OBSCURITIES FROM THE DISNEY VAULT #2: "THE MOON-SPINNERS", OR DIET HITCHCOCK JR.

by Taylor Zaccario 

Remember that Disney movie? The one with the woman who owned a pet cheetah? 

Well, here it is. Another artifact excavated from the nether regions of the Disney Vault, available on Disney+. A Hitchcock-esque adventure-thriller for the teenybopper generation. The Moon-Spinners featured one of Walt’s most popular finds: actress Hayley Mills. 

Mills made her screen debut at age 12 in the film Tiger Bay, featuring alongside her father, Sir John Mills. The elder Mills starred in the Disney production of Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Disney chose the younger Mills to play the title role in Pollyanna (1960), for which she earned a special Juvenile Oscar Award. Mills would go on to star in 5 more Disney-produced films. Arguably, her most famous part — well, parts — were as two identical sisters in the original The Parent Trap (1961).

By 1964, Mills was now 18. Unlike many child stars making the transition into adulthood, she got the opportunity to play a character her own age in Disney’s adaptation of Mary Stewart’s novel, The Moon-Spinners. Mills plays Nikky Ferris, a young tourist traveling through Crete. She meets a dashing young Englishman named Mark Camford (Patrick McEnery), whose been framed for a jewel robbery in London. Mark came to the island to locate the stolen jewels and expose the real thief (Eli Wallach). Romance, double-crosses, mistaken identifies, spying, sleuthing, gunfire and a boat chase all ensue, culminating aboard the yacht of a millionairess (Pola Negri) who, yes, owns a pet cheetah. 

Silent screen legend Pola Negri makes her final film appearance. The script called for Negri’s character to own a pet cat. She recommended the cheetah.

This family friendly adventure has shades of a Nancy Drew mystery but also genuine menace. Wallach plays the unhinged jewel thief with such unnerving conviction that you forget he’s acting in a 60s Disney movie, an era which featured such lightweight entries as The Absent-Minded Professor and The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes. Wallach’s character is certainly no lightweight bad guy. He shoots Mark in the shoulder, threatens to murder his own nephew, locks Nikky up in a windmill, and returns later with a rifle, presumably to finish her off. (The scene in which Nikky escapes the windmill, by jumping out of the tower’s window onto the twirling rotor blades, is surprisingly effective.) 

The Moon-Spinners has all the elements of an Alfred Hitchcock story but is certainly not a Hitchcock film. Few are. However, it is a completely entertaining movie on its own level. Beautiful cinematography of Crete and Hayley Mills’s effervescent performance make this a fun way to spend two hours of your life. 

Mills would go on to star in one more film for Disney, That Darn Cat! While she continues to work in movies and television, it’s her six for Walt that she remains most remembered for. There is no better time to revisit these. Mills 

always brought a believable optimism to the roles she played. She made you feel that things will be okay in the end, despite the hardships. Even for a deep-rooted cynic like myself, I can’t watch Mills and not have a little of that optimism rub off onto me. 

Come for Hayley Mills, stay for the pet cheetah.  

Starring: Hayley Mills, Patrick McEnery, Eli Wallach, Joan Greenwood and Pola Negri. Written by Michael Dyne. Based on the book by Mary Stewart. Produced by Ron Miller, Walt Disney. Directed by James Neilson 

PS — here’s all the 6 (feature) Disney films that starred Mills: Pollyanna (1960), The Parent Trap (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Summer Magic (1963), The Moon-Spinners (1964) , and That Darn Cat! (1965).