by Linda Kay

Starring: Fang

Directed by: Eddie Davis

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

Synopsis: Tony (Robert Lansing), a sailor who has just disembarked in Sydney, Australia, is coerced into taking part in a museum robbery by conniving and mysterious thief Laura (Vera Miles) who then takes off with the goods and leaves Tony holding the bag. Not to mention that she also takes his Siamese cat, Charlie!

Featured Feline: When Tony leaves the ship he is wished well by his fellow crewmen . . . that is until it’s clear he intends to take Charlie the Siamese cat with him.

A crewman named Swede (Chris Christensen) protests but Tony points out he picked up Charlie in Calcutta. Another crewman agrees with Tony and a brawl breaks out.

Charlie wisely distances himself from the fight, which is also observed by secretary Laura from her dockside office.

Swede falls off the ship and a concerned Tony scrambles down a rope to check on him, but is knocked out by flying bottle and falls amongst some crates on the dock. Charlie runs down the gangplank as Laura gathers Tony up and gets him into her car.

When Tony wakes up in the car he sees a note telling him to look up at a certain apartment. There he sees Charlie in the window.

He heads up to the apartment and gathers Charlie, ready to leave, when Laura stops him and asks him to have a drink.

Charlie is nearby throughout much of the following scenes in which Laura informs Tony that Swede was killed in the fall.

Confirmation of this comes when a detective shows up looking for Tony and pets Charlie while he is there. This convinces Tony that Laura’s plan to rob a chalice from a museum may be his only means of escaping the law. Of course this is only a ruse set up by Laura to trick Tony into taking part in the robbery.

As they head out in a borrowed electrical utility cherry picker, Tony brings Charlie with him for good luck.

The heist takes place and Tony removes a stained glass window to gain access to the museum. Much to his surprise, Laura takes off without him, leaving him to almost get caught by the police. As it turns out Swede is very much alive and Laura’s plan was to steal the priceless window. Laura has also stolen Charlie, who is eating from a bowl when Laura meets with wealthy businessman and stolen art dealer Orville Benton (Barry Sullivan) at his estate.

Tony follows Laura to Melbourne and hooks up with his fast-talking friend Benjie (Sid Melton) before realizing he’s being tailed by a woman. Turns out her name is J.P. Duncan (Penny Sugg) and she’s an insurance investigator. She agrees to help Tony retrieve the window. They crash a clothing auction at Benton’s home and realize that the dresses represent stolen pieces of artwork. Laura sees Tony and sends him a note saying that Charlie wants to meet him by the service entrance. When he goes Laura tries to shoot him but he gets the drop on her. Charlie shows up and Laura says the cat missed Tony.

Laura drives Tony and Charlie to Benton’s grain silos where he has the artwork, including the window, stashed.

Laura pushes the idea of robbing Benton of all his treasures. They leave Charlie in Benton’s car as they go inside.

Benton arrives and takes Charlie out of the car to trigger a trap which spells doom for Laura.

Tony was smart enough to just take the window to give to Duncan and meets her, Benjie and Charlie out front after a battle with Benton and his men.

In the final scene Tony and Duncan are getting married. Someone hands Charlie to Tony and Swede insists the cat should stay with the ship. Once again a fight breaks out amongst the sailors as Tony, Duncan and Charlie run away.

Behind the Scenes

This Australian production began filming as early as March 1968 on location in Sydney, specifically the ship scene which was shot on a freighter named Warringa in Balmain. According to an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald on March 10, 1968, a sound take was interrupted when a saw started buzzing through a nearby ship’s plate.

    [Director] Mr. Davis threw his arms to heaven and yelled “cut,” Fang leaped from Lansing’s shoulder and headed for freedom, and the stuntmen flew into one another again just for practice.
    The unit’s publicity officer, Mr. Ian Alterator, said the cat, Fang, was one of the personalities of the cast.
    “He never once missed a cue or ruined a take — or did anything unbecoming of an actor.”

Charlie the cat was featured prominently on artwork for the film, although the posters made it look as if Charlie participates more in the actual plot than he really does.

Not much else is know about cat actor Fang but oddly enough another Siamese cat named Fang was appearing on stage in a production of Visit to a Small Planet being presented by the Spotlight Playhouse in Irving, Texas, (and had previously performed on stage in The King and I). Since filming in Australia was taking place at the same time as this stage show we can assume it was not the same cat actor, but clearly the spring of 1968 was a productive time for Siamese cat actors named Fang!

And if actor Robert Lansing looks comfortable with a cat co-star it may be because he shared screen time with a beautiful black cat actor named (now inappropriately) Sambo in a Star Trek episode entitled Assignment: Earth.

Final Mewsings: Cats can hold their own as co-stars but do prefer being given a little more to do plot-wise.

Many thanks to Kate Gabrielle for letting us know about the cat in this film.

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