The Fox and the Cat (Italian: Il gatto e la volpe) are a pair of fictional characters who appear as the most recurring antagonists in Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio). Both are depicted as con-men, who lead Pinocchio astray and unsuccessfully attempt to murder him. The pair pretend to sport disabilities; the Fox lameness and the Cat blindness. The Fox is depicted as the more intelligent of the two, with the Cat usually limiting itself to repeating Fox's words. The Fox and The Cat served as Pinocchio's archenemies.
Biography[]
Pinocchio encounters the two after leaving Mangiafuoco's theatre with five gold coins. The Fox claims to know Pinocchio's father Mister Geppetto and proposes to Pinocchio to come with them to the Land of Barn Owls (Paese dei Barbagianni) and thence to a 'Field of Miracles' (Il campo dei Miracoli) where coins can be grown into a money tree. When Pinocchio hesitates, stating his obligation to attend school, the pair claim that their disabilities were due to their eagerness to study. A white blackbird attempts to warn Pinocchio of their lies but is eaten by the Cat. The pair lead Pinocchio to the Red Prawn Inn (Osteria del Gambero Rosso), where they eat a large meal and ask to be awoken at midnight. Two hours before the set time, the pair abandon Pinocchio leaving him to pay for the meal with one of his coins. They instruct the innkeeper to tell Pinocchio that they left after receiving a message stating that the Cat's eldest kitten had fallen ill and that they would meet Pinocchio at the Field of Miracles in the morning. When Pinocchio leaves the inn, the two attack him while disguised as murderers. Pinocchio hides the coins in his mouth and in the ensuing struggle, Pinocchio bites off the Cat's paw. He is then pursued by the murderers. Pinocchio runs to a house. Upon knocking on the door, Pinocchio is greeted by a young fairy with turquoise hair who says she is dead and waiting for a hearse. Unfortunately, the Fox and Cat catch him and hang him from a tree to force him to disgorge the coins.
Pinocchio is saved by The Fairy with Turquoise Hair and encounters the pair again unaware that they are the murderers that hung him. The Fox invents a story to explain the Cat's missing paw, stating that he had sacrificed it to feed a starving wolf. The Fox further adds that they must go to the Field without further delay, as a Lord has bought it and would soon make it off-limits to the public. The Pair takes Pinocchio to the town of Catchfools (Acchiappa Citrulli), which is inhabited by many emaciated and starving animals who made bad choices in their past. Pinocchio is taken to the Field, where the coins are soon buried. After telling Pinocchio to leave for a few minutes to allow the money tree time to grow, the pair dig up the coins and run away.
By the end of the book, the pair has become impoverished with the Fox being lame for real and even losing his tail for he had to sell it because they were so poor and the Cat really being blind. They plead for food or money but are rebuffed by Pinocchio saying it serves them right for their wickedness.
Adaptations[]
Disney[]
In the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio, the Fox and the Cat are given the names "Honest" John Worthington Foulfellow (voiced by Walter Catlett) and Gideon (whose three hiccups in the film were provided by Mel Blanc). The pair differ from their original counterparts in the Collodi novel in a number of ways, in that they do not feign disability, and it is they who tempt Pinocchio to go to Mangiafuoco's theater (named Stromboli in the film) and coax him to Pleasure Island upon being hired by The Coachman. The Cat is portrayed as completely mute but has three hiccups as his only line in the film. Though portrayed as scoundrels, they never got as far as attempting to murder Pinocchio. The subplot of the Field of Miracles is absent, and the villains' ultimate fate is never revealed on-screen except in a deleted scene where they meet Pinocchio again in some way and are arrested by the Police, which could also be deduced and implied by the viewers, also due to the fact that Geppetto finds out that Pinocchio is on Pleasure Island at some point of the story and Honest John and Gideon were the ones who knew that. Foulfellow is portrayed somewhat as a bombastic ham actor, whereas Gideon's mannerisms resemble those of Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers and of Dopey from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the title character as the circus elephant Dumbo.
In the 2022 live-action remake, Honest John was voiced by Keegan Michael Key, while Gideon was mostly silent throughout.
Un Burattino di nome Pinocchio[]
In Guilanio Cenci's 1972 animated film adaptation, The Fox and the Cat (voiced by Sergio Tedesco and Manlio De Angelis) follow the characterisation shown in the book, only the fox is said to be a wolf in this adaptation. They meet Pinocchio, pretending to be lame and blind respectively, and lure him into the Field Of Miracles and The Red Prawn Inn. As in the book, the Wolf is the more articulate of the two and the pair attempt to murder Pinocchio for his coins in guise of assassins [though the Cat is not crippled by Pinocchio as in the book]. At the end of the film, the two are impoverished.
Pinocchio (1992)[]
In this version, the Fox is replaced into a Wolf but the Cat remains. Their villainy was downplayed a bit: they do not try to kill Pinocchio unlike their book counterparts, they just want to steal it. They do not disguise as assassins, but as trees and never rely on violence (the Cat never loses a paw as a consequence). They still trick Pinocchio to put the coins in the Field of Wishes and steal the coins. At the ending, Pinocchio sees that they are being driven to prison. When they see him, they try to appeal to him. Thinking he will be naive enough to call them good friends, they tell him to be truthful and Pinocchio tells the driving policeman that they took his money.
Pinocchio does not have any grudge against them, unlike the book.
The Adventures of Pinocchio films[]
The Adventures of Pinocchio[]
In Steve Barrons 1996 live-action film The Adventures of Pinocchio, the Fox and the Cat (portrayed by Rob Schneider and Bebe Neuwirth) are named Volpe ('Fox' in Italian) and Felinet, and are portrayed as human thieves in league with the evil Mangiafuoco (named Lorenzini in this adaptation). In a reversal of roles, Felinet the "Cat" is a female and takes on the more dominant and assertive role while Volpe the "Fox" is shown as a bungling sidekick. They first appear where they have their first encounter with Pinocchio. Geppetto arrives and takes Pinocchio away while telling Volpe and Felinet that Pinocchio will play with his own sort. They inform Lorenzini of Pinocchio as he plans to obtain him. Volpe and Felinet later witness Pinocchio causing mischievous havoc in the bakery even when the police arrive. As in the novel, the pair attempt to trick Pinocchio into giving up his coins by taking him to the Field of Miracles (depicted to be near a monastery and not near Catchfools) and having him bury it. After Pinocchio leaves, Volpe and Felinet dig up the coins and leaven. Also like the book, they are dealt with poetic justice at the film's conclusion. Though rather than becoming impoverished, they are tricked by Pinocchio into drinking cursed water from Terra Magica (which Pinocchio claimed will turn any white rock they hold into gold) which transforms them into a real fox and cat. They were last seen watching Pinocchio in town as they are shown to have been captured by a farmer. When Volpe asks "Don't you just hate that kid," Felinet quotes "Not as much as I hate you."
The New Adventures of Pinocchio[]
Volpe and Felinet (played by Simon Schatzberger and Sarah Alexander) are shown to be owned by a circus that is run by Lorenzini's widowed wife Madame Flambeau. Here, they are shown to have been made anthropomorphic than appearing in full animal form like the last movie (though the faces of the actors are applied with makeup to make their faces look like their respectful animal forms). They still blame Pinocchio for pulling the trick on them that "gave them their fur coats."
Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio[]
In the 2002 film Pinocchio, the Fox and the Cat (played by Bruno Arena and Max Cavallari with their English-dubbed voices done by Cheech Marin and Eddie Griffin) are portrayed almost exactly as in the book and like the 1996 film, are humans instead of animals. The only exception is that, like the Disney film, they are not shown getting a comeuppance for their misdeeds nor they imply to get any off-screen unlike the Walt Disney's version.
Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio[]
- Main article: The Fox & the Cat (2019)
In the 2019 adaptation of Pinocchio, the Fox and the Cat are played by Massimo Ceccherini and Rocco Papaleo respectively, with their English dubbing for the 2020 release in America and the U.K. being provided by Luigi Scribani and Vladimiro Conti. These versions of the Fox and the Cat are rather unique as they are humans but do have some animal characteristics. They do not deviate much from their portrayal in the book, but one of the differences is that they meet Pinocchio in a field rather than in town. At the end of the movie, they receive the same penalty as their book counterparts, only the Fox notably has his left foot cut off.
Pinocchio: A True Story[]
- Main article: The Fox and the Cat (Pinocchio: A True Story)
In the 2022 Russian computer-animated film Pinocchio: A Tue Story, the Fox and the Cat were voiced by Alexander Gavrilin and Diomid Vinogradov respectively, with their English dubbing roles by Lionsgate being provided by Stephan Thomas Ochsner and Andrei Kurganov. In this film's retelling of the Pinocchio formula, the Fox and the Cat serve as Modjafocco's minions in his circus.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio[]
The Fox and Cat appear in Guillermo Del Toro's 2022 stop-motion dark fantasy film adaptation of the story. They are both voiced by Christoph Waltz, who also played Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet, Cardinal Richelieu in the 2011 film adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Mandrake in Epic, Bert Hanson in Horrible Bosses 2, Walter Keane in Big Eyes, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre and No Time To Die, August Rosenbluth in Water For Elephants, Miles Sellars in Most Dangerous Game, and Léon Rom in The Legend of Tarzan.
External Links[]
- The Fox & the Cat on the Wikipedia
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 Villains
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