by Ted Davis

Original Air Date: January 11, 1970

Directed by: Robert Day

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

Synopsis: When sexually unfulfilled Marian Ord (Janet Leigh) goes missing (after leaving about seven pints of blood in her kitchen), bluntly spoken Lt. Dan August (Christopher George) of the San Luisa Police department must work through a list of murder suspects topped by her accommodating cuckold husband George (Tim O’Connor), but which also includes a few of her passionate playmates — shallow beach boy Bill Foley (Burr DeBinning); outwardly contented husband and businessman Paul Burstine (William Windom); hypocritical and whiny Reverend Ryan Hagen (Lawrence Dane); and despicable lifelong criminal Sal Gilman (Mark Richman). Made for TV.

Kitty Cameo: At the start of the film an unknown driver in a 1960s Ford sedan screeches out of a residential driveway, upsetting the sunbathing plans of a Siamese cat which moves deftly out of the way.

The cat vaults through an open window into the kitchen, knocking over a flower pot on his way.

Moments later, at the noisy approach of little Margaret Ord (Eve Plumb), who has just returned home from grade school, the cat slips out of the kitchen and into the neighborhood. The careless cat must have tromped in the welter of blood because his precise little paw prints are left in his wake on the kitchen floor.

Final Mewsings: Although his bloody paw prints implicated the cat in the commission of the crime, there was not enough corroborating evidence to charge him.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and Twitter.