Zebra in the Kitchen (1965)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Fantastic!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Gravel-voiced zoo-keeper Andy Devine (as Branch Hawksbill) tells the heart-warming tale of young Jay North (as Christopher "Chris" Carlyle) and his mountain lion. "Sunshine" is an outside pet, which works out well because young North lives with his mom and dad on a farm. But that's about to change. After his father suffers an unseen mishap, the family must move to the city. North secretly brings the lion along. Sunshine startles the neighbors and must be sent to live at the local zoo. North is devastated. He is allowed in Sunshine's cage and gets the distressed feline to eat. A natural with animals, North gets a summer job as junior zoo keeper. He feels his pet and the other animals are in something like a "jail" and longs to set them free..."Zebra in the Kitchen" is confusingly titled. You're expecting it to be about a pet zebra. That animal is barely seen. The title is just the first line of song played over the opening credits, written by Hal Hopper (North's uncle and a show business veteran) and sung by The Standells...North is freshly free of his series "Dennis the Menace". He's got a different shade of hair color and successful sheds many of the TV character's quirky mannerisms. Producer-director Ivan Tors did much better with this fare on TV, with animal and kid adventure shows. So did earnest zoo manager Martin Milner (as Del Hartwood), herein between "Route 66" and "Adam-12". Best of the cameos is seeing Eddie Quillan enjoy watching Laurel and Hardy on TV, in the old film "Hollywood Party" (1934). Mr. Quillan was in that original movie, and his "I've Had My Moments" song and dance upstaged most, if not all, of his co-stars.***** Zebra in the Kitchen (6/65) Ivan Tors ~ Jay North, Andy Devine, Martin Milner, Jim Davis

This very lousy movie does have two redeeming features: Martin Milner gives a sincere performance and anchors the whole thing. Without him, the film wouldn't even hold together. Also, any film from those days with the wonderful Andy Devine should be watched by kids and adults alike because he is an adorable delight.However, the ridiculous totally overwhelms the redeeming qualities for me. For example, right at the start you have a mountain lion supposedly liking corn on the cob. It is never shown actually eating any, only playing with it. This is because it cannot and would not eat that, as its body requires red meat to survive.Highly dangerous animals are shown on the streets being treated in a cavalier manner by the public. These animals are frightening and some would kill the public if disturbed or provoked. Only the bad old police seem to take them seriously. Of course, the fact that each policeman has sworn an oath to protect the public never gets any consideration.Jay North's character appears at times just plain crazy. Watch carefully, you will see that this character is as one-dimensional as any ever written for the screen. Just the look on North's face is at times wacko as he commits numerous irrational acts. Its almost as if his character, rather than being the star, is solely there to do certain specific things over and over throughout the movie. He's not allowed to be a kid, never playing or going to school. Just a relentless tool of the script. Certainly children viewing this might bond with the animals, but I don't see how they could possibly bond at all with the non-kid character portrayed by North. Too bad for Jay North, its not his fault.Despite the nice filming in the beautiful California sunshine, this is very badly written and conceived. If you were expecting something like "Flipper" forget it- that kind of entertainment is not what this relentless movie is about.

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.

This is the first movie I ever saw in a theatre (with my brother and cousins). I was about five or six years old, and I remember laughing 'til I cried. I went home and told Mom all about the funniest moments. Also, that huge screen up there, glowing bright and the people so big: it was all magical! Nowadays, I see this movie on the video store shelf and I refuse to rent it: apparently this movie is not very good, and I don't want the realization of its mediocrity to obliterate my magical childhood memory. We need to keep those memories intact: we retain them as little nuggets of magic, optimism and fun in our jaded adult hearts. If this wasn't YOUR first movie, rent it for your kids today (though I'd rather they see it on the big screen, of course!).