by Linda Kay
Directed by: Frank Tuttle
Synopsis: Gerald Gray (Roland Young) and Claire Mathewson (Thelma Todd) are having an affair which is disrupted when her javelin throwing husband Stephen (Cary Grant) returns home unexpectedly. To cover up their romance, Gerald hires a starving actress named Germaine (Lili Damita) (posing as another actress named Chou-Chou) to pose as his wife on a trip to Venice. Of course hilarity and misunderstandings ensue.
Kitty Cameo: Upon arriving at the hotel in Venice, Gerald and Chou-Chou take separate rooms. Gerald places his shoes to be polished outside Chou-Chou’s door to keep up appearances but she misinterprets his intentions. They angrily slam the doors to their rooms and in one of those delightfully strange pre-Code bits several items are shown shaking: the chandeleir, some flowers and a little statue. Then a tabby and white cat runs across a piano keyboard, followed by a dog.
The cat then hisses at the dog from atop a table. The dog innocently stands wagging his tail which thumps against a large vase. And that’s it! Just a silly little insert to represent the tension between the two human characters.
Final Mewsings: Sometimes it’s the cats and dogs who act like feuding couples, not vice versa.
Many thanks to Wahrhaftig for letting us know about the cat in this film.
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