The Private Life of a Cat
About The Private Life of a Cat
Shot at the height of a cat's eye, the film watches a white male, called He, groom a fluffier female, called She. They choose a place for a family. She gives birth without human hands. The kittens nurse, learn to walk, and claw the furniture in the apartment. The film closes on the same courting shot it opened with.
Cast & crew
More about The Private Life of a Cat
Alexander Hammid directed this silent black-and-white study. Maya Deren is credited with the narration. The picture itself uses English intertitles and no spoken dialogue. Wikipedia dates a release to 1947 and gives 22 minutes. The file year stays 1944, the date used by some accounts of the shooting. The apartment is Hammid and Deren's. The birth is shown on camera.
Themes
Making
Hammid and Deren filmed their own cats in the apartment, including the labor.
Look
Hammid kept the camera at the cats' eye line through the birth and the kittens' first walks.
Notes
- The camera stays at cat height. People do not appear.
- The birth is filmed without anyone helping the mother.
- A Wikipedia file of the picture runs 21 minutes and 57 seconds.
- Archive.org describes it as an intimate study of a female cat and her litter.
Scenes
- She gives birth on camera.
- The closing shot repeats the opening courtship.
