The Three Lives of Thomasina (1964) Review

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(More customer reviews)Paul Gallico's charming little story "Thomasina" is turned into an equally lovely little Disney film from 1964 directed by Don Chaffey ("Greyfriars Bobby"). Veterinarian Andrew MacDhui (Patrick McGoohan) is a widower who is raising his young daughter Mary (Karen Dotrice) in Scotland in 1912. Andrew has no empathy for the townsfolk who love their pets and when Mary's beloved cat Thomasina is injured he quickly decides the animal should be killed. Mary is distraught and Andrew simply cannot understand why the logic of the situation is not clear to the girl. Mary and her friends prepare an elaborate funeral for Thomasina, at which point Lori MacGregor (Susan Hampshire) shows up. The children think she is a witch, but in truth she lives in the woods and nurses injured animals back to health using love and common sense. Lori recognizes the cat is not dead and takes it home to help it recover, during which time Thomasina goes to Cat Heaven in a marvelously fanciful sequence. Andrew has a bad reputation with the locals because he killed his daughter's cat and they start taking their pets to Lori. Andrew finally goes to see her and is not so busy being impressed by her healing skills that he fails to fall in love with her. But then Mary sees Thomasina walking outside her house and chases after her in a driving storm and ends up catching pneumonia. The doctors hold out no hope to the frantic Andrew, and Lori tells him that only he can help Mary recover using the power of love.
Lots of Disney movies have a cold-hearted adult transformed into a human being, and "The Three Lives of Thomasina" is one of the best of this type of film, even better than "Pollyanna. " This is mainly because it has the virtue of a first-rate cast, from McGoohan, Hampshire and Dotrice as the three principles to Finlay Currie and Laurence Naismith standing out in the supporting cast. Elspeth March supplies the voice of Thomasina, who gets to comment on the action from time to time, and Matthew Garber, who went on with Dotrice to play the kids in "Mary Poppins," also has a small role. But at the heart of this film is Paul Gallico's endearing fable. I think this is just a nice little film and I am not even a cat person.

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Set against the beauty of the Scottish Highlands, Paul Gallico's best-selling story of a little girl's undying love for her cat comes wonderfully to life in this classic Disney adaptation. Tragedy strikes when Mary McDhui (Karen Dotrice) finds her beloved Thomasina seriously injured. Not even her stern father, a widowed veterinarian (Patrick McGoohan), can save the pet. Their only hope lies in a mysterious "witch" and the healing power of love. Conjuring up both tears and laughter, this tender film has a magical charm that will linger long in your heart.

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