The Robber Kitten
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Robber Kitten
| image = The Robber Kitten.png
| alt =
| caption =
| director = David Hand
| producer = Walt Disney
| story = Bill Cottrell
| narrator =
| starring = Shirley Reed{{cite web|title=Walt Disney's "The Robber Kitten" (1935)|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/walt-disneys-the-robber-kitten-1935/|website=cartoonresearch.com|access-date=19 December 2020}}
Billy Bletcher
Clarence Nash
Elvia Allman{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Keith |title=Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2 |date=3 October 2022 |publisher=BearManor Media |page=517 |language=en}}
| music = Frank Churchill
| animator = Bob Wickersham
Marvin Woodward
Hardie Gramatky
Hamilton Luske
Bill Roberts
| layout_artist =
| background_artist =
| studio = Walt Disney Productions
| distributor = United Artists Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1935|04|20}}
| color_process = Technicolor
| runtime = 7:48
| country =
| language = English
}}
The Robber Kitten is a 1935 Walt Disney Silly Symphonies cartoon, directed by David Hand.{{cite book |last1=Merritt |first1=Russell |last2=Kaufman |first2=J. B. |year=2016 |title=Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series |location=Glendale, CA |edition=2nd |publisher=Disney Editions |pages=158–159 |isbn=978-1-4847-5132-9}} The short is based on a story of the same name written by Robert Michael Ballantyne with the pseudonym Comus.{{Cite web |title=Walt Disney’s “The Robber Kitten” (1935) {{!}} |url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/walt-disneys-the-robber-kitten-1935/ |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=cartoonresearch.com}}
Plot
A kitten named Ambrose is dreaming about running away and becoming a robber. Calling himself "Butch" at the beginning of the cartoon, he is seen play–acting a stagecoach robbery, which is interrupted by his mother calling for him to take a bath. Not wanting to take a bath in the first place, Ambrose runs away and becomes a robber, first stealing a bag of cookies. His first target turns out to be an actual robber: Dirty Bill the bulldog. Dirty Bill asks Ambrose if he has pulled off any robberies lately, and Ambrose tells him, "Just this morning, I held up a stagecoach." Then Dirty Bill asks Ambrose where his loot is, so Ambrose shows Dirty Bill the bag of cookies. Imagining that the bag is full of gold, Dirty Bill demands it and threatens Ambrose. Scared, Ambrose runs home and jumps into his bathtub, acting as if nothing else has happened.
Comic adaptation
The cartoon short was adapted in a Silly Symphony comic strip sequence by Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro, which ran from February 24 to April 21, 1935. The storyline was titled "The Adventures of Ambrose the Robber Kitten".{{cite book |last1=Duvall |first1=Earl |last2=Taliaferro |first2=Al |last3=Osborne |first3=Ted |last4=De Maris |first4=Merrill |title=Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics, vol 1 |date=2016 |publisher=IDW Publishing |location=San Diego |isbn=978-1631405587}} It was also translated and published in Austria (1938), Australia, Belgium (1952), Brazil (1979), Finland (1935), France (1935), Germany (2003), United Kingdom (1936), Italy (1935), Spain (1935), and Yugoslavia (1936).
Voice cast
- Ambrose: Shirley Reed
- Dirty Bill: Billy Bletcher
- Horse whinny, Ambrose's Tarzan yell: Clarence Nash
- Ambrose's mother: Elvia Allman
Home media
The short was released on December 4, 2001, on Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics.{{cite web |title=Silly Symphonies: The Historic Musical Animated Classics DVD Review|url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/sillysymphonies.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=20 February 2021}}
It was also released on the Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films Volume 5: Wind in the Willows DVD in 2009.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0026941|The Robber Kitten}}
- [http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=222 The Robber Kitten] at the [http://www.disneyshorts.org Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts]
{{Silly Symphonies}}
{{David Hand}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robber Kitten, the}}
Category:1930s Disney animated short films
Category:Animated films about cats
Category:Films directed by David Hand (animator)
Category:Films produced by Walt Disney
Category:Films scored by Frank Churchill
Category:American animated short films
Category:Animated films about dogs
Category:Films adapted into comics
Category:1935 animated short films
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