Hammid edited the final footage." I can assure you that it is the other way around. Maya had the ideas and Sasha did the camera (and editing) work. Take a look at his later films and you will see the consistent, strong cinematography for which he became so well known.
★★★★★ · Cat Family · HollywoodBob · 2009-11-03
Been there, done that. I've had cats as pets for almost 40 years now (I'm 56). Kinda creepy knowing that this cat family is long dead, kinda cool knowing that this particular cat family will live forever in cinematic history on the internet for people to enjoy.
