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 he supercilious,
scheming butler Edgar is the bumbling villain of "The Aristocats," although he is not entirely unjust in his
thinking. What sense is there in leaving all that money to a bunch of pampered cats? His major crime is impatience:
If only he were prepared to wait a few years, the money would be his anyway, and, in the meantime, he would no
doubt be comfortably "employed" by the wealthy Aristocats. Moreover, even if he had succeeded in dispatching the
cats to distant parts, there would have always been the risk that Madame Bonfamille might take on another family
of cats and change her will again.
Edgar is a very British villain, and in his tailored jacket and gray-blue trousers, he is really quite genteel.
Moreover, Edgar is not a totally evil fellow. If he can lace the cats' meal with sleeping powder, he could just
as easily use a more lethal ingredient, but he doesn't. In some ways, our sympathies lie with Edgar. The fact
that he is not an out-and-out villain in the Disney tradition may have been one of the reasons why some critics
labeled the movie a blander version of "101 Dalmatians": he wouldn't last two seconds in the ring with
Cruella De Vil!
Film: "The Aristocats" (1970)
Voice Artist: Roddy Maude-Roxby.
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