Would be shut down now a days.

If someone made a film like this now a days, featuring real animals, it'd be shut down. It is OBVIOUS that the cats were subjected to abuse just for the making of this film.

The scene where the cat is limping? How do you reckon the cat got that limp?

And the cliff scene. It is clear that they intentionally threw the cat off the cliff. For one, right before it 'falls' the cat is running in the opposite direction. Also, the gap between the cat and the cliff when it is 'falling' is quite wide. They deliberately threw it off the cliff, and then continued to watch it struggle trying to get out of the water.