Zebra in the Kitchen

I enjoyed this film very much. Jay North does a fine job as a child who has raised a mountain lion from birth but because he has to move with this family to the city, the mountain lion has to be put in a zoo that is poorly funded and with tiny cages. As a result, Jay North's character frees all the animals there 45 minutes into the film. The middle part then is more comedic as the animals enjoy their time away from the cages. Longtime character actor Andy Levine and Martin Milner are wonderful in their roles as the zoo caretaker and zoo director, respectively. Now zoos are more animal-friendly but when this film was made, many zoos were like jails with cramped cages and the rights of animals was an afterthought in zoos. This film enlightens the public in that regard and does so in an entertaining and heartfelt way.

Has some fleeting interest for cast trivia buffs: Robert Lowery looking rather handsome and Clark Gable-ish in his one scene as a big game hunter; Jon Lormer in his customary role as the judge; Percy Helton, Tris Coffin, Vince Barnett…

Of course the film is actually designed to appeal mainly to those juveniles who love animal antics. Alas, for all its wealth of animalia, it's shot in an extremely pedestrian style. Not only is every jest and gag situation milked thoroughly dry, but the obvious plot is unraveled at the pace of a tortoise. In addition, Tors employs a relentlessly close-up after close-up, television method of shooting and even falls back on such jaded devices as speeded-up action. There's even a long storyboard introduction with the words of the hokey title song displayed for our edification.

Unflatteringly photographed Martin Miller makes a rather wet hero. The girls don't impress either, while Andy Devine looks far too old even for a sinecure job as head keeper at the zoo. His fans, however, will be glad to find he has a major role, not a fleeting part or a cameo. Young Jay North registers mildly and occasionally even manages to surmount the impossible script.

Production values are firmly on the el cheapo side. As well as a bit of stock footage, Tors even treats us to a generous excerpt of Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in their famous encounter with Lupe Velez in "Hollywood Party". This turns out to be the funniest scene in the whole movie!

It seems like this film was trying to duplicate Walt Disney's success and magic with animal and wildlife based films in which there is some interaction with humans. The problem is Walt Disney had Winston Hibler and MGM did not.

The tedium begins with the opening credits and opening song. In spite of that British invasion mid 60s rocking sound, it is repetitious and tiresome. So the story is about a kid (Jay North, whose acting career is on its last prepubescent legs) who is friends with a mountain lion, Sunshine, that lives near his ranch. But his dad's illness requires that he do less strenuous work and move to the city, so the family leaves the ranch and thus the mountain lion behind. Except they don't, because the kid hides the lion away in the back of their truck. What happens to Sunshine once the family gets to the destination comprises the rest of the film.

So it's no secret that at one point, the animals in the local zoo get loose. In fact that happens at the film's midpoint and is stretched out so long it is boring, and yet it is a great example of bad filmmaking. This movie was obviously made on a budget, and though the scenes of the mountain lion are well shot, there didn't appear to be enough money to shoot the other animals properly. So you have shots of animals in extreme close-up, other animals that are obviously stock footage, and a few animals that are humans in animal suits. You can practically see the zippers. The crowds of people fleeing the zoo animals are shown in sped up action. That hasn't been funny since the silent era and the Keystone Cops.

Then there is director Ivan Tors doing some shameless plugging for his other movie - "Clarence The Cross-Eyed Lion" by having Andy Devine say "I'll be a cross-eyed lion" without any context and also having actor Marshall Thompson make a cameo appearance. For legal procedure it is odd too. It is the first time I ever saw a defendant plead from the witness chair, and have a judge basically just go "Aw shucks!" when confronted by obvious perjury. Too boring for kids and too inane for adults, I'd simply avoid this one.

Ivan Tors, who brought "Flipper" to movie (and later television) screens, tried his luck again with this animal-based comedy-drama starring Jay North, from TV's "Dennis the Menace". Framed in flashback for no apparent reason (other than to pad the reedy-thin narrative with exposition), story concerns a domesticated Puma mountain lion and his unhappy preteen owner, who is forced to give his pet to the local zoo after his parents relocate them from the sticks to the city. Nothing in this movie feels accurate: the boy's father lost the family homestead because he was apparently hurt, but there seems nothing wrong with sturdy Jim Davis in the part; the zoo appears to be in mountain terrain (away from the town) and is described for us as "shabby" and "pitiful" when, actually, it seems well-staffed and very clean; also, the youngster is taken in quite readily by the friendly zookeepers as an assistant, yet he treats this job indifferently (while scheming to betray everybody and free the Puma). North, a competent child actor, isn't allowed much mischief beyond stealing Andy Devine's cage-keys, and is kept petulant and scowling. The extraneous shots of animals eating or pacing their cages are dropped in sloppily (much of the time, they're not even reacting to anything, so there's no humor in their presence), while the quasi-slapstick finale--with zoo animals finding their way into homes, as well as the local ice cream shop--lays a big egg. *1/2 from ****

Ivan Tors (creator of TV's "Seahunt," "Flipper," Gentle Ben," and "Daktari") produced and directed this effective family comedy. With a low budget, creative editing, a cast that included "Dennis the Menace's" Jay North and "Adam 12's" Martin Milner, and a Hollywood Animal Farm assortment of animals, Ivan Tors is able to create slap stick and a message out of a story about a boy (Jay North) and his pet cougar. When the boy's family must move to the city, his pet cougar is placed in the city zoo, a run-down out-dated collection of cages maintained by zookeeper Chill Wills and Zoo Vet Martin Milner. Soon North ends up working for the zoo, but unhappy with the way the animals are caged up, releases the animals onto the city. The animals really aren't very dangerous and cause a lot of mischief in people's backyards, houses, and shops. Watch for Marshall Thompson ("Daktari," "Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion") in a cameo.