Slight correction: there is no Spring Solstice (solstice means “sun standing still”, i.e., its apparent North/South motion pauses when directly over the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn). Spring begins on the day of the Vernal Equinox.
Years ago, a movie reviewer on a Philadelphia TV station would rate movies by the number of bells (Liberty bell) he gave it. If the film was a real dud, it got the No Bell Prize.
I don’t think Rat could be described as a “friend” – just as someone marginally less inclined to hit Goat with a baseball bat (not that it hasn’t ever happened).
Though it took a bit of getting used to Edmund Gwenn as a scientist after seeing him as Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street . (Although he played an assassin in the even earlier Foreign Corresponent .)
And if there’s no shadow, they draw one with a Sharpie.