by Linda Kay

Starring: Sambo

Directed by: Ken Hughes

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Based on Hughes’ successful TV play. Sammy Lee (Anthony Newley), a second-rate emcee at a sleazy strip club, finds himself in debt to a gambling boss and in fear of retribution unless he comes up with £300 in a few hours.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Early on Sammy is in his apartment calling for Oscar. He even asks his neighbor Milly (Miriam Karlin) if she’s seen Oscar. When told Oscar is a cat, Milly reacts negatively and says that a man owning a cat is a bit “poofy”. The black cat does eventually turn up, poking his head in the window while Sammy is on the phone.

Sammy approaches the window (where some food has clearly been placed for the cat actor) and sets down the phone before stroking Oscar. He then picks up the cat and places him on the floor.

Milly comes over to talk to Sammy while Oscar is in the kitchen in the background.

Eventually Sammy gets up and spoons some more cat meat from a tin into Oscar’s dish, commenting on how all the cat wants to do when he comes home is eat. He then sets both the dish and Oscar on the floor.

Before Sammy leaves for work he says “Ta ta!” to Oscar.

Later Sammy’s former sweetheart Patsy (Julia Foster), who has had a very bad experience at the strip club and has gone to Sammy’s apartment, is sleeping on his bed with Oscar beside her.

Sammy enters and sits next to Oscar, petting him before setting the cat on the floor. Oscar is not seen again.

Behind the Scenes

The black cat actor named Sambo was trained by John Holmes and also reportedly co-starred in the British film Term of Trial as well as other films. This story ran in the Blue Island Sun Standard (Illinois) on March 5, 1964 about the lucky cat (with the historically unfortunate name):

Life’s Purr-fect For This Actor

    Life’s just purr-fect for one of the actors in the Seven Arts Bryanston production, “The Small World of Sammy Lee,” which opens tomorrow at the Lyric. In fact, this is his fourth film within the past year.
    Yet 13 months ago it looked as if he was going to be very unlucky indeed, for black cat Sambo had been taken to a vet’s to be destroyed. Instead the vet decided to find a home for the cat, and the home happened to be with John Holmes who runs the Formakin Animal Center at Oxford, England. Mr. Holmes’ business is supplying animals for parts in pictures.
    Sambo took to films like a professional, and at least one artist thinks he is spreading his luck around.
    She’s Julia Foster. She worked with Sambo in the film “Term of Trial” and that picture led to her starring role opposite Anthony Newley in “The Small World of Sammy Lee.” Sambo (they call him Oscar in the picture) was waiting to greet her on the set.

Final Mewsings: Men who own cats are awesome, no matter how many other bad life decisions they might make.

Many thanks to Mark Murton for letting us know about the cat in this film.

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