by Linda Kay

English Translation: Death Walks in the Rain

Directed by: Carlos Hugo Christensen

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

Synopsis: A murdering thief is loose in Buenos Aires and the only clue to his identity is a calling card he leaves at every crime scene with the name S. Lopez. The police narrow their search down to a boarding house, but which of the building’s inhabitants is the wanted man . . . or woman?

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The proprietor of the Babel boarding house is a middle-aged woman named Valeria Duval (Margarita Corona) whose close companion is a longhaired tabby cat. The cat is first seen eating something on the dining room table.

She carries the cat to look at the resident artist’s painting in which he claims to reveal the identity of S. Lopez, but neither Valeria or the cat can make anything of the artwork.

Valeria also carries the cat with her when she greets the boarding house’s new tenant, Professor Miranda.

After Miranda is approached by the police to spy on the tenants of the boarding house he becomes so unnerved by the idea of living with a murderer he tells Valeria that he must move out.

Valeria has the cat up on the dinner table for a while as the entire group dines together, including Professor Miranda who becomes even more unnerved when the murderer is discussed during the meal.

While carrying the cat to another room, Valeria practically swoons when the actor, Boris Andreieff (Guillermo Battaglia), quotes Romeo and Juliet.

The cat bolts from a small table in the parlor when Valeria scolds a maid for failing to take Professor Miranda’s bill up to him. Doing so herself, Valeria is shocked to find the man has been murdered in his room.

After this the cat all but disappears from the film, only showing up twice more . . . once sitting next to Valeria on a table . . . .

. . . and then when the youngest resident, Lila (Olga Zubarry) has figured out who the killer is and is creeping down the stairs where she is plunged into darkness. As she turns the lights back on we are treated to not only a close up of the cat but a blep as well!

Final Mewsings: Close ups of cats = awesome! Close ups of cats blepping = even better!

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

Relevant Links:

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