What is a Catguffin? Which type of cat would be more likely to rip your throat out in a movie – a Catzilla or a Pussilla? What is the difference between a Catagonist and a Heropuss? And what exactly was Jones the cat getting up to while the crew of the Nostromo were trying not to get killed by the xenomorph in Alien?
All these questions and many others are answered in CATS ON FILM, the definitive work of feline film scholarship, in which critic and novelist Anne Billson explores the narrative functions of cats in one hundred films, and incidentally shows how they are much more varied and interesting than the narrative functions of dogs.
Read about the true nature of Harry Lime’s relationship to the kitten in The Third Man, and why the film should perhaps have been retitled The Third Cat. Find out which are the most upsetting Catrifices in the movies, and learn how the White Cat of Evil launched his career as Blofeld’s lapcat in the James Bond franchise.
Read more about your favourite cats from the CATS ON FILM blog, and meet a clowder of newcomers, such as cosseted Bleecker from Gone Girl, nomadic Ulysses from Inside Llewyn Davis, and heroic Binx from Hocus Pocus. Read about lots of cats you already know… and discover a few you might not have heard of!
CATS ON FILM. No cat-loving film fan can afford to be without it.
Now available in mobi (kindle), epub and PDF formats from smashwords.
Now available from amazon.co.uk
Now available from amazon.com.au
The paperback print edition of CATS ON FILM, with more photos (but also more expensive – sorry!), is now available from all the amazons.
STOP PRESS!
CATS ON FILM: THE BUDGET PAPERBACK
STOP PRESS! Because the paperback was so expensive (even with my royalties shaved down to almost nothing), I made a special budget paperback version of CATS ON FILM, the difference being that all the pictures are in black and white instead of colour. This took some time to prepare, as every colour picture had to be adjusted so it didn’t come out sludgy grey. But I think the results repay the time and care I spent on it.
You can buy the budget paperback of CATS ON FILM from amazon.co.uk
or from amazon.com
or indeed from any of the other amazons around the world. Or – since amazon is evil – you can order it from your local bookshop, or library.
PRAISE FOR CATS ON FILM
“possibly the greatest book ever”
“great insights & erudite movie snark”
“fantastic… the perfect book for cat lovers”
“purr-fectly done… includes My Day by Jones aka Alien from the cat’s PoV. Fun!”
“Just as it is impossible not to see a cat and not want to stroke it it is impossible to pick this book up and not read it from cover to cover”
“A brilliant book”
CATS ON FILM 
Possibly the most important publishing event of this decade…
haha! Thank you. I like to think so (but then I’m biased…)
Here’s one for the blog – I think it’s called ‘Meow’, about a giant alien cat warrior from space landing on a crazy Japanese family – looks unmissable. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3SBH22AhU
I expect you’re aware of this book – Alien retold from the point of view of Jonesy, in cartoon form…https://forbiddenplanet.com/249210-jonesy-nine-live-on-the-nostromo-hardcover/
Wow, no, I wasn’t aware of it at all. I hope it’s not ripping me off. Thanks for the heads up!
This is an awesome find..And, I found you after wondering how the Star Trek show Assignment Earth was able to ‘train’ a cat. So I searched online for the answer. Isis the beautiful black cat is actually played by 3 cats. Main one was named Sambo. Anyways,I love the book I just got a kindle version.
Excellent! Thank you so much. Hope you enjoy it!
I wasn’t sure if you caught this vid?
I hadn’t seen that. Thanks!