Mousey

Last updated

Mousey
Directed by Daniel Petrie
Written byJohn Peacock
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Jack Hildyard
Edited byJohn Trumper
Music by Ron Grainer
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • March 9, 1974 (1974-03-09)(US)
Running time
89 minutes [1]
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Mousey (released as Cat and Mouse in cinemas and on UK television) [2] is a 1974 Canadian thriller film directed by Daniel Petrie, [3] and starring Kirk Douglas, Jean Seberg, and John Vernon. [4]

Contents

Although produced for television, the film was released theatrically outside Canada and the United States. In London, it was shown as part of a double feature with Craze . [5] [6]

Plot

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, biology teacher George Anderson (Douglas) is nicknamed "Mousey" by his students after he fails to dissect a frog. When he learns that his pregnant wife (Seberg) is carrying another man's child, he follows her to Montreal, where he intends to kill both her and her lover. [7] [8] [1]

Cast

Production

Mousey was filmed on location in Montreal, Canada and at Pinewood Studios in England. Filming commenced in November 1973. [6]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Steven H. Scheuer called it "complicated and not very interesting", [9] and the Los Angeles Times wrote that it "seems to have been doomed from the start". [8]

Leonard Maltin reviewed the film more favourably, calling it "tightly made" and praising Douglas as "wonderfully sinister". [10] Amis du film described it as a "good 'suspense' film", though noted a lack of originality in its plot. [11] The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a thriller with some pretensions to psychological depth". [1]

Legacy

Mousey has been re-aired on television and released on VHS, with several film blogs noting a developing cult following. [12] [13]

References

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 Raisbeck, John (1 January 1974). "Cat and Mouse". Monthly Film Bulletin . Vol. 41, no. 480. London. p. 122.
  2. Coates-Smith & McGee 2014 , p. 184
  3. Roberts, Jerry (5 June 2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 444. ISBN   978-0-8108-6378-1.
  4. Lentz III, Harris M. (24 October 2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2005. McFarland & Company. p. 378. ISBN   978-0-7864-5210-1.
  5. Allon, Yoram; Cullen, Del; Patterson, Hannah (2000). The Wallflower Critical Guide to Contemporary North American Directors. Wallflower. p. 355. ISBN   978-1-903364-10-9.
  6. 1 2 Coates-Smith & McGee 2014 , p. 186
  7. Thomas, Tony (1991). The Films of Kirk Douglas. Citadel Press. p. 283. ISBN   978-0-8065-1217-4.
  8. 1 2 Thomas, Kevin (9 March 1974). "Kirk at the Breaking Point in 'Mousey'". Los Angeles Times . p. B3.
  9. Scheuer, Steven H. (1977). Movies on TV . Bantam Books. p. 487. ISBN   978-0-553-11451-5.
  10. Maltin, Leonard (1989). Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide . p. 742.
  11. Coates-Smith & McGee 2014 , p. 185
  12. "The Tie That Binds – Rediscovering 'Mousey' (US/UK 1974–86 mins)". Tina Aumont's Eyes. 26 January 2015.
  13. "Cat and Mouse (1974)". Ninja Dixon. 10 August 2011.
Bibliography