Warner Bros.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida
Directed by: Carol Reed
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster) is a crippled trapeze artist who comes out of retirement to help a young up-and-comer named Tino Orsini (Tony Curtis) learn his skills but a woman named Lola (Gina Lollobrigida) breaks into their act and threatens to ruin everything.
Purr Blurs: After failing to seduce Mike, Lola turns her attention to Tino. As they are walking out of the circus tent a grey cat is seen sleeping in the foreground while a group of mice run around the circus ring. This is probably meant to be symbolic of Mike’s being unaware of Lola finding a new target.
The cat seems strangely unreal, almost looking like a statue. It’s possible since the cat needed to be asleep throughout the scene that they may have used a fake cat instead?
Later Lola and Mike have an intense discussion. Lola walks away down a dark street. A tuxedo cat can just be seen in the background running away.
Final Mewsings: Fake cats are no substitute for the real thing!
Many thanks to Ted Davis for spotting the quick tuxedo cat for us!
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