A Tiger Walks

Escaped tiger causes friction in a small town between the sheriff, his bleeding-heart daughter, the police department and the politicians. Well-realized film has a strong, focused script and excellent-as-usual work from sturdy Brian Keith as the sheriff. Good entertainment for adults and older children.

A whole lot of very familiar movie faces will be found in the Disney film A Tiger Walks. This is the story of the events during an evening and morning when a tiger with a traveling zoo is let loose by his very stupid and cruel handler Theo Marcuse. Rajah the tiger gets loose and causes a whole lot of havoc and becomes quite a political football with the local sheriff Brian Keith in one political party and the governor Edward Andrews in another with Andrews trying a little one upsmanship by calling in the state national guard on a tiger hunt.

Keith is a very sensible man whose own daughter Pamela Franklin has taken to championing the tiger's cause and its right to live. In that she's showing a whole lot more compassion than most of the grownups in the film. After all no one asked the tiger whether he wanted to be taken out of his jungle environment. Keith is also concerned that there is a fog at night which makes hunting impossible and that too many people will just make the tiger move into a nearby thickly wooded area from where it will be almost impossible to take him dead or alive.

Some of Franklin's indiscreet remarks to a television reporter puts Keith in the hot seat as if he doesn't have enough problems. But she starts by accident a money drive to save Rajah and put him in a zoo along with his family as he has mated and has a pair cub offspring.

Seeing a lot of familiar faces makes Disney films such a pleasure to watch. A whole lot of these people were finding less and less employment on the big screen. One of the funniest is Una Merkel owner of a small motel who is loving all this attention the town is getting as she's making visitors and town folks pay dear for those rooms.

Andrews is one slippery politician, he's even got his political operative Jack Albertson in charge of the hunt. In that Disney Studios was remarkably ahead of its time.

Two farewells mark this film. Kevin Corcoran who was now a big teen and no longer playing his Moochie character marked the end of his Disney association. Watching him years later in Disney products I can't believe how annoying he was though not so in this film. Secondly this was the farewell picture for Sabu who plays the tiger's other handler who is really the only one who knows what he's doing and only Brian Keith is listening to him with a little persuasion from Franklin and wife Vera Miles.

A Tiger Walks holds up well as good family entertainment with some interesting social commentary as well.

A tiger on the way to a circus escapes in a small town. Certain elements seem ahead of their time, particularly the animal rights message conveyed by the town's children, who want the tiger safely captured and put in a wildlife preserve instead of a tiny circus cage. Another element seemed ahead of its time: showing the governor overriding his better judgment due to the political pressure of his advisors. He's not portrayed as a buffoon, just a typical compromised politician. These shades of gray are more common in modern films, but they seem somewhat prescient for a kids' film from the early '60s. Where the film fails is in its casting. Brian Keith plays the sheriff with a seething anger and gruffness that's totally out of place (in other words, a typical Brian Keith effort - did that man ever give a likeable performance?). A few times I even thought he was about to smack his child. Another case of bad casting is British child actress Pamela Franklin as Keith's daughter. What were they thinking? Her unsuccessful attempt to cover up the accent only seems to mute her performance, making her stiff and unconvincing. Tv fans and trivia buffs may enjoy seeing such familiar faces as Edward Andrews, Arthur Hunnicutt, Doodles Weaver, and Sabu (in his last screen appearance).

'A Tiger Walks' is a good film.

The premise isn't the most incredible but it's certainly one that keeps you watching, I feel they manage the human side of the story well though could've had more scenes with the tiger itself. I particularly enjoyed the ending.

Brian Keith leads a satisfying cast, portraying the role of Sheriff Pete. At this point, I've seen four other Disney films with Keith and even though they've been a tad hit-and-miss he always tends to be the best actor onscreen - and that's no different here. There's not much to note about his co-stars, to be honest.

It's pleasing to see, for once, that the studio has an animal production with a positive message towards them. Admittedly, you could still question the care of the tiger across the duration of the film itself.

All in all, a solid start to 1964 for Disney's live-action releases.

This film had many elements in it that Disney installed in several of their films during this time period. The politician who is a joke, In this case the Governor. The military that can think only one way, use force to solve the problem! The Sheriff who is level headed but nonetheless is a puppet on a string, The local kids who manage to save the day with more common sense than the adults, The comical locals in the town. Despite all these elements this movie works and is entertaining. It's a little on the tame side by today's standards but still holds up well.