''The Private Life of a Cat'' is a 1947

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Alexander Hammid Alexandr Hackenschmied, born Alexander Siegfried George Hackenschmied, known later as Alexander Hammid (17 December 1907, Linz – 26 July 2004, New York City) was a Czech-American photographer, film director, cinematographer and film edito ...

and

Maya Deren Maya Deren (born Eleonora Derenkowska, uk, Елеоно́ра Деренко́вська, links=no;

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summarizes the film as an "intimate study" of a female cat who gives birth to a litter of

kitten A kitten is a juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are totally dependent on their mothers for survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. After about two weeks, kittens develop qu ...

s and shows their maturation.

Synopsis

The film is entirely silent and shot from the cat's eye-level; "He", an all white short-haired male cat, grooms "She", a fluffier female. After two months they find a spot "for the family", and soon after the mother goes into labour. The film shows graphically the kittens being born without the help of human hands, and then getting nursed and washed by their mother. The kittens grow, and the parent cats roam freely around their owners' apartment (Hammid and Deren). The kittens learn how to walk and begin to get more active, playing with each other and clawing various furniture. The film then ends by showing the same scene from the beginning where "He" courts "She".

Reputation

Top Documentary Films rates ''The Private Life of a Cat'' 7.70/10 stars, saying that it is "very touching", and that it is " autifully photographed and executed. With subtitles, no dialog, and a refreshing absence of human beings on screen." Dangerous Minds wrote " is beautiful 1944 silent film from husband-and-wife team Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid is quite possibly the only evidence we need that cats are the ultimate well-spring of creativity."

References

External links

* * Films directed by Alexandr Hackenschmied 1940s avant-garde and experimental films 1947 films Films directed by Maya Deren American black-and-white films 1947 documentary films American documentary films 1940s American films {{experimental-film-stub